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Alan Kemister
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A Body in the Sacristy (Barrettsport Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Alan Kemister (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 6 ratings
A carpenter discovers a baby girl's carefully preserved body in the Anglican church of a small coastal community on Nova Scotia's South Shore. Who was she? Was she murdered? If so, by whom? And how did her body end up in a sealed cabinet?In his first case, newly recruited Barrettsport police detective Simon Goodyear tackles these questions. Simon has traded his job as an undercover cop on a big city vice squad for a simpler life in a small town where he can help his friends and neighbors. As he works on the puzzle, he discovers that his new stomping ground isn't as bucolic as he hoped.During the investigation, the church secretary provides Simon with important lessons on the political and social structure of his new hometown. He discovers that the quirky nature of the town and its most prominent citizens are key factors leading to the mystery's solution.I would classify this book as a soft-boiled mystery, a locked-room whodunit without the graphic sex, violence, and tough guy hero of the hard-boiled variety. It resembles in some ways a cozy mystery with elements of police procedural. Or, I could argue it’s a traditional British mystery set in Nova Scotia (New Scotland). The focus is on a basically nice guy small-town cop interacting with the town’s unusual characters as he pursues the solution to his puzzle.If you find that sort of story interesting, A Body in the Sacristy should appeal to you. Discover it, and subsequent Barrettsport Mysteries here on Amazon.“…well thought out, intricately structured plot. Well done!”—Nova Scotia Writers Federation reviewer.“A Body in the Sacristy is a page-turner. I look forward to more of Alan’s books.”—Catherine A. MacKenzie, author of Wolves Don’t Knock.“Alan Kemister has created a captivating mystery. He describes an intriguing South Shore Nova Scotia town and has the reader solving the crime and discovering the social foibles of the community with detective Goodyear.”—Tom Robson, author of Wait and See, a romance set in Nova Scotia.“Kemister draws you into the deceptive calm of small town Barrettsport before he drops you into a scandalous mystery that you just have to know the answer to.”—Kat Smutz, author of best selling history in an hour books and the recently released Silent Tears.
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  1. Book 1 of 2
    Barrettsport Mysteries
  2. Print length
    192 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    April 21, 2018
  5. File size
    4.4 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alan Kemister is the pen name of a Halifax Nova Scotia based scientist experimenting with creative writing. He has a keen interest in environmental science and dabbled in yachting and golf before turning to fiction after retirement. He's written a baker's dozen of published short stories and one poem. Several of these stories appeared in two anthologies produced by Halifax's Evergreen Writers Group: Out of the Mist: 22 Atlantic Canadian Ghost Stories released in 2014, and Off Highway: Journeys of Nova Scotia Writers, in 2017. A Body in the Sacristy is Alan's first published novel. He's currently working on additional adventures featuring Detective Goodyear and the fictional South Shore town of Barrettsport Nova Scotia. The second Barrettsport Mystery, Tilting at Windmills, should be finished soon.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07CK94SKV
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Plumbaurum Press (April 21, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.4 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 192 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 6 ratings

About the author

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Alan Kemister

Alan Kemister

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Alan Kemister is the pen name of Phil Yeats, a chemist based in Halifax Nova Scotia, who began experimenting with creative writing in 2009. He has a keen interest in environmental science and dabbled in yachting and golf before turning to fiction after retirement. He's used the pen name Alan Kemister to maintain a degree of separation between papers written during his career as an oceanographic researcher and his more recent forays into fiction.

Alan has published many short stories; some of them in anthologies available on Amazon. His first novel, A Body in the Sacristy, a traditional whodunit mystery, was published in April 2018. A second, Tilting at Windmills, appeared in December of that year. After a three-year hiatus, he published (September, 2021) The Souring Seas, the first volume in a trilogy about the hazards of ignoring climate change. He has now added The Body on Karli's Beach to his Barrettsport Mysteries, and Building Houses of Cards and They All Come Tumbling Down, the second and third volumes in his climate change trilogy. His most recent book is The Road to Environmental Armageddon, and omnibus edition of his climate change saga.

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4 out of 5 stars
6 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • John L. Matthews
    4.0 out of 5 stars Mystery in the Maritimes
    Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    To those of us from that smaller country south of Canada, Alan Kemister's description of a seaside Nova Scotia village is very appealing. The lifestyle here is a combination of modern and old fashioned, laid-back and primly proper, quirky and traditional. There is sexuality but bounded by local norms that detective Simon Goodyear has to get used to.
    Yes, there is a mystery too, but the mystery is intertwined with the social events and customs and relationships of the citizens of Barrettsport.
    In fact the technical procedural descriptions of how DNA testing an be used to determine parenthood and other relationships is sometimes so detailed we want to say OK we accept it, we just want to hear more about Simon's social life.
    In the early going Mr. Kemister's awkward phrasing and word combinations betray an author more at home with technical matters than fiction. Using a roundabout description to make a point makes it seem he is overly concerned with being perfectly clear. But this language smooths out once he has laid out the terrain and described the characters who form a likable cast to populate future books in this series.
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  • R. J. Krzak, Award-Winning Author
    5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Mystery
    Reviewed in the United States on June 10, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Author Alan Kemister's first novel, A Body in the Sacristy (Barrettsport Mysteries Book 1) is a well-crafted story with realistic characters, making it very difficult to put down as I kept turning the pages to find out what happened next.

    Set in Nova Scotia, Detective Simon Goodyear's first case in Barrettsport involves an infant found inside a sealed cabinet by a carpenter. Simon sets out identify the baby and the parents, immersing himself into the founding families of the town. What secrets have they managed to keep hidden over the years? Alan has weaved an intriguing mystery, with plenty of possibilities. I thoroughly enjoyed following Simon's search for the truth. I won't provide a spoiler alert but suffice to say, Alan is on a winner here and I can't wait to read the next installment.
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  • Christer Norrlof
    4.0 out of 5 stars A well crafted crime novel
    Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2023
    I enjoyed reading this Nova Scotia based crime novel, where the young detective, Simon Goodyear, arrives to a small town and gets his first task to solve in the local Anglican Church. While following Simon and his investigations, we get to know a long list of townspeople, how they are related to each other and how some of the families have a higher status and importance than others.
    As the author digs deeper into the characters and their backgrounds, we also get an insight into the fictitious town’s history. It’s interesting, trustworthy and realistic, and several of the townspeople appear on the list of suspects.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Janet Sketchley
    3.0 out of 5 stars A detailed, carefully-plotted mystery
    Reviewed in Canada on December 29, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    By creating a fictional town, the author gave himself scope to build a setting and population that best suited the series. It's well thought through, as are the relationships among the key families.

    This is a fairly straightforward mystery, with a few surprises along the way but with less twists than I expected. It's detailed and carefully plotted, and I enjoyed watching the puzzle unfold. I'm still not sure about some of the decisions and motivations, but I still "got" the ending.

    It's a clean read, except for some minor profanity, and I enjoyed the small-town Nova Scotia setting.

    Detective Simon Goodyear is an appealing character, and I liked his female co-worker who wants to move into investigations. Most interesting bit was the signal flags, and the character who sewed them (who I won't name to avoid spoilers).
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