In this novel, the first book in the Liturgical Mysteries series, we are introduced to Hayden Konig, the chief detective in (fictional) St. Germaine, North Carolina. St. Germaine is a quiet little mountain town, one that hardly needs a full-time detective. Which is good, because Hayden’s passions are elsewhere. Hayden likes the ladies, he has long wanted to write a detective novel, and he is a knowledgeable and talented organist. Week in and week out, Hayden probably spends more time at his church than at his office. When the longtime rector at St. Barnabas retires, Hayden is none too pleased with his replacement, Loraine Ryan. Mother Ryan favors hymns and a service style that Hayden barely tolerates. But soon it turns out that the style of the Sunday morning service is the least of Hayden’s concerns. On the same night that someone steals the church’s communion wine, the sexton is murdered, and Detective Konig finds that few of his his fellow church members will give him a straight story.
Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.
