Customer Reviews

Quiet As A Nun

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4 star:		(1)
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It's odd to note that Lady Antonia Fraser, famous for her historical biographies, decided to try writing mysteries as a lark; she turns out to be the best mystery writer I have read since Agatha Christie! Possibly that's because, unlike so many other mystery writers, she does not copy or imitate Christie, Doyle or the other old masters of the genre. Instead, in Jemima Shore, she has created a startlingly original character; one who does not resemble any literary detective of the past. Fraser is also great at characterization (one of Christie's weak points); her creations are vivid and frighteningly real. This is her first Jemima Shore novel; sadly, many of the others are out of print, but if you can find them, read them.

What a good and clever job of a book this is. Antonia Fraser, not surprisingly, writes fluently and well. A nun dies of anorexia, it would seem. There is not much support for the convent in the surrounding community. Convents are too austere, too strange for ordinary people to conceptualize in present day England.

It turns out that an old girl, Jemima Shore, a TV personality, an investigator of causes and outrages, is summoned to look into the matter of the death. The nun is her former classmate. Jemima attended school at the convent for two years during the war.

The dead nun was an heiress. She had ownership of the grounds on which the convent is situated. Through her untimely death, the convent gained the land. She had threatened to turn the property over to poor people. Jemima Shore's television program, unbeknownst to Jemima, had triggered a controversy over the property in the convent community.

Initially Jemima refuses to get involved. When a contemplated trip abroad falls apart, she reconsiders her decision. The number of deaths and inexplicable occurrences grow and Jemima Shore is compelled to enter labyrinths-- physical in terms of the convent lay-out, mental in terms of the minds and personalities of the inhabitants.

Antonia Fraser (better known to many for her historical novels) is a stellar mystery writer in the classical style. It's been twenty-some years since this mystery book was written, and it doesn't feel stale or dated to read. Jemima Shore is an interesting detective-- conflicted, maturing, and unsure of herself-- she makes an excellent vehicle for exploring a nunnery on the brink of change and for finding a murderer within its walls.

I love this book! It was made into a superb (and very, very spooky) mini-series by BBC starring Joanna Lumley as Jemima. I hope it gets released on DVD!

Antonia Frasier writes wonderful history and I think I have read all of her books--so it seemed easy to pick this venture into a different genre. Unfortunately the requirements of mystery writing require pacing, a modicum of suspense and (my preference) some character definition. The heroine is called to her old Catholic school to investigate the death of a former friend who joined the convent and turned up dead. A letter addressed to Jemima Shore from the deceased has been found. Or something like that. Halfway through the book, I could not figure out why the victim reached out to the heroine, who in fact did not like the old 'friend'...and red herrings were popping up like whack-a-moles at a carnival. The head of the convent has some meat on her bones, but no other character seemed to take on a life of her own. The book slipped down the pile of books that wait on my bedside table as a nagging reminder that I must finish what I start...someday.

I take nothing away from Ms. Frasier as a historian but history -- not mystery -- is where she should stay.