Doors open 6.30pm
Event starts 7.30pm

Reverend Richard Coles is the only British vicar to have had a number-one hit single and to have appeared as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. He is also a Sunday Times bestselling author, Twitter phenomenon, much loved broadcaster, and now – as he retires as the 59th vicar of Finedon – Richard becomes a novelist with the first book in his eagerly anticipated Canon Clement mystery series.

Join him for this limited run of live events, as he celebrates the publication of Murder Before Evensong which sees the sleepy parish of Champton descend into unexpected chaos. In his hybrid life as vicar and media personality, Richard has many friends, and tonight, he will be in conversation with James May to talk about Canon Clement, his new fictional sleuth.

He’ll also be unpicking his own unlikely journey, with all its unexpected junctions, heartache, and joys, that have led Richard to be voted Britain’s Most Whimsical Vicar. Sex, drugs, pop stardom, religious epiphany – a path to “the best job in the world”, hatching, matching and dispatching, his own experience of the madness of grief – this is the story of a life truly and truthfully lived.

As the country emerges from two challenging years and as Richard hangs up his dog collar, spend an enlightening and entertaining evening in his company as he asks what life’s all about, and what comes next?

‘I’ve been waiting for a novel with vicars, rude old ladies, murder and sausage dogs … et voila!’ – Dawn French

Age restriction 14+ (Under 16s accompanied by an adult over the age of 21)