A Lesson in Dying (Inspector Ramsay, 1)

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Now, if you’ll take your Bible and turn with me again to Genesis 47 and pay particular attention to verse 29 and the opening phrase: “When the time drew near for Israel to die.” It’s a striking phrase, is it not? Anyone who is reading the text carefully will, with any sensitivity, be caused to wonder at such a phrase certainly not simply because it speaks to the history and destiny of this man, Jacob, but because we find ourselves mirrored in such a phrase. Because although we would rather on many, if not most occasions, distance ourselves from this awful truth, the fact is that for each of us there will come a day when it will be apparent that the time has drawn near for us to die. And whether it is happening suddenly, without any sense of premonition or warning, or whether as a result of the onset of a protracted illness, there will be those who whisper behind their hands and walk from our rooms and remark to one another, “Surely, the time has come for him or for her to die.” All preventable. They knew in 2011 this could happen! Republicans try to blame Democrats. Won't stand up. What Democrats? The GOP has owned this state for the last couple of decades. But, this could easily be told in reverse. You imagine writing that down? I’m not talking about writing it down out on a football field somewhere in the afternoon where a bunch get together and go, “Hey, you know, well, we’re never going to die, but let’s just put some stuff together.” No, this is somebody looking death in the face and saying, “Incidentally, don’t leave my casket open; just close it up. Be nice though, to have one or two pictures.” It’s difficult expressing all that this life and my future eternal life mean to me. This verse expresses a little of my feelings and my gratitude to God for the life, the family, and the friends he has given me.

The school caretaker and his daughter pursue their own route of investigation, which should have made Inspector Ramsay's job a little easier. But hampered by false leads, powerless to pre-empt the killer's next move, and overshadowed by the evil atmosphere of All Hallow's Eve, Ramsay finds his own reputation is on the line... There’s something about that here. He is indicating something by his posture. At the same time, you will notice in 48:10, his “eyes were failing because of old age and he could hardly see.” These are little indications of the fact that he was about die. The diminishing of his physical powers. Jacob’s Fading Mental Capacity Well, what, then, are the factors which point to this? And in asking this, we seek to learn a little of certain factors which actually will become apparent in the lives of those around us who are confronted by the actuality of this experience. Not all of them and all the time, not necessarily in this exact way, but certain of these factors, irrespective of a time of the onset of death, will become apparent to the people themselves and to others who are looking on. The Fact of Jacob’s Age

Summary

Ann is the author of the books behind ITV's VERA, now in it's third series, and the BBC's SHETLAND, which will be aired in December 2012. Ann's DI Vera Stanhope series of books is set in Northumberland and features the well loved detective along with her partner Joe Ashworth. Ann's Shetland series bring us DI Jimmy Perez, investigating in the mysterious, dark, and beautiful Shetland Islands...

Ann Cleeves's Northumberland-based Inspector Ramsay novels have a distinctive flavour of their own. ... This is a strong, dark crime novel, distinguished by its intelligent, spiky characterisation. These are people whose actions are rooted deeply and plausibly in their own psychology. Cleeves is particularly good at showing the claustrophobia of enclosed lives." In this second Inspector Ramsay novel, our hero faces a murder investigation on his own doorstep following his impulsive decision to buy a cottage in the quiet Northumberland village of Heppleburn. This rounded off my reading of the Inspector Ramsey series. Requesting interlibrary loans for 3 in this series was well worth it. Hopefully the author and/or the publisher will take the hint and republish this gold mine again. Anne Cleeves has been there on my bookshelf for a long time. She provided me with Vera long before the TV series and then Jimmy Perez on Shetland. Having read all of these that were available, I looked for more and as I wasnt particularly taken with a chance encounter with George and Molly Palmer-Jones on an audio cassette , I settled on this Inspector Ramsay series to fill the current void.

And she quotes Job 10:12: “You gave me life and showed … kindness and in your providence watched over my spirit.” And then she concludes in this way: It is strange, yet appropriate, that I am writing this to you on Independence Day, for I am anticipating the day when I will truly be free in the Lord. Please celebrate my homecoming with me. When the time came for Jacob to die—when the time comes for you and I to die—what then? Have you made plans? Can I ask you, do you have a will? And is it up to date? And if not, why not? And does it simply contain information regarding the functional, financial, real estate, taxation elements of life? Or does it actually contain this kind of important information which will, in our passing, leave a testimony to our faith and make things a whole lot easier for those that we leave behind? Do you realize how difficult it is going to be choosing, for some of you, your funeral hymns ’cause you love so many songs? So if you don’t write them down, we may sing the wrong ones. And do you have Scripture readings that you want read? And do you have a message for each of your children that you want opened on that day? You see, the real issue on that day is not going to be when the attorney sits at the table and everybody gets around and says, “And to my first son I leave ‘X,’ and to my second child I leave ‘Y,’ and to my wife I leave the balance of my estate,” and all those kind of things. That’s all froth; that’s all nothing stuff. The real legacy has to do with the blessings of the covenant‑keeping God, which is what takes us to our second point which we can’t get to this morning. There are a lot of similarities between the two sets. I was going to say ,except for the central characters, but on reflection there are likenesses there too. I am looking forward to seeing how the character of Ramsay matures through the series.