On The Liturgical Mystery Series by Mark Schweizer
By Don Paxton
Hello, I am Don Paxton, a fellow reader from Amarillo. Along with being a recovering CPA my church is remarkably similar to the one in the series described below.
If you are looking for a fun summer read, I suggest a series of paperback novels by Mark Schweizer known as liturgical mysteries. It involves a police chief of a mythical North Carolina town known as St. Germaine who is also the organist/choirmaster of a fictional St. Barnabas church. The chief of police is Hayden Konig who over the series solves multiple “who done its.” He even solves a murder in Parliament in London within the series.
In keeping with the choirmaster character of the protagonist, the series includes the following titles (in order):
The Alto Wore Tweed (2002)
The Baritone Wore Chiffon (2004)
The Tenor Wore Tapshoes (2005)
The Soprano Wore Falsettoes (2006)
The Bass Wore Scales (2006)
The Mezzo Wore Mink (2008)
The Diva Wore Diamonds (2010)
The Organist Wore Pumps (2010)
The Countertenor Wore Garlic (2011)
The Christmas Cantata (2011)
The Treble Wore Trouble (2012)
The Cantor Wore Crinolines (2013)
The Maestro Wore Mohair (2015)
The Lyric Wore Lycra (2018)
The Choir Director Wore Out (2018)
A typical page length for any of the books above will be less than 200 pages, just perfect for beachside reading.
The organist/choirmaster besides being Chief of Police, with two deputies, also fancies himself as a budding Raymond Chandler. Konig not only owns Chandler’s 1939 typewriter but Chandler’s fedora as well.
In the story titled “The Diva Wore Diamonds” St. Barnabas church completely burned down nineteen months previously. During the reconstruction, a box was found as part of the previous church’s foundation. It was assumed to be a time capsule from 1900 when the burned down church was constructed. Instead of letters from Sunday School classes, bulletins, church documents, pictures, etc. the “time capsule” is filled with nine marble-sized diamonds.
It seems as though things are getting back to normal in (fictional) St. Germaine, North Carolina. St. Barnabas Church, which was destroyed in a fire nineteen months ago, has been rebuilt. Various ecclesiastical bigwigs will be present for the rededication, as will most of the townspeople in this little mountain village. Hayden Konig, town police chief and choir director at St. Barnabas, is looking forward to the festivities, which will include the opening of a time capsule that was placed in the church’s foundation in 1900. Konig and everyone else is shocked by the time capsule’s contents. Diamonds!–and a note that refers to the location of more diamonds on nearby land. Soon, the hunt for diamonds consumes some of the locals, but that is not the only thing stirring up the little town: a referendum to allow the sale of liquor by the drink on Sunday has brought in protesters whose powerful prayers may have caused lightning to strike The Bear and Brew, a church camp is the scene of much mischief under the excitable new youth minister, and a man who might have been both a land speculator and a blackmailer is murdered.
Among the various novels in the series the church is donated a NASCAR racer. In another novel the acolyte handling the incense conjures up a replica of the last supper using the smoke of the incense.
This is the seventh novel in Schweizer’s Liturgical Mysteries series out of fifteen. If your library does not have volumes of Schweizer’s work there is interlibrary loan or, no doubt, your favorite independent bookstore can most likely chase down any book in the series.
To conclude, I am Don Paxton from Amarillo, for the HPPR Radio Readers Summer Reading List. Enjoy the many chuckles found on the pages of the liturgical mysteries.
