The Office of the Dead

Roth #3

by Andrew Taylor

Janet Byfield has everything Wendy Appleyard lacks: she's beautiful; she has a handsome husband, a clergyman on the verge of promotion; and most of all she has an adorable little daughter, Rosie. So when Wendy's life falls apart, it's to her oldest friend, Janet, that she turns.

At first it seems to Wendy as though nothing can touch the Byfields' perfect existence in 1950s Cathedral Close, Rosington,, but old sins gradually come back to haunt the present, and new sins are bred in their place. The shadow of death seeps through the Close, and only Wendy, the outsider, is able to glimpse the truth. But can she grasp its dark and twisted logic in time to prevent a tragedy whose roots lie buried deep in the past?

The Office of the Dead is a chilling novel of crime and retribution, and is the third volume of Andrew Taylor's stunning and acclaimed Roth Trilogy.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Gothic, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Historical Fiction

420 pages, Paperback

First published August 11, 1999

About the author

Andrew Taylor (b. 1951) is a British author of mysteries. Born in East Anglia, he attended university at Cambridge before getting an MA in library sciences from University College London. His first novel, Caroline Miniscule (1982), a modern-day treasure hunt starring history student William Dougal, began an eight-book series and won Taylor wide critical acclaim. He has written several other thriller series, most notably the eight Lydmouthbooks, which begin with An Air That Kills (1994).

His other novels include The Office of the Dead (2000) and The American Boy (2003), both of which won the Crime Writers’ Association of Britain’s Ellis Peters Historical Dagger award, making Taylor the only author to receive the prize twice. His Roth trilogy, which has been published in omnibus form as Requiem for an Angel (2002), was adapted by the UK’s ITV for its television show Fallen Angel. Taylor’s most recent novel is the historical thriller The Scent of Death (2013).

Reviews

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este libro forma parte de una trilogía en la cual los libros se pueden leer en cualquier orden. Realmente el tercer libro en la historia sería el primero

Mientras que en el primero a las pocas páginas sabemos ya el tema . En este la historia transcurre lentamente y es más sutil

Son libros para mayores de 18 y pese a que la escritura es agradable no lo es la historia (en mi opinión)

Spoilers a continuación

Son historias de adultos que gustan de niños pequeños.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where have I been? Why haven't I heard of Andrew Taylor and his fantastic books before? Well I have now rectified that and will make my way through the others.

I was thoroughly and totally engrossed in this trilogy and even after I turned the last page of the final book, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It is written 'back to front' and initially I had to keep referring back to the previous book to underline what has been written about a particular character.

The first book starts in the 1990's with the very naive and strangely sinister, Eddie and his lodger, Angel. We follow the story of Sally (who is a Reverend) and Michael (a detective) Appleyard whose 4 year old daughter, Lucy has been abducted. We know Eddie and Angel have taken her from the outset. This story makes for disturbing reading, I have to say, but it is totally necessary to the whole of the trilogy. Michael has a godfather, David Byfield, a priest, who I found extremely odd and I didn't particularly like him and was quite dismissive of him: big mistake as he is pivotal to the whole plot. I literally gasped out loud during the final chapter.

The second book starts in the late 1960's/early 1970's this time from the perspective of David Byfield where we learn he is a widower and lives with his teenage daughter, Rosemary, his wife Janet having died some 10 years previously. I saw a different side to David in this book and, although I still didn't particularly like him, warmed to him, and realised he was just looking for love and to be loved.

The third instalment is primarily set in the 1950's and is from the perspective of Wendy, an old and dear friend of Janet Byfield. She goes to live with them temporarily after a disastrous marriage. Here Rosemary is 4 years old and Wendy helps Janet with her care as Janet, being the wife of a vicar, has a busy schedule. She also looks after her father, Mr Treevor, who has early onset dementia. In this book I really didn't like David at all and reverted back to my original opinion of him.

The common thread throughout the book is Francis Youlgreave and his weird and disturbing poetry and ultimately his untimely death in 1905. Sally, Vanessa and Wendy become interested in his life and times and Wendy in particular does some amateur sleuthing.

I have purposely kept this review vague for fear of ruining anything. I was totally riveted with this trilogy but there are some unanswered questions I have regarding a few of the characters, so would love to sit down with Andrew Taylor for him to answer these for me!

Absolute fantastic and a story that will stay with me for a long, long time.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book that took some digesting as it was the last of a trilogy which goes backward in time. First book, the actions of a child abductor/murderer (female). In the second book, twenty years before the first, the events surrounding said murderer as a teenage girl; in the third, this one, the seminal events shaping the murderer, at age 4. I think Andrew Taylor is a fantastic writer and thinker -- he writes "mere" mysteries but they're wonderfully psychologically complex, and at the same time he examines other issues, in this trilogy, for instance, the effect of church theology and mores on our ways of thinking and behaving.

I had left off reviewing this book because I needed to figure out whether he had satisfactorily answered certain questions from the first book and I couldn't quite figure out if he had (it doesn't help that you're reading about the events backwards). My big question was -- did he explain why this girl became a murderer? Was she a psychopath from the get-go? Was her confused and unhappy childhood to blame? What role did the church play, particularly in the influence of a long dead churchman, Francis Youlgreave, whose spirit hovers over the books and obsesses many characters who come into contact with him? Well, recently I watched a BBC production of all three books called "Fallen Angel" and particularly enjoyed the interviews surrounding the production -- interviews with author Andrew Taylor (a handsome fellow with white hair and an intriguing stutter) the actors, the director, the screenwriter, the on site psychologist. The question asked of all was, was Rosie/Angel doomed to be who she was? Because of spoilers I won't reveal how it came out (it was far from black and white, anyway) but it seemed to tidy things up in my mind.

So my conclusion is that Andrew Taylor did a fairly good job of painting/explaining such a person. Not a perfect job, but a pretty good one. I'm very glad I read this trilogy and I have to say that Taylor, in my opinion, is one of the best and most interesting crime writers in existence and that it is a joy to think that I have many other of his books to look forward to.

[Bridget · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was well into it before I discovered that it was part 3 of a series, I don't think it mattered too much, it stood alone well. I liked the main character, her attitudes and bolshiness were great. It is a quiet mystery but the creepy feeling begins to kick in at half way and you know that there is something terrible lurking in the background. The setting was fabulous in a Cathedral Close which was vividly drawn. Wendy Appleyard is a really good character, her quest for answers is engaging and I liked her enormously. I'll have to read the other two now. Damn, too many books to read.

[Hermien · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last instalment in this trilogy pulls the story together beautifully.

[Laura Andersen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished my re-read of the Roth Trilogy, with its unique backwards chronology. And I remembered why I kept these books on my crowded shelves as my heart wrung all over again with pain and compassion.

[Bettina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Het derde deel van de Roth trilogie speelt zich af eind jaren '50.

David Byfield is een ambitieuze priester in de Anglicaanse kerk, hij heeft een geweldige vrouw Janet en een klein dochtertje van vijf, Rosemary.
Maar als de dementerende vader van Janet bij hen in huis komt, en Wendy, een vriendin van Janet die in scheiding ligt ook bij hen logeert, lopen de spanningen op. Janet is opnieuw zwanger en kan de zaken niet goed voor elkaar houden. Er zijn dode vogels, vreemd gedrag van Rosemary en het onderzoek dat Wendy doet naar de priester Francis Youlgreave die rond 1900 aan opium verslaafd was, voor vrouwen in het ambt was en beschuldigd werd van satanische praktijken.
Maar terwijl Wendy onderzoekt wat er gebeurt is met de twee kinderen die Youlgreave meegenomen had, sterven er anderen.

Heel knap hoe we in elk boek teruggaan de in de tijd en op die manier zien we hoe dingen ontstaan zijn, in dit laatste deel wordt eindelijk duidelijk waar de bron ligt van al het kwaad dat in de eerste twee delen heeft plaatsgevonden. Deze opzet is origineel en heel goed uitgevoerd. En pas op de laatste bladzijdes wordt alles duidelijk.

[Thomas Stroemquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last book in the trilogy and the one that takes place longest ago. This worked very well on it's own (i read the other parts long before), but I think that the trilogy is great with the books read back-to-back and I'm going to fit that into my plans.

[Ghiomara Beov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creo que tenía que leer la trilogía al revés la hubiera disfrutado más

[Ant Koplowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final part of Andrew Taylor's intricate and involved Roth trilogy. This is an involving and involved novel, excellently written with Taylor's characteristically evocative sense of time and place - one of the relatively few contemporary authors who really can convince you that you're in the past. Although it's the final part of a trilogy, it's not really necessary to have read the other two books - I would say that they can all be read in any order you like.

The plotting and narrative construction are both very clever in that he works backwards from book one to three, and because of this I wish I had read them a bit closer together - the reality is that I'd largely forgotten the details of the other books as I read them several years ago. I now want to go back and re-read the other two, just so I can enjoy again the excellence of Taylor's writing. A real pleasure (as always!).

© Koplowitz 2021

[Moravian1297 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as I had predicted in my review of the second book in the Roth trilogy, 'The Judgement of Strangers', this third and last instalment, 'The Office of the Dead', was almost as turgid and eventless as the first, 'The Four Last Things'.

All three, being mainly made up of everyday events and domestic drudgery, with a considerable amount of focus and time spent on life's emotional baggage. With nothing more than the occasional nudge, nudge, wink, wink at a darker underbelly lurking behind the facade of an idyllic family life, namely, the Appleyards, the Youlgreaves and in particular, the Byfields.
In the case of this book however, 'The Office of the Dead', despite little hints at Rosemary Byfields future deviancy and the death/murder of her grandfather right at the end of the story, very little of any note happened at all.
Nevertheless, I did find it amusing, that whenever Wendy Appleyard referenced her husband, Henry Appleyard’s one time mistress, she referred to her as the ’Hairy Widow’, and would always picture seeing Henry’s flabby arse cheeks wobbling about on top of the said Hairy Widow, with her blue high heel shoes stretching out and up into the sky! This would always raise a chuckle from me.

Although delving a little deeper into the history of Francis Youlgreave and thus finding out that Lady Youlgreave was actually someone else, someone, I might add, that hadn't really figured in either of the previous two Roth books, unless I'd missed something along the way, I never really felt any satisfaction at the conclusion of the books. Any curiosity I had, and believe you me, due to the overall mundane drudgery of the stories, there wasn't much to begin with, but what little there was, certainly wasn't assuaged by knowing that, Lady Youlgreave was actually a council estate tinker and that her brother, along with eccentric poet and defrocked priest, Francis Youlgreave, whom was at the centre of this tale, had perhaps sacrificially murdered their baby sister, over fifty odd years ago!

So, almost exactly like the author's ’Lydmouth’ series, the ’Roth’ trilogy has also been somewhat of a hit or a miss. Indeed, there were many other similarities, good, bad but mostly indifferent with the ’Roth’ and ’Lydmouth’ books. From the settings in the 1950’s, to murdered babies in the plot lines. I never really got on with the first book to any degree, however, despite the second book being just as much, if not more of a ’soap opera’, I did strangely enjoy it. But unfortunately and as predicted, and although not quite as egregious as the first, I didn't particularly enjoy this, the third instalment very much either. I will now watch the 2007 ITV adaptation of the books and see how their interpretation goes. Some good actors in there all told, so hopefully and with fingers crossed, they'll make a better fist of it!

**They didn’t haha! : (

[Tim Julian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Third and final installment of his "Roth" trilogy, and once more we move back in time, this time to 1958, and a new narrator, Wendy, the best friend of David Ryland's young wife Janet. More is revealed about minor Victorian poet Francis Youlgreave and his bizarre obsessions, and the early career of our psychokiller from the first two books (no spoilers, so can't really say much more about that). Intelligent, literate crime novels which deserve to be much better known.

[Judith Barstow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb final book of this brilliant trilogy. All things fit into place & the first two books are explained fully . Andrew Taylor is a very clever writer - I am an avid reader and cannot recall a ‘ back to front’ story before this . Cannot recommend highly enough. The insight across the decades is so clever - you feel as if you are there.

[Merrilie Rowley · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting trilogy in that the whole story is revealed backwards ! Book 3 sort of explains Books 1 and 2. By the end of the third book I felt oddly unsatisfied as quite a few questions remained unanswered but the books were sufficiently enthralling in themselves to maintain interest if not quite dotting all the i's.

[Ezekiel Benzion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sigh...loved the first two volumes in the trilogy but this one fell flat. Perhaps my expectations were too high or perhaps the secret terror was no longer a secret so that there was no build up? In short, while this one was not as engaging as parts 1 and 2, it was a good read with well-drawn and very conflicted characters.

[Martin Bussey · Rating 5 out of 5]

All is revealed but don’t assume you know everything until you get to the end. Events and characters in the second novel become much more understandable by the end of this book. Though in a way that darkens the whole trilogy. Taylor’s skill in recreating twentieth century views, morality and everyday life is very apparent here. And this novel moves more quickly than the other two, I felt.

[Andrea Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nature versus nurture, born evil or created the final book has the answers to the previous 2 books as well as a lot more. Back to the 50’s now for the latest instalment that’ll draw you in and challenge you to think again and again about what transpired in the other 2 books.

[Penny G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each book of the series was ok, but as a whole series they were much better. It was intriguing reading the story backwards, each page getting more and more of the whole picture.

[Elizabeth Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old fashioned and measured but well written and intriguing. The order of the trilogy frustrated me as they are not in chronological order but it kept me turning the pages.

[Mike Taverner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like a bit more action but this seems to be setting the scene for further books

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back to where it started. Great plot and characters. Sad and chilling.

[matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

still a little confused by what happened at the end but i enjoyed this book and this series nonetheless. will probably reread in the future.

[Kathleen Hagen]

Office of the Dead, by Andrew Taylor. A. This is the last of the Roth Trilogy. Downloaded from audible.com.
This is one of these series where the last book is written first, and you go back progressively to earlier generations or layers with each book. The only thing I dislike about this is that if you read the series with too much time in between the books, you can’t keep it in perspective. Now that I’ve read all three, and have Office of the Dead fresh in mind, I think I’ll reread The Judgment of Strangers, the second one, and then The Four Last Things, the first one.

This book is primarily about Wendy Appleyard and her best childhood friend, Janet. Wendy is married to Henry Appleyard, who goes through her money first and then she finds him with another woman. Wendy leaves him and goes back to her hometown and moves in with her best friend, Janet, Janet’s husband, David, and their five-year-old daughter, Rosie. Wendy, to get on her feet again, takes a job putting the cathedral library in order. While doing so, she comes upon some information about a monk from about 50 years previous to this book, which itself is set in the 1950’s. She learns that this man has some dark secrets, but that he was also considered quite generous, particularly to one boy who he helped re-settle in Canada. But what happened to that boy’s siblings? They seem to have disappeared. As Wendy becomes more involved in trying to track down the history of this story, she becomes aware that she is being followed. On the domestic front, Henry is wooing Wendy to come back to him, and she isn’t at all sure she even wants to see him. Janet’s father is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and moves in with her and the family. But he has some very strange and inappropriate behavior. Finally, Janet’s father dies during the night. At first it appears to be suicide, but the police quickly believe it is murder. All of these threads pull together in a tense story which will keep the readers on their toes until the last sentence of the book. Several twists and turns and tragedies throughout the book. The best of the three in the Roth trilogy, in my opinion, but all three of these books are very good.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

he Office of the Dead is the third volume in Taylor’s Roth Trilogy, in which his readers come to understand how a little girl evolved into a serial killer. Wendy Appleyard leaves her husband after discovering his infidelity, and, not knowing where to turn, takes refuge with her friend Janet Byfield, now married to a handsome, up and coming C of E clergyman. The Byfields are pleased to welcome Wendy, who can assist Janet in the running of her household, which encompasses their daughter Rosie and Janet’s elderly, rather senile father, Mr. Treevor. Almost immediately, Wendy perceives that all is not well. Mr Treevor engages in some very inappropriate, unsettling behaviors, and five year old Rosie is aloof but precocious. The Reverend Byfield is more concerned with his career than his family, and Janet prefers to downplay the significance of the increasing strangeness that surrounds them.
This is a tautly structured novel which builds, with commendable subtlety, to its unsettling climax only a few pages from the end of the saga. The metaphors that recur throughout the series (the sound of wings, church and domestic architecture, poetry, and biblical quotes, to name a few) serve as omens of things to come, and motifs that seem puzzling in the first volume (The Four Last Things) become clear at last.

[Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realise this was the third in a trilogy until I was well into it Now I have read that the trilogy is in reverse time sequence - intriguing - I want to read the others! This book could stand alone however, it kept my interest, and was a little bit different.

[Martine Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final part to this gothic trilogy is superb, even as a stand-alone book, set in the beautifully rendered milieu of an English Cathedral Close. There is so much that is well observed here - of genteel poverty, of personalities mutated by religion and reverence, of blindness to tragedies unfolding in the family home. Written in stylish prose, this concluding novel moves back in time to look at how 'Angel' evolved into a murderer. Only because parts one and two were so riveting, I'd have to say this is not my favourite. But it is still a powerful 4 star book; strong on dank atmosphere, unstoppable events, an (MR) Jamesion attention to church architecture and liturgy and of course a delicious sense of the gothic imagination.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one "out of order" - meaning I read it after reading "The Four Last Things." I think that's okay, though. I saw the tie-ins to "TFLT" and can't wait to read "The Judgement of Others" to complete the circle. Rosie just creeped me out and I could feel her evil growing. Looking forward to reading about the middle years in the second installment...

[Kirsty Darbyshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third volume of the Roth trilogy was also the best but that might have something to do with the build up to it. I'm really very impressed with this threesome. As a whole it's unlikely to get beaten as my 'best book of 2003' - it's published in one volume now so I think I can get away with that.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the previous two books in the series, but still very readable. Maybe I was getting tired of the whole mystery angle. Some of the revelations were surprising, others mundane. The ending was a little disappointing.

[Book Tea 🫖 with Jai · Rating 2 out of 5]

from start to finish this book was not as good. As the first three books. It was long and drawn out. It was really hard to even finish. But when I read the other two books it was great. And I enjoyed it a lot. But sorry Mr. Taylor just very hard to read.