Snow question

SPOILERS
I was attracted to this book because I've always enjoyed murder mysteries but so few of them are actually well-written, so to find one written by an elite literary author like Banville seemed the best of both worlds. (I haven't read any of the Benjamin Black books, to be clear) I came away from it feeling it had done exactly what it said on the tin: the characters are properly fleshed out, the historical context is deftly traced and the descriptive passages are immaculate (personally I'm now hoping Banville's next book is just 100% descriptions of bleak snowy tundra) I suppose what I'm interested to know is, do people feel that the central mystery - and whether it all fits together - becomes less important when the writing is this good? Because if I have a criticism of Snow it's that the specifics of the actual crime don't always hold together and the tropes involved are a bit...obvious? Maybe there's no way to avoid certain themes when writing about 1950s Ireland but the 'paedo priest' angle seemed very obvious from the start and I wondered if Banville might find a deft way around it, but obviously not. Also, I'm no whizz when it comes to puzzling out plots but thought it was fairly obvious that Fonsey + Lettie were the culprits from their rather gross intimate scene in the caravan onwards. What irked me slightly is the way Strafford himself was so slow to figure it out. In the main I actually liked the way he impassively drifts through the novel - even reflecting to himself at one point that he's a plodder and therefore not a very good detective! (Although his lack of concern for Jenkins - at one point even forgetting he's missing - seems a trifle heartless) But I thought it stretched credulity a little and made you respect him less that he was still asking stupid questions about Harbison's potential involvement at a really late stage, even after Jenkins' death. The other, more positive, point I'd like to make is that I really liked Banville's utilisation of physical props (the whisky glass, the candle...by the way, was the removed lightbulb ever found?) and the way everything from that opening scene clicks into place when you go back and read it. Can anyone explain the significance of Fonsey lighting the candle over Father Tom's body though? I went back and read Father Tom's 'Summer 1947' first person chapter (stunning piece of writing) but didn't find anything to explain it. I also thought it was so brilliant how, in that opening scene, we're told 'the fan of light on the floor beyond his feet folds abruptly'. When you read later on about Father Tom's memories of his father creeping into his room as a child - 'You know the way a wedge of light falls into a bedroom from outside when the door opens? I've never been able to see that without getting a shiver down my spine' - and realise that he effectively saw the same thing in the moment of his death... Wow, chilling.