Chapel of Ease - Alex Beldsoe (4 stars)

[Cora]

Chapel of Ease - Alex Bledsoe

4 stars

Chapel of Ease is the 4th book in Bledsoe's Tufa series. In this book, Matt is a New York theater actor on the cusp of his big break. The break comes in the form of a new musical by musician Ray Parrish. Ray has written a musical based on a true story from his hometown. Ray is a Tufa and like all Tufa he is musically gifted and his play is exceptional. But the Tufa don't like their stories or even the fact of their existence being told to outsiders. The play contains a secret of something buried under a Chapel of Ease but what it is is never revealed. Ray promises to tell the cast after the show opens to the public. Unfortunately, Ray dies prior to the show opening and the mystery remains. Matt agrees to take Ray's ashes back to his family in Tennessee's Cloud County. While there, his is determined to find out what is hidden in the Chapel of Ease.

I enjoyed this book. It held my interest and I was always eager to continue reading. It was interesting reading this book from an outsider's point of view. Now that we are in the fourth book in the series, the readers know a lot about Cloud County and the Tufa people, but Ray does not have this knowledge. The plot of this book was a bit weaker than the others. The central question, what is buried under the chapel, did not interest me and I had a hard time understanding why it mattered so much to Matt. I liked getting to know Cyrus, Thorn and Ray's parents, but it feels like this book might be setting something up for future books.