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Callie Anson #1
Evil Intent
Life in the clergy is quiet, respectful, peaceful--or so Callie Anson believes when she begins her new job as curate to the Reverend Brian Stanford at All Saints' Church in Paddington. Little does she realize how wrong she could be.
After the traumatic end of her relationship with fiance Adam, the last thing Callie needs is more emotional turmoil. But it seems she is not destined for a quiet life just yet. Knowing that women in the clergy are still disapproved of in certain quarters, Callie is prepared to face some criticism. But the deep-seated hatred shown by some of her respected male colleagues takes her by surprise, particularly the spiteful attack made by Father Jonah Adimola, a hard-line conservative Nigerian priest. Luckily, her good friend and mentor Frances Cherry is on hand to jump to her defense. But when Father Adimola is found strangled to death the next day and Frances is suspected of the crime, Callie must call upon her faith to steer her through the troubling and violent times and help prove her friend's innocence. With DI Neville Stewart heading the investigation, it's not long before the ecclesiastical facade is chipped away to reveal the ugly truth of hidden secrets.
Evil Intent is a gripping crime novel that pitches the reader into a dark world of concealment, power and deception in the 21st century church.
After the traumatic end of her relationship with fiance Adam, the last thing Callie needs is more emotional turmoil. But it seems she is not destined for a quiet life just yet. Knowing that women in the clergy are still disapproved of in certain quarters, Callie is prepared to face some criticism. But the deep-seated hatred shown by some of her respected male colleagues takes her by surprise, particularly the spiteful attack made by Father Jonah Adimola, a hard-line conservative Nigerian priest. Luckily, her good friend and mentor Frances Cherry is on hand to jump to her defense. But when Father Adimola is found strangled to death the next day and Frances is suspected of the crime, Callie must call upon her faith to steer her through the troubling and violent times and help prove her friend's innocence. With DI Neville Stewart heading the investigation, it's not long before the ecclesiastical facade is chipped away to reveal the ugly truth of hidden secrets.
Evil Intent is a gripping crime novel that pitches the reader into a dark world of concealment, power and deception in the 21st century church.
348 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2005
19 people are currently reading
134 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 19, 2021
Started off a promising but
I thought the premise for the series was an interesting one, a female Church of England priest who gets involved with mysteries. The mystery—who killed a priest who was hostile to female priests—sounded interesting and, for the first chapters, I enjoyed Charles’ descriptions of Callie Anson and her new curacy. I thought she would soon get to the actual crime and its solution.
Wrong. The rest of the book moved as slowly as a High Mass with several plots that have nothing to do with the mystery—Callie gets a new male friend, Callie gets a dog, sub characters are introduced and then shelved. At one point, when her friend, another female priest, is arrested for the murder, the book morphs into a kind of police procedural but the whole arrest/incarceration reads like a caricature, an episode from Law & Order UK but with thoroughly unlikeable police.
I kept reading on wondering when Charles was finally going to get to the actual “mystery” again—who murdered the priest? The answer is that she does so in the last 10 pages. Bam, there’s the murderer, bam there’s Callie, her brother and her male friend all suddenly involved in an almost Keystone Kops kind of way. And in her Afterword, where she explains the problems facing the Anglican Church, I feel like I have been led to believe that this was a mystery when all it was was a soapbox on the challenges facing the Anglican Church.
I realize this is a pretty harsh review (for me at least) but I am SO disappointed in what I thought was a promising new series. I am tempted to read the next to see if she gets off her soapbox and starts actually focusing on mysteries. But, then again, there are so many better books out there.
I thought the premise for the series was an interesting one, a female Church of England priest who gets involved with mysteries. The mystery—who killed a priest who was hostile to female priests—sounded interesting and, for the first chapters, I enjoyed Charles’ descriptions of Callie Anson and her new curacy. I thought she would soon get to the actual crime and its solution.
Wrong. The rest of the book moved as slowly as a High Mass with several plots that have nothing to do with the mystery—Callie gets a new male friend, Callie gets a dog, sub characters are introduced and then shelved. At one point, when her friend, another female priest, is arrested for the murder, the book morphs into a kind of police procedural but the whole arrest/incarceration reads like a caricature, an episode from Law & Order UK but with thoroughly unlikeable police.
I kept reading on wondering when Charles was finally going to get to the actual “mystery” again—who murdered the priest? The answer is that she does so in the last 10 pages. Bam, there’s the murderer, bam there’s Callie, her brother and her male friend all suddenly involved in an almost Keystone Kops kind of way. And in her Afterword, where she explains the problems facing the Anglican Church, I feel like I have been led to believe that this was a mystery when all it was was a soapbox on the challenges facing the Anglican Church.
I realize this is a pretty harsh review (for me at least) but I am SO disappointed in what I thought was a promising new series. I am tempted to read the next to see if she gets off her soapbox and starts actually focusing on mysteries. But, then again, there are so many better books out there.
November 10, 2015
Enjoyable and horrible portrayal of the current tides in the Church of England. The main character, a woman curate, is charming, and many of the others are extremely likeable. It’s really a police procedural with the main character just happening to be involved in the action, not actually detecting much. Not to be enjoyed by members of Forward in Faith! But at the same time it does not portray anyone as flawless or completely flawed. I hope to read more of these.
September 1, 2012
Felt really dated yet the published date is only a few years ago. Clunkingly bad sentence construction at times and very few stereotypes left on the shelf. Add in some tedious romantic complications and I found it a very dull read.
March 23, 2018
enjoyable but rather an abrupt end
December 23, 2009
Feb. book club book - I read it early since we'll be in Egypt and I'll miss our mtg. Anyway I gave it a 2 because I'm not a mystery fan. Plus if I can pretty easily figure out who done it! then, I'm not that impressed with the book. It was well enough written that it held my interest though.
May 18, 2013
A good yarn with the added incentives of being strongly in favour of women priests in the C of E and background to that fight that I remember. Also some good characters and suitably evil ones too! I'll definitely read the next in the series.
August 2, 2021
This was another first in a new to me British mystery series and again, not bad. Callie Anson is employed as a Curate in a church in London and after a meeting of various clergy one of them is murdered. The series seems slightly odd in that Callie is involved in multiple ways (friend of the suspect, present at the meeting, friends of a policeman not involved with the case) but she is not acting as an amateur detective here. She’s just there. The book is in many ways about her and her life as much as it is about the murder although much of what happens revolves around the murder. I am sure the unflattering look at the C of E and particularly some of the characters who espouse less than Christian views, will have riled some readers, but that aside it’s a decent, somewhat unremarkable mystery. It ends quite abruptly and there are several ends that will presumably be tied up in a future effort – what happens to Callie and her policeman, will the unpleasant police sergeant get his comeuppance, will Callie resolve things with the vicar’s wife and more. I will read more if I can find them.
November 16, 2023
Like the other mystery I read by this author (A Drink of Deadly Wine – A Book of Psalms Mystery), I found this quite enjoyable - the plot maybe not all that believable, but the setting (in the Church of England) & the characters are very real & believable. The protagonist in this series, Cayllie Anson, is a newly ordained curate, dealing here with, among other things, people who strongly believe women should not be ordained.
(Callie Anson series in order: Evil Intent – Secret Sins – Deep Waters – False Tongues – Desolate Places.)
(Callie Anson series in order: Evil Intent – Secret Sins – Deep Waters – False Tongues – Desolate Places.)
April 18, 2021
Although one character from her Psalms series makes a brief appearance, this book does not build on the timeline in that series. The Callie Anson series is apparently independent of the other one. A murder mystery that reads like a comedy. I couldn't put it down. Women priests, gay priests, what's not to like?
November 27, 2021
Just finished the latest in this series (Desolate Places) and liked it so much I decided to go back and reread from the beginning.
I have a question I’m hoping someone can help me with: DI Neville Stewart often refers to there being something humorous about his name, can someone explain why? Is it a stereotypical British name and not appropriate for an Irishman?
I have a question I’m hoping someone can help me with: DI Neville Stewart often refers to there being something humorous about his name, can someone explain why? Is it a stereotypical British name and not appropriate for an Irishman?
May 24, 2017
I read this mystery set in the contemporary Church of England for a book club. I liked it a lot but thought the author didn't tie up all the loose ends. However she kept me guessing about the culprit. The book kept me entertained.
June 8, 2021
This book begins slowly. Even though the cover says who is killed, it doesn't happen until chapter 5, but the killer isnt revealed until the last few pages and it is a surprise. I learned more about the Anglican church than I had ever wanted, but it provided an interesting backdrop for the story
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 28, 2023
I really like the characters in this series and the careful drawing of complex human relationships and the simple acceptance of faith. Even the villain - entirely predictable in one way - is satisfyingly drawn. The victim - not so much, which is a pity.
May 24, 2017
A good read, but has left quite a lot of loose ends which I'm hoping she'll pick up in the next book.
December 11, 2018
Probably really only 3.5 but the Anglican setting gives it a rounding up for me!
June 12, 2022
Intriguing and delightful from beginning to end.
January 28, 2024
Excellently entertaining whodunnit. As a church person it was full of detail and situations I recognise.
Great fun
Great fun
November 9, 2013
What a wonderful find! I was trolling my libraries' catalog looking for a novel set in a church (thank you, Historical Fictionistas challenges!) and came across this title that fit the bill. A big fan of English mysteries, this looked like a sure winner.
Callie Anson is a newly ordained curate, taking her first job in London. Although she initially took her position to be near her fiance, the end of the relationship left dependent on the support of her mentor, Frances Cherry, a hospital chaplain. Frances is well aware of the challenges facing women in the Church of England, where factions abound.
When one of the most outspoken leaders of the traditionalist faction is found dead after a meeting, the focus immediately turns to Frances, who had a verbal confrontation with the dead man. What follows is a well plotted investigation, with wonderful character developement. The author makes all of the characters come to live, and although Callie is the focus, all of the players contribute fully to the novel.
This was a engaging series debut and I'm looking forward to reading more!
Callie Anson is a newly ordained curate, taking her first job in London. Although she initially took her position to be near her fiance, the end of the relationship left dependent on the support of her mentor, Frances Cherry, a hospital chaplain. Frances is well aware of the challenges facing women in the Church of England, where factions abound.
When one of the most outspoken leaders of the traditionalist faction is found dead after a meeting, the focus immediately turns to Frances, who had a verbal confrontation with the dead man. What follows is a well plotted investigation, with wonderful character developement. The author makes all of the characters come to live, and although Callie is the focus, all of the players contribute fully to the novel.
This was a engaging series debut and I'm looking forward to reading more!
April 1, 2012
Talk about making your story relevant: this mystery covers the controversy in the Anglican Church over gay priests and women priests. On the "pro" side are Leo (Jamaican, closeted gay), Frances (one of the first women ordained and a good friend of Leo's) and Callie (recently ordained, mentored by Frances. One the "con" side are Father Jonah (Nigerian, with a flair for calling Leo "Son of a Slave"), Father Vincent (who might have a few secrets of his own) and Father Richard. When Father Jonah is strangled with Reverend Cherry's stole, with the exception of Father Richard, the lives of the rest will be changed.
I thought I'd guessed the murderer, but I was wrong - yay! Double yay: I didn't guess Father Jonah's secret. The interconnected stories blended in a great way, with only one character's relationship to the others feeling forced. I've read at least one other of Ms. Charles' Callie Anson series and the relationships here evolve naturally later in the series. Only one small problem - when I think of Callie, for some reason I see Dawn French. Could be worse, right?
I thought I'd guessed the murderer, but I was wrong - yay! Double yay: I didn't guess Father Jonah's secret. The interconnected stories blended in a great way, with only one character's relationship to the others feeling forced. I've read at least one other of Ms. Charles' Callie Anson series and the relationships here evolve naturally later in the series. Only one small problem - when I think of Callie, for some reason I see Dawn French. Could be worse, right?
January 25, 2020
As others have said, such an abrupt ending! I am sure it works to induce you to read the next, which I'd planned to in any case. A lovely little Easter Egg about David and Lucy from the Psalms series early on - look for it. I found the author's move into London (v. countryside), and focus on the police procedural an interesting contrast to her earlier series. Much in common with the earlier series--likeable protagonist, sympathetic yet clear-eyed approach to social issues, focus on the Anglican Church--but also a change in tone and style, not dramatic, but definitely there.
June 24, 2015
Enjoyable and well plotted contemporary British mystery with a focus on corruption and tension within the Church of England. It deals with issues currently relevant to the church, such as female clergy, gays, and blacks, but it never felt preachy. My only issue with it is that the ending felt quite abrupt: the murderer is revealed in the last few pages but we don't really get closure on all the side plots or get to see how the secondary characters react to the knowledge of who the murderer was.
May 24, 2009
This is another fantastic Kate Charles clerical mystery, this time a new series featuring female Anglican curate Callie Anson. This book manages to blend a great story with excellent character development and all the issues percolating in today's Anglican world, without becoming either predictable or heavy-handed. Very interesting indeed, and I cannot wait to read the next one in the series!
December 2, 2009
Side-bar delights of this book are the British idioms in this book about the Anglican church and its weaknesses. Kate Charles is a devout Anglican who is able to speak about the thin veneer of self-righteousness of the clergy. I enjoyed this book even though its literary style leaves something to be desired.
June 29, 2009
This one is a mystery centered around the Church of England and its stance on gays, women and black clergy. There is a bit of Anglican hierarchy, with vicars and curates and area deans and bishops. And some politics. And a little romance. And a dog. This was a good entertaining summer read.
May 27, 2016
Murder mystery. Set in London. An Anglo-Catholic priest is murdered. All the suspects are Anglican priests. New Curate Callie Anson is trying to find her way into the job while DC Neville Stewart investigates the murder.
I liked it, although most of these Priests made me glad I am not an Anglican!
I liked it, although most of these Priests made me glad I am not an Anglican!
August 24, 2014
Very enjoyable. I loved the way it was written and stories broken up to coincide at the end. Very well done.
May 27, 2015
A good classic British mystery. I enjoyed this book.
July 3, 2016
way too much drama for me
July 4, 2016
Anglican British murder mystery...always enjoyable.
August 27, 2016
It was interesting to read about the Anglican Church and the dialogue written by a British author.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews