$119.71

+ $3.90 Delivery

Temporarily out of stock.
Order now and we'll deliver when available. We'll e-mail you with an estimated delivery date as soon as we have more information. Your account will only be charged when we ship the item.

Ships from and sold by Amazon US.

Share <Embed>

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 3 images

Follow the Author

James Runcie

Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death Audio Cassette – Unabridged, 1 June 2012

by James Runcie (Author), Peter Wickham (Reader)

979 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$12.79

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Hardcover

"Please retry"

—

$119.98

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$19.06

$16.96

—

MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 Audio, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$120.35

—

Audio, Cassette, Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$119.71

—

US imports may differ from local products. Additional terms apply. Learn More.

Sidney Chambers, the Vicar of Grantchester, is a 32-year-old bachelor. Tall, with eyes the colour of hazelnuts, he is both an unconventional clergyman and a reluctant detective. Working in association with his friend, Inspector Geordie Keating, Sidney is able to go where the Police cannot, eliciting surprise revelations and confessions from his parishioners; whether it involves the apparent suicide of a local solicitor, a scandalous jewellery theft at a New Year's Eve dinner party, or the unexplained death of a jazz promoter's daughter. Alongside his inquiries, Sidney also manages to find time to enjoy cricket, warm beer, hot jazz, and the company of an attractive, lively young woman called Amanda.

Amazon Global Store

International products have separate terms and are sold from abroad and may differ from local products including fit, age rating, and language of product, labeling, or instructions.
Manufacturer warranty may not apply but you may have other rights under law.
Learn more about Amazon Global Store

Special offers and product promotions

Buy this item and get 90 days Free Amazon Music Unlimited. After purchase you will receive an email with further information. Offer valid for a limited time only. Terms and Conditions apply.” Learn more here.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

James Runcie
233
Paperback
$14.34
James Runcie
488
Paperback
3 offers from $34.39
James Runcie
384
Paperback
14 offers from $7.90
James Runcie
301
Paperback
$19.92
James Runcie
230
Hardcover
$20.23
James Runcie
277
Paperback
$18.39

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

James Runcie
233
Paperback
$14.34
James Runcie
488
Paperback
3 offers from $34.39
James Runcie
384
Paperback
14 offers from $7.90
James Runcie
230
Hardcover
$20.23
James Runcie
301
Paperback
$19.92
James Runcie
277
Paperback
$18.39

Start reading Sidney Chambers and The Shadow of Death on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher : ISIS Audio Books; Unabridged edition (1 June 2012)
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 1445016737
ISBN-13 : 978-1445016733
Dimensions : 16.51 x 5.72 x 22.86 cm

Customer Reviews:
979 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		57%
4 star		27%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Enjoyable, almost as good as watching the TV series

Reviewed in Australia on 14 August 2015

Verified Purchase

The six stories in this collection are all very readable. The language, village, its rural life and interesting characters (including inspector Geordie Keating and their regular backgammon nights in the pub) are entertaining, if a little old-fashioned, but portray the time in which they're set. Sidney is certainly a loveable character, although a bit woody. Stories are: A shadow of Death, A question of Trust, First do no Harm, A Matter of Time, The Last Holbein and Honourable Men. All great fun.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Frances Sampson

Just okay

Reviewed in Australia on 3 December 2015

Verified Purchase

This is rather old-fashioned. It is set in the 1950's and I was surprised to discover it was only written in 2012.

The detective priest is a kind-hearted muddler - rather in the style of Miss Marples and how he can solve these crimes where the police are almost totally stumped is beyond me.

It is a series of crimes, one after the other during a year or so in this man's life. Sidney, of course, solves all of them. Each incident is relatively short and there is not much depth to them.

I won't be reading the next book about this man.

Helpful

Good Book

Reviewed in Australia on 21 December 2014

Verified Purchase

This is a really good book. Sydney Cambers is such an interesting character. A priest and amateur sleuth from an interesting time and place, I am sure we will enjoy many more stories from James Runcies pen.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Anna

excellent

Reviewed in Australia on 1 January 2015

Verified Purchase

Found this very good reading am looking forward to the TV series. The fact it contains a number of stories is great for putting down to read something else & come back to a new tale.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

valerie

very light hearted crime

Reviewed in Australia on 16 January 2015

Verified Purchase

Enjoyable read and the Canon is a very convincing character. Good plot development and easy to read. You will enjoy the light hearted humour also.

Helpful

Marjan

Nice, simple short stories

Reviewed in Australia on 25 December 2014

Verified Purchase

Nice, simple short stories. Nothing fancy, and quite old fashioned (set in post WWII England's). The blurb described it well: resembles Midsommer Murders. If you like those you may like this. I found it relaxing and amusing reading.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Eirons

Four Stars

Reviewed in Australia on 21 December 2014

Verified Purchase

Easy reading. Nice characters.

Helpful

Edward Henry

Four Stars

Reviewed in Australia on 30 December 2014

Verified Purchase

Enjoyed these stories

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Holly "Ragdoll Reads" Hodson

"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy...except in Grantchester apparently..."

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 June 2018

Verified Purchase

What I liked…

This book was a nice, easy read - it is absolutely perfect for the casual or time-poor crime fan. The stories and characters and engaging and likeable which goes a long way to making this book a low-stress read.

I like the fact that the book is broken up into 6 different parts, but has a sort of 'main story' as I mentioned above. A lot of writers would have been tempted to drag each of the 6 stories in this book out into a whole book so in order to try and find a balance between the crime themes and Sidney's personal and professional life, but Runcie has done the opposite - finding a good balance by saying less. There is a lot to be said for short-and-sweet.

I enjoy the characters, mainly because I know them from the television programme, however I am particularly enjoy the character of Sidney and his relationship to the Church and Christianity in general. I personally really enjoy reading about peoples interaction with and interpretation of their personal faith, and this book has plenty of it - although I am cautious to add, not so much of it that it detracts from the other themes of the book!

Finally, I enjoy the setting - mainly because Grantchester is only a few miles away and I know most of the place names! It makes things slightly entertaining for me...

What I disliked…

There are a handful of times where I found Runcie's method of description a little peculiar, but not so much that I can remember exactly what bothered me, and certainly not enough to stop reading.

Also it bothers me the way the characters talk during a discussion about homosexuality, but frankly that's my bad for reading a book set in the 50's. Having said that, Sidney is very progressive in this regard which makes these passages easier to digest.

Final thoughts...

This book was an easy and enjoyable read. Each story was entertaining, and due to the format of short stories, the romantic subplots I usually can't stand were engaging, but not drawn out.

The characters are lovable, although not hugely developed in many cases (again, due to the short-story format) but with 4 further books in the series, there is plenty of room for expansion. That said, the crime plots are the real selling points of this book. They are well thought out and a joy to read.

I strongly recommend this to anybody who enjoys a simple crime read - particularly those who are casual readers, are strapped for time, or struggle with longer stories.

9 people found this helpful

Amazons Customer

An entertaining read and good value

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2017

Verified Purchase

Having Already seen and enjoyed the television series I hoped that I wasn't going to be disappointed and It wasn't. The characters and story lines were just right and as the book consists of a series of stories, it lends itself to being picked up and put down again.

This makes it an ideal holiday read.

6 people found this helpful

Damaskcat

Sidney Chambers and the Shadows of Death

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 July 2012

Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )Verified Purchase

The book consists of six `long' short stories; a format with which readers of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories will be familiar. The stories also follow Sidney Chambers' life chronologically through nineteen fifty three and nineteen fifty four. Sidney is the mild mannered courteous Vicar of Grantchester near Cambridge. He meets a friend Inspector Geordie Keating every Thursday for two pints of beer and to play Backgammon. Sidney finds himself, frequently against his better judgement, involved in trying to investigate a variety of crimes of greater or lesser importance.

This is not a book which will please readers who prefer their crime with all its gory details but those who prefer to read novels which remind them of Agatha Christie or Georgette Heyer will love this book. I found the characters believable and interesting and the nineteen fifties background is well done. People are polite to each other and things which are talked about freely today are glossed over and not discussed. This is how it was then.

Sidney finds people will talk to him much more freely than they will to the police and he can ask questions and obtain answers which the police would fail to do. Sidney is a likeable character. He doesn't enjoy Christmas and finds Lent frustrating. He is irritated when his friend Amanda wishes a Labrador puppy on to him because she thinks he is lonely but soon finds Dickens indispensible to his happiness. He is gradually realising that like his friend Geordie he is never off duty.

As must always be the case with short stories, the plots are slight but they are well constructed and I enjoyed trying to work out who was responsible for the crimes. If you enjoy Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer's crime novels and modern authors such a R T Raichev then you will enjoy Sidney Chambers. I shall be watching out for future books in this series.

31 people found this helpful

Blue and white

Sidney, the crime busting Canon..

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 July 2017

Verified Purchase

Well what can I say, except that I thoroughly enjoyed these stories. Sidney is a very likeable but unlikely solver of murders, and along with Geordie Keating and Amanda; who manages to get herself involved in some way or another, they solve all manner of crimes. And what crimes they are too, and include a stolen painting, a jazz singer, a murder that wasn't a murder and ones that were. A stolen ring for an engagement that never happened and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.
I'm a bit too young to remember the early 1950's, but life appeared to be much simpler then. Amongst Mrs Maguire's toad-in-the-hole and shepherds pie, games of backgammon and warm beer in the pub on Thursday evenings, a beautiful black Lab puppy called Dickens....we have Sidney the Canon, who butters his early morning toast before cutting them into soldiers......
These stories are very well written and for me personally, the TV series has really brought the characters to life. There aren't any breaks in the stories, and I think including a few chapters in each would have helped. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed them all, and will be adding a few more to my Kindle.

3 people found this helpful

Ruth B.

Charming

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 September 2017

Verified Purchase

I bought this book after enjoying the 3 series on TV and was surprised to find not one but several short stories. That said I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Each short story is based on a murder without the need for overly graphic blood and gore, focusing rather on relationships and circumstances instead. Unlike the series, the murders are solved by Sydney with Geordie serving as support and friendship. Throughout the short stories there is a definite link and reference back to previous cases and of course the emergence of Amanda as a potential love interest, Leonard the curate, Mrs McGuire the housekeeper and Dickens the dog. Overall a charming read.

One person found this helpful

See all reviews

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death Audio Cassette – Unabridged, 1 June 2012

Amazon Global Store

Amazon Global Store

Special offers and product promotions

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Australia

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries