Customer Reviews

Murder Superior

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To get the most out of this, you should first read, at a minimum: _Not a Creature Was Stirring_ (introduces Gregor), _Precious Blood_ (introduces the Sisters of Divine Grace), and _A Great Day for the Deadly_ (a murder at their motherhouse). If you start with _Murder Superior_, you'll eliminate some suspects in the earlier cases.

Mother's Day on Cavanaugh Street is like the festival of a particularly fanatical cult :). Mother's Day in the convent focuses on Mary, the Mother of God. (Gregor sees children's artwork to that effect so much in this case, he feels like saying a novena, and he's Armenian Orthodox.)

The Sisters of Divine Grace are having a convention in Philadelphia, and Sisters are arriving from all over the world, including: Reverend Mother General and Sister Scholastica (of course), Sister Joan Esther from Alaska, Mother Andrew Loretta from Japan.

All of them loathe Mary Bellarmine, Mother Superior of the Southwestern Province. She's a middle-aged woman without a real vocation, who entered the order as a career. She's fantastic at funding and organizing building projects (e.g. new gymnasiums), and lousy at handling people. (Joan Esther requested a transfer to Alaska in the first place to get away from her.)

But when Gregor arrives to deliver his speech "Investigating the Catholic Murder", the woman who falls dead into his arms isn't Mary Bellarmine, but a nun everybody *liked*, who may have eaten something intended for Mary Bellarmine. And the chief investigating officer this time is an incompetent with political connections, who wants to make a big splash in the press without any unofficial consultants around. But when Reverend Mother General says jump, even the Archbishop of Philadelphia (who she taught in the 8th grade) says, how high? So Gregor's in for it, like it or not.

Interesting characters: nuns with personality (formidable nuns, cheerful young nuns; some read novels or sing Madonna lyrics while working); a radio talk-show host who specializes in offensive commentary with morning coffee, but who may not be a total loss; the dysfunctional marriage of two contributors to the order; men who just want to be protected from all the nuns. :) And, of course, the continuing lives of Gregor and his friends, and whether or not he and Bennis will ever get romantically involved.

I like Jane Haddam's mysteries; in general I find them to belong to the best tradition of detective fiction: difficult puzzles that a clever and wise detective can unravel with the same clues that we learn. This book does not qualify. By the end of the story there was a likely villian and only one likely villian, both in terms of events and in terms of character (which is usually Haddam's strong suit). There were no surprises in the ending. I was dismayed that so good an author could produce this story.

If you are a fan of Jane Haddam, you may want to read this for completeness. But please don't expect much from it.