Day of Vengeance: Dorothy Martin investigates murder in the cathedral (A Dorothy Martin Mystery)
Authors: Jeanne M. Dams
Table of Contents
The Dorothy Martin Mysteries from Jeanne M. Dams
THE BODY IN THE TRANSEPT
TROUBLE IN THE TOWN HALL
HOLY TERROR IN THE HEBRIDES
MALICE IN MINIATURE
THE VICTIM IN VICTORIA STATION
KILLING CASSIDY
TO PERISH IN PENZANCE
SINS OUT OF SCHOOL
WINTER OF DISCONTENT
A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT *
THE EVIL THAT MEN DO *
THE CORPSE OF ST JAMES’S *
MURDER AT THE CASTLE *
SHADOWS OF DEATH *
DAY OF VENGEANCE *
*
available from Severn House
A Dorothy Martin Mystery
Jeanne M. Dams
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First published in Great Britain and the USA 2014 by
SEVERN HOUSE PUBLISHERS LTD of
19 Cedar Road, Sutton, Surrey, England, SM2 5DA.
eBook edition first published in 2014 by Severn House Digital
an imprint of Severn House Publishers Limited
Copyright © 2014 by Jeanne M. Dams.
The right of Jeanne M. Dams to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Dams, Jeanne M. author.
Day of vengeance. – (A Dorothy Martin mystery)
1. Martin, Dorothy (Fictitious character)–Fiction.
2. Murder–Investigation–Fiction. 3. Women private
investigators–England–Fiction. 4. Americans–England–
Fiction. 5. Detective and mystery stories.
I. Title II. Series
813.5'4-dc23
ISBN-13: 978-0-72788-397-1 (cased)
ISBN-13: 978-1-84751-517-9 (trade paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78010-544-4 (ePub)
Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely coincidental.
This ebook produced by
Palimpsest Book Production Limited,
Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland.
The selection of a new bishop in the Church of England is a complex procedure, and although I have done a good deal of research, with the help of several clergy in both England and America, I may have made mistakes, and may indeed have contravened canon law in some instances. I can say only that the mistakes are mine alone, and (in mitigation) plead that I am, after all, writing fiction. I owe great thanks especially to two bishops: the Very Reverend Edward S. Little in my own diocese of Northern Indiana, and the Very Reverend Stephen Venner, who has retired but is still serving as an honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of St Alban’s, England. Both have been generous with their time and have answered innumerable foolish questions.
All of the churches mentioned in the book are of my own invention, as are all of the characters, with the obvious exceptions of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, their secretary, and the Prime Minister’s secretary, all of whose roles are minor and offstage. There may be clergy with the same names as those I have given my characters; if so, I apologize, and stress that I did not have them in mind.
The title is taken from a passage in the book of Isaiah, used as part of the ordination service in the Church of England: ‘The Lord hath sent me … to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.’
At the time this book was written, there were no female Anglican bishops in England, though there was at least one in both Scotland and Wales. The situation was changing rapidly, however, and by the time you read this there may well be women wearing the mitre in England.
A group of churches led and served by a
bishop
is called a
diocese
. The bishop’s home church, called a
cathedral
, houses the ‘cathedra’, or bishop’s seat. The principal clergyman in a cathedral is the
dean
, who is also the senior priest in the diocese. A cathedral will also have on its staff a number of priests called
canons
. A parish church (any church other than a cathedral) is served and led by a priest who may be called a
rector
or a
vicar
, and who may have an assistant called a
curate
.
The terms
High Church
and
Low Church
refer to diverse traditions within the Church of England, High Churchmen preferring practices that are more similar to those used in the Roman Catholic Church, and Low Churchmen being more Protestant and less ritualistic in their customs.
The Very Reverend Andrew Brading
,
deceased, late Dean of Chelton Cathedral
Dorothy Martin
,
ex-pat American living in the cathedral city of Sherebury, in the county of Belleshire, somewhere in the southeast of England
Alan Nesbitt
,
her husband, retired Chief Constable of Belleshire
Kenneth Allenby
,
Dean of Sherebury Cathedral
Margaret Allenby
,
his wife
Jane Langland
,
Dorothy’s oldest friend in England and her next-door neighbour
Lynn and Tom Anderson
,
Americans living in London, friends of Dorothy and Alan
Walter Tubbs
,
Jane’s grandson
Sue
,
Walter’s fiancée
The Reverend Geoffrey Lovelace
,
Rector of St Barnabas’, London
Mrs Steele
,
his secretary
Akbar
and
Saida
,
his parishioners
Jed
,
his sexton
The Reverend William Robinson
,
Rector of St Matthias’, Birmingham
Jenny
,
his wife
Becca Bradley
and
Brian Rawles
,
his parishioners
The Very Reverend James Smith
,
Dean of Rotherford Cathedral
Emily
,
his wife
Mr and Mrs Stewart
,
Mr Cho
and
Mrs Loften
,
his parishioners
Jonathan Quinn
,
friend of Dorothy and Alan, policeman-turned-private-detective
Ahmed
,
friend of Walter Tubbs, employee of British Museum
Jack Everidge
,
acquaintance of Walter and Ahmed
Jeremy Sayers
,
organist at Sherebury Cathedral
Christopher Lewis
,
his partner
Ruth Stevens
,
Martha Rudge
,
Archie Pringle
,
Caroline White
,
communicants at Chelton Cathedral
‘O
h,
no
!’
My cry brought Alan from the kitchen, where he was tidying up after breakfast. Mutely, I handed him the
Telegraph.
The Very Rev. Andrew Stephen Owen Brading, dean of Chelton Cathedral, was found dead late Wednesday night in the cathedral, victim of an apparent assault. His wife, concerned that he had not returned from a meeting in London, asked a neighbour, one of the cathedral staff, to accompany her to the church to look for him when he did not answer his mobile phone. They found a side door open, and when lights were turned on, found the dean lying on the floor of one of the side chapels, dead of an apparent blunt trauma injury to the head. There is a possibility of foul play, and police are investigating.
Dean Brading was named on Tuesday as one of four men on the shortlist for the episcopate of the diocese of Sherebury (see p. 3).
The peace of the gorgeous spring day was shattered. Alan sat down abruptly. The phone shrilled; I went to answer it.
Dean Allenby’s secretary was on the line. ‘You’ve heard the news.’
‘Just this minute. Alan’s still reading the paper.’
‘Then will you give him a message? The dean has asked that no one speak to the media, not just yet. The diocesan information officer will issue a brief statement, and he would like everyone from the diocese who’s on the Appointments Commission to meet in his office this afternoon. Two o’clock, unless someone simply can’t make it then. I’ll let you know. Thank you, Dorothy.’
‘That was Allison,’ I said to Alan. ‘Nobody’s to talk to the press, and you’re to go to a meeting at two this afternoon. Dean’s office. She said the information officer will put out a statement.’
Alan sighed. ‘Yes, the usual thing, I suppose. Shock and sorrow, no one knows anything, cooperating with the police, et cetera. And speaking of the police, they’ll want to interview every one of us on the commission, sooner or later. I’d better put in a call to Derek.’
Detective Chief Inspector Derek Morrison had been Alan’s right-hand man when he was in the Sherebury constabulary, and later, as chief constable, Alan had relied greatly on Derek’s talents and good sense. He was a good friend and would, I was sure, help all he could.
‘Won’t he call you?’
‘I don’t think we’ll be answering the phone, love.’
Two of them began ringing at that point. Alan turned his mobile off. I waited until the home phone stopped ringing and then took it off the hook, and turned off my own mobile.
I took a deep breath. ‘We knew this bishop business would be a terrible strain, with all the contention, but this …’
‘No. Vicious as church politics can be, one doesn’t expect murder.’
We had been embroiled for months in the wearisome business of selecting a new bishop to replace Bishop Hardie, who was retiring. First, the dormant Vacancy in See Committee, on which Alan had sat for years, was called into action. After weeks of surveys and consultations, of contention over hot-button issues such as High versus Low Church, gay marriage, women as bishops – whatever concerns had exercised any individual or group – they had come up with a document detailing the needs of the diocese and spelling out what kind of bishop they were looking for. Then several members of the committee, including Alan and Dean Allenby, were elected to serve on the formidably named Crown Appointments Commission, which would actually choose the bishop. That body had met for a day and a half of confidential discussions at Lambeth Palace at the beginning of the week and had come up with a list of four candidates for the job.
