Search results for ""author kate charles""

Everyone agrees that Bob Dexter, the prominent Evangelical clergyman, has a great deal of personal charisma. Those who know him realise that he also has an unshakable faith in his own righteousness, and a real talent for rubbing people up the wrong way. It is no surprise, therefore, that someone should want to kill him. In fact, when the Reverend Dexter moves to a small Norfolk parish, traditionally Anglo-Catholic, and begins remoulding it in his own image, his distraught parishioners are not the only ones with good reason to want to remove him. And there are secrets in his seemingly tranquil family life that Dexter does not even begin to suspect – until the fateful and eventful day of his death. Solicitor David Middleton-Brown and his artist-friend Lucy Kingsley step in to investigate. Their search for the truth culminates at the annual National Pilgrimage to Walsingham, where Anglo-Catholic pomp clashes with heated Evangelical protest, and feelings run perilously high. Too late, perhaps, David realises the danger: will he be in time to prevent a second murder?

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Father Gabriel Neville has everything going for him as vicar of St Anne’s, Kensington Gardens: intellectual prowess, physical beauty, a happy family life and the prospect of promotion to Archdeacon. But his perfect world is shattered when he receives an anonymous letter that has the power to destroy his career and marriage, by threatening to expose something that no one could possibly know. The only person Gabriel can turn to is David Middleton-Brown, an old friend and a man with a few secrets of his own. Against his better judgement, David comes to London, where his discreet enquiries bring to light a whole host of suspects. There’s the eccentric church organist, Miles Taylor; the gossip Mavis Conwell; the disapproving Dawson family; the Churchwarden, Cyril Fitzjames, who’s in love with Gabriel’s wife Emily; and the charming and talented artist Lucy Kingsley. In his efforts to help Gabriel uncover the blackmailer, David hauls numerous skeletons out of cupboards, and enters into a web of relationships that threaten to shatter his own peace of mind.

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Callie Anson should have learned her lesson by now: revisiting the past is seldom a good idea. But she succumbs to peer pressure and attends a reunion at her theological college in Cambridge, where she is forced to confront painful memories – and the presence of her clueless ex, Adam. Margaret Phillips, the Principal of the college, has a chance for happiness but before she can grasp it she has to deal with her own ghosts – as well as corrosive, intrusive gossip. Both women learn something about themselves, and about forgiveness, from the wise John Kingsley. Meanwhile, in London, police officers Neville Stewart and Mark Lombardi are involved with the latest fatal stabbing of a teenager. Was gifted, popular Sebastian Frost all he seemed to be, or was there something in his life that led inevitably to his death? They’re plunged into the queasy world of cyber-bullying, where nothing may be as it seems. While they’re apart, Callie and Mark’s relationship is on hold, and his Italian family continues to be an issue. Will Marco realise, before it’s too late, that while his family will always be important to him, he is entitled to something for himself?

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