The Friday 56 (With Book Beginnings): Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (The Grantchester Mysteries #1) by James Runcie

Welcome to The Friday 56, a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice.

These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

I'm also taking part in Book Beginnings, a weekly meme hosted by Rose City Reader.  The rules are pretty simple - you share the first sentence or so and your initial thoughts, impressions, or whatever else it inspires.  Don't forget to link up your post's url with Rose City Reader.

This week I am spotlighting my current read, Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death (The Grantchester Mysteries #1) by James Runcie.   I was pleasantly surprised by how great the PBS Masterpiece tv adaptation starring James Norton and Robson Green was - Grantchester, Wolf Hall, and The Hollow Crown have been recent favorites.  When I realized it was based on a book series, I needed to check it out and see how it would compare.  So, after being on hold for it for a few months it finally came in.  I haven't gotten very far yet, but I have very high hopes!

Book Beginnings: 

Canon Sidney Chambers had never intended to become a detective.  Indeed, it came about quite by chance, after a funeral, when a handsome woman of indeterminate age voiced her suspicion that the recent death of a Cambridge solicitor was not suicide, as had been widely reported, but murder.

56:

How could he have been so slow?  It annoyed him beyond measure.  To have taken the information at face value; to believe what people wanted him to believe!  How had he allowed himself to be taken in? 


Even if you're not that much of a fan of cozy mysteries, as a show Grantchester was great tv and I'm looking forward to the second series.  I hope the book lives up to my expectations!