Death in the Old Rectory

Grace Church Mystery #2

by Kathie Deviny

For many years Father Robert has called the old rectory at Seattle’s Grace Church home. No longer. An enterprising volunteer has come up with a scheme to convert it into a thrift store. With great reluctance, the priest moves to a condo, realizing that the struggling Episcopal parish needs the revenue. As predicted, money is soon rolling in. That is, until disaster strikes: one of the employees, a charismatic young man named Nick, is killed execution-style. Though well loved, Nick had a criminal past. Did his past catch up with him, or was he simply in the wrong place at the wrong time? Detective Joyce Hitchcock and Officer Raymond Chen are on the case, and once again their efforts are bolstered by the colorful staff and members of Grace Church—Father Robert himself, his fiancée Molly, Deacon Mary, manager of the food bank Terry, Lester the formerly homeless sexton, Daniel the organist, Arlis the church secretary, and senior volunteers Lucy and Mae. Other incidents follow—an explosion, vandalism. The already dwindling congregation is being scared away, and Grace Church may soon be history. Meanwhile Nick’s friends and colleagues can’t help but wonder: will the killer strike again? Book 2 in the Grace Church Mystery series, which began with Death in the Memorial Garden.

Genres: Mystery

168 pages, Paperback

Published November 9, 2015

About the author

After retiring from a career as a “government bureaucrat” serving primarily in the criminal justice system, Kathie Deviny studied creative writing. Essays focusing on her treatment for breast cancer and life as the spouse of an Episcopal priest have been published in the Seattle Times, Episcopal Life, Cure magazine, and Faith, Hope and Healing by Bernie Siegel.

Kathie was Features Editor of her high school newspaper and originally planned a career in journalism. After realizing she was too shy to chase after stories, she followed her mother’s career path and earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in social work, attending UC Berkeley and the University of Washington. She nurtured her journalistic ambitions by developing a program at the Monroe, WA, prison which produced a magazine in cooperation with community volunteers.

Death in the Memorial Garden, her first work of fiction, reflects her love of the cozy-style mystery. Her other loves are gardening, choral singing, and locating bargains at her church’s thrift shop, where she volunteers. Kathie lives with her now-retired husband, Paul; they divide their time between California and Western Washington.

Reviews

[Paula Ratcliffe]

This is the second book in the Grace Church Mysteries, in this book Father Robert finds himself moving away from Grace Church as a volunteer, Adele Evans with too much energy comes up with an elaborate plan to utilize the rectory and turn it into a thrift store, Father Robert gets voted out of the rectory once the vestry hear of this plan. Father Robert is also working on marrying Mrs. Molly Ferguson who was a widow and with whom Robert fell in love with and proposed too.

One late afternoon as the thrift store is closing for the day Nick a volunteer at the thrift store finds himself face to face with a gunshot to the head, Mae another volunteer finds Nick and the mystery begins. Dominic Francis Monte more commonly known around Grace Church as Nick had a colorful history working with some bad guys who were stealing from others and it looks like Nick was trying to get away, but apparently the past didn't die as peacefully. Who killed Nick and why? Was it connected to his shady past? Or could it be someone in his present day dealings? Who is blowing up things around Grace Church and why? What else could possibly go wrong? Also there seems to be a theft of some sort is it Nick stealing before his death or someone else?

For Detective Joyce Hitchcock it could help build her police career, that is if she can solve the case and not have it turn into a cold case. Pressure is on to settle this case but Joyce finds she may need the help of the parishioners of Grace Church to solve the mystery. Can she solve it before something else happens?

I love this series as you meet various parishioners and watch various relationships while learning history of the characters and their connection to Nick. I also liked that this book switched gears it's not a one person story but multiple angles. It tells the story better than a one person point of view, you also get to read from the murderer's point of view as well which makes it all the more intriguing. Such a great story and I was stumped on who the murderer was until the last page. Can't wait to see what is next for Ms. Deviny

[Vernita Naylor]

Nick was extremely likeable and could charm anyone despite his shy and guarded demeanor, so why was he murdered? In Death in the Old Rectory by Kathie Deviny, Mrs. Adele Evans, President of the Ladies Auxiliary, Directress of the Altar Guild, and the Chair of many other committees at the Seattle Grace Parish Church was a force to be reckoned with despite her small stature. One day she decided that since Father Roberts was not fully using the rectory provided by the parish as was required, because he was a single man and the rectory was built for a clerical family, she made an executive decision to have Father Roberts move out of the rectory and relocate elsewhere. Mrs. Evans had the idea of using the rectory to house the Grace Church Charity Thrift Shop and Community Outreach Office, which would be a benefit in servicing the community. Nick came to volunteer his services at the Thrift Shop.

I loved how Kathie introduced the cast of characters (Lester, Daniel, Deacon Mary, Arils, Molly, Mae, and Terry) in Death in the Old Rectory to build the story. It reminds me of one of my favorites, Murder by Death. Now here is where the mystery about Nick (aka Dominic Monte) getting murdered comes in. Nick was active within the community from the Sounders’ soccer team to volunteering at the Grace Church Charity Thrift Shop until his criminal past caught up with him. I found myself enjoying Death in the Old Rectory so much that at times I found myself laughing out loud because each character brought personality to the story. I visualized the scenes as if watching a live performance where each character played their part extremely well. As Detective Joyce and Officer Chen, along with Lester (an unofficial security and criminal expert), begin to uncover the clues of the murder, the fun and adventure begin.Death in the Old Rectory

[Missi Martin (Stockwell)]

What a great cast of characters in Death in the Old Rectory !! Death in the Old Rectory is the second book in the Grace Church Mystery series by Kathie Deviny. I haven't read the first book but I know I will and hopefully soon.

Death in the Old Rectory takes place in the church setting with the church and the rectory next door where Father Robert resides just like I remember when I was growing up. Even though it is set in a busy section of Seattle, it still feels like its my old church in the country. And the people in the story, from Father Robert all the way down to Spike the dog, you feel like you know them. (even without reading Death in the Memorial Garden)

I specifically fell in love with Nick, you will see why when you read the book, but he seemed like the glue between the thrift store, the food pantry and the church plus all the people. I was devastated when he was murdered and even though I had to step away for a bit to collect myself, I went right back to the story. I was on a mission !! I was right along side Father Robert, Terry, Mae, Mrs. Evans and the rest of them trying to figure out who the murderer was.

I highly recommend this book to everyone, religious or otherwise. I also suggest picking up the first book, Death in the Memorial Garden, and put the third one on your to read list. I know its on mine !!!

[Stephen]

In the second volume of The Grace Church Mystery Series, life goes on in the downtown Episcopal parish of Grace Church, but so does murder. Kathie Deviny once again draws on her intimate knowledge of the urban neighbourhood, the workings of the Church, the procedures of the police and the spiritual ferment which goes on inside human beings to produce another interesting and well-crafted read. There is a nice balance between characters met in "Death in the Memorial Garden" and those introduced in this novel. While more realistic and less outrageous than Mark Schweizer's Liturgical Mysteries series, there is much loving humour to be found in the foibles and oddities of those who come together to be the congregation of Grace Church. As Oliver Twist said to Mister Bumble, may I have more, please?

[Lisa]

This is the second of a series, but could have been read independently. Grace Church's rectory has been converted into a thrift store, and Father Robert moves to a church-owned condo. One of the shop's employees, Nick, is killed execution-style, and the church members try to figure out what exactly happened. This is a "cozy mystery," so there's no graphic violence or language, which I appreciate. There were a lot of characters, though, and they were all so similar, I had a hard time keeping track of who was who.