RMR Project: Page's "The Body in the Belfry"

 

The Body in the Belfry is, according to the back flap, Katherine Hall Page's first book and it earned her the Agatha Award for best first mystery novel. From a reader perspective, it captivated me easily and carried me happily along on its tale. No problems with suspension of disbelief or characterization. A pleasant read.

Copyright 1990. Published by Avon Books.

Now for the more clinical aspects.

POV

The book starts out with Faith, a minister's wife and new mom. My expectation after reading the first few pages was that it would be a third person limited omniscient POV. I was wrong.

Already within the first chapter I found hints of omniscient--no clear narrator, but obviously more than Faith should know.

As a short example of the most glaring breaks of Faith's POV:

• p. 73-74. Dave's POV
• p. 79. 1 para of Dunne, back to Faith, then a touch of Tom
• p. 82. Millicent
• p. 92. Pix.
• p. 106. Scott

By the time I'd gone through that headhopping section, I quit noting the shifts, declaring it some kind of third person omniscient perspective.

I think I need to study more on third person omniscient because of the questions I am left with.

Was Page trying to write third person omniscient or did she just break the limited POV without realizing it?

Perhaps she was not edited as firmly because of her Agatha prize? Is the prize awarded to a draft or to a published book? If the former, the award might result in less thorough editing in the haste to get it published.

Tense

Past. That was easy.

Deaths

There are two. Cindy Shepherd on page 12 with a knife and a second murder on page 168. I won't reveal the victim and method of the second here because it might be a bit of a spoiler.

Suspects

Pretty much the entire town and even beyond. The first victim was quite a troublemaker. The second narrows the suspect field in some directions and opens it in others.

Other

The first chapter is all back story. That continues up to the death on p. 12. Agents on Twitter recently have been talking a lot about the importance of limiting back story in the early chapter. I guess no one told this author or she did it so well that no one was disturbed?