23/100: Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death + Podcast Rec

Image result for sidney chambers and the shadow of deathMy Kindle has become a lifesaver to me during this crazy time, let me tell you. Of course, the problem is now everyone and their mother is checking out ebooks because they can't get to a library, so it's slim pickings. Thank goodness for holds; just my luck all the books I want already have holds on them...

Anyways, to the review --->

I picked up Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death on my Kindle because I had recently discovered the TV series Grantchester on Amazon (the show is based on the book, FYI). The book is told in a short-story format, I believe there were 6 stories in total? Sidney is a priest in the 1950's, post-war England, living in the small town of Grantchester.
James Runcie, the author, has a very simple and straightforward writing style and in the beginning, I found it to be compulsively readable; it was so easy to get through that I could sit still for a good chunk of time and blaze through a story.

Once I finished, though, the book ended up being a "meh" read for me. It reminded me of At Home in Mitford, if the priest was an amateur detective. There wasn't any excitement, although it did pick up a little in one of the later stories. I didn't feel particularly connected to the characters and it just came across as... boring, to me.

We've established that I am a mood reader, so it could be that I just wasn't in the mood for this kind of mystery and that's why I disliked it. After reading Truly Devious, I wanted to read a smart, engaging mystery; something thrilling that caused me to really think. Not that I was expecting that from Sidney Chambers, but I think I picked the wrong time to read it. I still think, however, that no matter when I read it I still would have had ambivalent feelings towards it, but timing is important!

I've got some holds through my ebook library that I am on pins and needles waiting for: the second book in the Truly Devious trilogy, The Cases That Haunt Us (a true-crime discussion on some of the world's most notorious cases), and one that is particularly outside my usual genre, The Whisper Man (for some reason I am craving a thriller-mystery and I am really excited to try this one out).
While I wait for those, I am moving on to the next Harry Potter and diving back into Gone With The Wind.

Now for my podcast recommendation: also after reading Truly Devious, I decided to check out a true-crime podcast. I really am not a podcast person, I prefer to watch it rather than hear it; one of the reasons why audiobooks are just not for me. I found this one on Spotify and have been loving it. I really enjoy the host and find that she does a great job of presenting facts and only expressing her opinion after explicitly saying that's just what it is: opinion. She also brings to light some facts that the average person might not know because of the media's often unfortunate role in these high-profile cases.
If you are at all into true-crime cases I would highly recommend Crime Junkie; I listen to it for free on Spotify but you can also get it on iTunes I believe.

Stats:
Completed: Mar 23
Rating: 2 stars
Pages: 401

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