Detective Hopes

When he isn’t driving the many miles across the three counties that make up his Diocese of East Anglia, Bishop Alan Hopes unwinds by reading detective fiction.

Now, in an interview with the diocese’s website, he has explained that his favourites include works by P.D. James, Ian Rankin’s “Rebus” series and the Andrea Camilleri novels about Inspector Montalbano. Bishop Hopes said he discovered the latter before they were televised on BBC Four.

P.D. James has a close connection with East Anglia, having attended Cambridge High School for Girls, and has set three of her novels in the region. One in which Bishop Hopes, a former Church of England priest, might be interested is Death in Holy Orders, set in an Anglican theological college – not to mention P.D. James’ detective hero, Adam Dalgliesh, the son of an East Anglian vicar.