The Devil in Bellminster: An Unlikely Mystery - David Holland

I read this one for the 4MA July challenge of reading books with place names in the titles. The story and characters were interesting, and held my attention straight off the bat, but I had gone into this one expecting the main character to be a Bow Street Runner. Instead, the lead was a Reverend Tuckworth, and I admit I floundered for a couple of chapters because of it, but that was my fault for not reading the blurb. I knew only that this was a historical mystery set in 19th century England and so had walked in with preconceived notions. I'd bought this novel as an ebook well over a year ago, and just pulled it up and started reading without investigating any reviews or such. I later found that The Devil in Bellminster is the start of a series featuring the intrepid Rev. Tuckworth. In this first book, the good reverend finds his crisis of faith interrupted by a serial killer making mayhem in his flock. The characters were well written and the atmosphere was sufficiently rendered to keep me reading straight though and I devoured the tale in one sitting. (The family units heading off for bed early probably didn't hurt, either... ) The story was well plotted. It wouldn't surprise me to see it made into a movie at some point. It certainly read like one. Recommended.