All Things

All Things was recommended to me as a Veganuary read by Andreea at Cheeky Lines because its central character, the wonderful Reverend Alma Lee, is vegan. I loved Rev. Alma! Part Latina and part Chinese, she grew up in the San Francisco Mission district where she now ministers so understands its people and their foibles. Alma was only fairly recently appointed to St Giles, a struggling Church, but her scatterbrained blend of prayer meetings and pastoral care is making St Giles popular again with worshippers of all genders and sexualities. She is surrounded by a good supporting cast of distinctive characters that I look forward to getting to know better in future books. I don't tend to read Christian fiction so was a little wary of this aspect of All Things. However, although Alma is a preacher herself, she doesn't actually preach to her readers. This novel is crime fiction that happens to be set around a church, rather than religious fiction that happens to include a crime. I'm giving extra points for the Vicar Of Dibley mention too!

I liked the way Belldene takes Alma, and us, through the investigation of Cindy's murder. I won't go into details so as not to inadvertently give anything away! The sparring between Alma and her Detective ex-boyfriend is great fun to read and, don't worry, they Don't head into love triangle territory! I was disappointed by proofreading errors abruptly dragging me out of the story. I can excuse a couple, especially in indie books, but there are several nonsensical sentences and an odd timeline moment too. A shame although I wouldn't let that put me off reading further Rev. Alma Lee mysteries when they are published.