Book Review: A Matter of Time

Reviewed By: Luke Croll - RAM

A Matter of Time     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
David Manuel
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Faith Abbey # 3
Warner, 2003, 291 pages

Brother Bartholomew, a monk, is in Bermuda, struggling with a crisis of faith. He finds himself pulled into an investigation of drugs, dirty money and murder, as a drowned man is discovered in a pond and a car rolls off a cliff into the sea. Can he solve this mystery at the same time as rediscovering his faith?

Despite the blurb making a lot of Bartholomew?s role in the mystery, he in fact plays a minor part. The novel deals with the mystery through various viewpoints, such as the Cape Cod police chief and the criminals. He also concentrates more on the characters than he does the plot, at times leaving the intrigue for two or so chapters to give the characters some flesh and back-story. We also see a large part of Bartholomew wrestling with his face and at times, involved in dialogue with God. After a while, this became slightly irritating and almost contrived as though the author could not think of another way to convey Bart?s problems.

Despite the hint of a powerful mystery through drugs and murder, ?A Matter Of Time? is primarily a cosy mystery story. There is the requisite cat, the lack of bad language and generally likeable characters. Manuel does include one or two shocking scenes, but overall, 'A Matter Of Time' is soft summer reading. There is nothing at all taxing here, so if you are looking for a simple story where you can easily be absorbed, you could do a lot worse than 'A Matter Of Time'.

Luke Croll - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Luke Croll - RAM

Luke Croll - Conference interpreter and translator
http://lukecroll.translatorscafe.com