A Quiet Belief in Angels by RJ Ellory:

People liked the descriptive passages and the Deep South voice (and some disbelief that he was British).  Also small-town America, the context of Second World War and impact of far away events, and his characters especially of Joseph Vaughan and the pitiable situation of his mother, all went down well.  We felt that the serial killings and the search for the killer were somehow not entirely central to the book ….and this was enjoyed.  The group talked about the role of angels (but were unsure about the appearance of feathers), feelings of guilt, the feel of autobiography as the Joseph is the writer, the change from pupil to lover, ‘The Guardians’ as grown men.  However views were, as ever, not unanimous and ranged from it being a rivetting read to being trite and clicheed.  Some wanted to know a bit quicker who the killer was, disbelief that he would be unknown in such a small town atmosphere and concern about the lack rationale of why the girls were being cut up (possibly now obligatory for serial killers).  Scores ranged from 0 to 8.5 with an average of 6.1

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