No Choir, No Bells

St. Wendreda's on Bainbridge Island has not held a funeral in forty years. Nobody dies here. They leave instead — in the night, dishes still in the sink, coats still on the hook. Tilly Ashgrove, parish administrator, has a spreadsheet. Twelve departures, all on the third Sunday, all from members who had just asked about funeral rites. She also has Mr. Cholmondeley, aged ninety-something, who does the flowers, lives in the undercroft, and cheerfully admits he is the reason none of them can die. In 1978 he made a deal to save a child. The price was that St. Wendreda's would never be a place where funerals happen. The deal breaks if the congregation falls below ten. There are ten left. The child is still alive, and Tilly has her number. A cozy fantasy mystery of small churches, old bargains, and a harvest festival forty years overdue.