A Very Private Grave by Donna Fletcher Crow

The Monastery Murders
Felicity Howard, a young American studying for the Anglican priesthood at the College of the Transfiguration in Yorkshire, is devastated when she finds her beloved Fr. Dominic bludgeoned to death and Fr. Antony, her church history lecturer, soaked in his blood.

Following the cryptic clues contained in a poem the dead man had pressed upon her minutes before his death, she and Fr. Antony--who is wanted for questioning by the police--flee the monastery to seek more information about Fr. Dominic and end up in the holy island of Lindisfarne, former home of Saint Cuthbert.

Their quest leads them into a dark puzzle . . . and considerable danger.

My Review:
I struggled to follow along as Felicity and Father Anthony work to uncover the bloody death of Father Dominic, while they are pursued by both police and a would-be murderer. However, it did not grab me, and I just could not read past the halfway mark. Father Anthony, a teacher who lectures in class, spends a good bit of time lecturing to Felicity. She becomes bored; so did I. Perhaps, you'll be interested.

Fans of British Literature will enjoy the allusions to medieval history in this Christian fiction work of murder and mystery. Although the plot is contemporary, it contains a good bit of early English religious history. Included is the mysterious life and death of a man named Saint Cuthbert, who, after his death, did not decompose in a normal fashion. His body was moved about Northern England, and the protagonists follow the route. Intertwined, a treasure hunt adds further intrigue.

Thank you to Bonnie at Christian Fiction Blog Alliance and Monarch Books for my copy.

If you would like to read the first chapter, click here.

If you would like to buy a copy, click here.