relzreviewz.com Character Spotlight on Donna Fletcher Crow’s Felicity & Antony

Character Spotlight on Donna Fletcher Crow’s Felicity & Antony

Meet a theology student and an Anglican priest in

Donna Fletcher Crow’s

murder mystery

An Unholy Communion

Monarch Books

The Story

First light, Ascension morning. From the top of the tower at the College of Transfiguration, voices rise in song. But Felicity’s delight turns to horror when a black-robed body hurtles over the precipice and lands at her feet.

Her fiance Father Antony recognizes the corpse as Hwyl Pendry, a former student, who has been serving as Deliverance Minister in a Welsh diocese. The police ignore the strange emblem of a double-headed snake clutched in the dead man’s hand, labeling the death a suicide. But Hwyl’s widow is convinced otherwise, and pleads for Felicity and Antony to help her uncover the truth.

Matters grow murkier as Felicity and Antony, leading a youth pilgrimage through rural Wales, encounter the same sinister symbol as they travel. Lurking figures follow them. Then a body is found face-down in a well…

Enjoy meeting Felicity & Antony

Brief physical description

Felicity, in her late 20’s, is a tall, lanky American. She has long blond hair, a long stride and boundless energy.

Antony, in his mid-30’s, is medium height with dark hair and pale skin. An understated Englishman, his caution balances Felicity’s rashness.

Strengths and weaknesses

Interesting, isn’t it, how often the same characteristic can be both strength and weakness. Felicity’s unthinking rashness gets her into a great deal of trouble, but it also leads her to wonderful acts of courage and loyalty.

Likewise, Antony’s solemn, intellectual approach can make him seem dull and overly cautious at times, but it also is a foundation for his wisdom and deep spirituality.

Quirk (if any)

The fact that Felicity went off, on something of a whim, to study theology in a college run by monks in a monastery would be considered a quirk by many— even by herself in her more soul-searching moments.

The fact that Antony, as an Anglican priest, wants to marry Felicity is a surprise to many readers, but isn’t actually at all a quirk since Anglican priests are completely free to marry. Of course, there are some who consider being a priest at all to be a quirk.

Your inspiration for the character and background to the story

Felicity’s backstory is my daughter’s. I had long wanted to tell many of the historical stories that Antony and Felicity explore in order to solve the crimes that come their way. When our daughter Elizabeth, who grew too tall to be a ballerina, went off to Oxford to study Classics, found teaching school in London to be boring, and went off to study theology in a monastery in Yorkshire, I knew I had the perfect background for my story.

I began by making Felicity a copy of Elizabeth: sweet, thoughtful, devout. . . in about 10 pages I discovered this was very boring. What makes a perfect daughter doesn’t work for a fictional heroine. I pretty much flipped Elizabeth’s personality on its head and Felicity was born. Well, except that Elizabeth can be pretty stubborn.