The Reluctant Detective by Martha Ockley is the first in a new faith-based cozy series. Faith Morgan is a former law enforcement officer and now an Anglican priest. While visiting a church in Little Worthy, another priest drops dead during communion, obviously of poisoning. Faith becomes involved in the investigation lead by Detective Ben Shorter, her former lover.
The Reluctant Detective was easier to read than some other English books, but there were still a few terms that I left me wondering. I enjoyed the characters of Faith and Ben, but I thought that all of the characters could have used some extra and gradual development.
Although described as a cozy, I found at least one crime scene explicitly described more so than most cozies I have read. I thought the mystery was a little too scattered, but then I enjoy reading mysteries that are solved more methodically. I still enjoyed the book and would definitely read the next in this series.
While this is a faith-based book that contains scripture, it is by no means preachy or overly religious. Short scriptures come to Faith’s remembrance such as “Sin shall not have dominion over you” and help her to make decisions.
Sometimes I find one line or quote in a book that stands out to me and in The Reluctant Detective it was on P. 221: “People can go mad looking for God too hard, she’d thought.” I would add the sentences before, but that would be a spoiler!
interesting! being a very religious person myself, a couple of things leap out at me from the review and make me wonder just how religious it is. But it could be just b/c I haven't read the book!
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