Kerry Greenwood’s knowledge of church ways and the Anglican Province of Victoria a century ago are marvellously, if quirkily at times, on show in her posthumously published Phryne Fisher mystery, ‘Murder in the Cathedral’. The stylish socialite detective has been invited by her old friend Lionel Watkins to attend his installation as Bishop of Bendigo. For this reason, we learn from Miss Fisher that “I’m not much of a believer myself, but I was brought up in the Church of England. It is the religion of the Great Compromise. It is above all a creed founded on the principle that murdering each other on points of doctrine is something that only foreigners do.” This confession of faith, if you will, is basis for her opinion, shared with the investigating constabulary, that “every church has its awkward moments, but clergymen and organists don’t go around killing each other because they have guilty secrets.” She works by her own process of elimination, nearly always leaving offi...