Sidney Chambers and The Dangers of Temptation: Grantchester Mysteries 5

By James Runcie

Grantchester Mysteries 5
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'Those who would like an engaging summer read should pack James Runcie's latest tale of clerical detection, Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation' - Alexander McCall Smith, Observer

'Runcie has honed his style of light, escapist, small-town crime stories to something approaching perfection' - Herald

'There is no reason at all why this series should not run and run and why Sidney Chambers should not occupy the same place in the pantheon as Miss Marple or Poirot' - Catholic Herald
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Now a major, prime-time six-part series Grantchester for ITV


Archdeacon Sidney Chambers is beginning to think that the life of a full-time priest (and part-time detective) is not easy. So when a bewitching divorcee in a mink coat interrupts Sidney's family lunch asking him to help locate her missing son, he hopes it will be an open and shut case.

The last thing he expects is to be dragged into the mysterious workings of a sinister cult, or to find himself tangled up in another murder investigation. But, as always, the village of Grantchester is not as peaceful as it seems…

From the theft of an heirloom to an ominous case of blackmail, Sidney is once again rushed off his feet in this fifth instalment in The Grantchester Mysteries series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Jun 2, 2016
• ISBN: 9781408870242

James Runcie

James Runcie is an award-winning film-maker, playwright and literary curator. He is the author of twelve novels that have been translated into twelve languages, including the seven books in the Grantchester Mysteries series. He has been Artistic Director of the Bath Literature Festival, Head of Literature and Spoken Word at the Southbank Centre, London, and Commissioning Editor for Arts on BBC Radio 4. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Scotland. www.jamesruncie.com www.grantchestermysteries.com @james_runcie

Reviews for Sidney Chambers and The Dangers of Temptation

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the first one of the Sidney Chambers books that I have read, but I was familiar with the characters from having watched the Grantchester tv series. My appreciation of this book was helped immeasurably by the image of the young, handsome Chambers from the series. Chambers is middle aged in this book, but he doesn't seem to have resolved any of the issues of his youth. He still loves his former girlfriend, although he is married now, and he still can't stop himself from getting involved in police investigations.This book is really a collection of short stories, each of which deals with a cozy mystery. I'm not really a cozy fan, so I am probably not the target audience for this book. It wasn't bad, but it was too slow and polite for me. I think that from now on I will just watch the series. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[delta61 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the next in The Grantchester Series about a full time Church of England priest and part time detective. When I started this book, I was expecting a good murder mystery. Instead, it was a collection of a number of short stories, loosely stuck together. In the first story I thought I had blundered into a soap opera and the last story was too involved with diversity and sin.

[aztwinmom · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Rather than one story, this is a series of individual mini-mysteries. The mysteries seem much less important than the situations. Sidney is now an archdeacon, but seems to be the same confused, conflicted man that he is in the younger version of Sidney in the Masterpiece series Grantchester. The stories do move on slowly, but are thought-provoking.

[tomdonaghey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation (2016) (Grantchester #5) by James Runcie. Like his previous books, this is a series of novellas featuring his troubled but true man of the cloth. These tales are from the late 1960s with communes, love-ins and man on the moon.The Dangers of Temptation finds Sidney called upon by a very attractive divorced woman to help get her son out of a meditation style commune. But when the leader of the sect is murdered in a most grizzly manner, suspicions point to the boy.The other five stories in this collection are just as good as the title tale. If you have never read a Sidney Chambers book, I suggest you go back and find the first collection. Or any of these fine mysteries. Every one is a gem. If you only know Sidney via the PBS series, you’ll love him in the print format. Not since Father Brown leapt from the pages and onto both the small and big screen has there been a man of the cloth so well presented.No matter, I can’t recommend this, or any book in the series, too much.

[stewartry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How strange. I've fallen for Grantchester on PBS, so when I realized this was that I pounced on it on Netgalley. But this actually wasn't that… it's that plus a couple of decades. Sidney's relationship woes on the show have settled, and so has he. And that's kind of a shame. The heart of the series is basically Sidney's angst, the post-traumatic stress from the War, and his difficult, ambiguous relationship with Amanda (well, no, his feelings for her are not difficult or ambiguous; she is difficult and ambiguous. And kind of awful. Poor Sidney), and his relationship with Geordie. And in this collection none of that is in evidence. Young and troubled Sidney is engaging. Middle-aged and settled Sidney is kind of smug and annoying. I thought it was a little hilarious when someone (sorry – didn't note who) remarks "I hate it when vicars get the guitars out." I felt much the same way about what they called "folk masses" in my childhood church… Great line: "You must never leave me to wait on my own in public again. I haven’t got the cheekbones for it."I'm not sure how entertaining the name-dropping was – like "an up–and-coming actor called Ian McKellen", for example. There was more. I sometimes enjoy glimpses like that, but here it mostly caused eye-rolling. I plan to at least try one of the novels, to see if the charm of the series is based in charming writing or if it's something endemic to the actors and television writers, but these stories? Meh. The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.