Customer Reviews

Vow of Sanctity (A Sister Joan Mystery)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a well-crafted mystery by an experienced author. What I liked best was Scottish setting and the main character, a Sister of the Daughters of Compassion who is on retreat in a loch-side cave in Scotland. The descriptions of the location were very vivid -- I could imagine it all in my mind, as though I was there -- and our detective-nun is likeable and good-humored. There is wit in the book but I wouldn't describe it as laugh out loud funny but a more subtle (and equally enjoyable) wittiness so typical of the British.

The plot involves glimpses of a body in a monastery that gets moved right after she notices it. Did she really see a body, and whose body is it (it's dressed like a monk), and who is moving the body? There is an array of characters to choose from as suspects (assuming there was a crime), including the monks at the monastery and the people living in this tiny and rather remote Scottish village.

My main complaint had to do with a final chapter in which all the answers were too quickly dropped into place. The solution didn't so much unfold as suddenly appear -- all of the solutions to all of the mysteries in this book. It was a little too contrived for me. But -- while I was reading the book, I couldn't put it down, and I would be interested in reading more by this author.

I have loved mysteries all my life. I have now retired, and have more time to read. I have spoken to the grade school librarian about this author. It is wonderful to find a book you can recommend to all ages. Even talked my husband into reading it. This book has a great story line, and the descriptions of the area are such that I can almost see the scenes.

Sister Joan had been involved in two unfortunate murder cases, so her prioress felt that she needed to go on retreat to Scotland in order to renew her spirituality. As isolated at the retreat is, it gives Sister Joan a bit more freedom and introduces her to a wild area of Scotland with some interesting townspeople. There is a decided anti-Catholic sentiment in the nearby village, but two families overcome their prejudice enough to invite Sister Joan for a meal. She discovers that there has been an unhappy history between the two families and they are currently estranged because of past romances. She spends some of her leisure time painting pictures of a monastery which is on an island which can only be reached by a rowboat, obligingly rowed for her by a young monk named Cuthbert. Of course the inevitable body shows up and Sister Joan is torn between her obligation to the monks and her responsiblity to report it to the police. As usual, she would rather solve the case herself than to turn it over to the local authorities. This is a good addition to the series and the loose ends are all cleverly tied up in the end.

This is the first Sister Joan mystery I have read, and it likely won't be the last. It appeared to me, however, that the meat of the mystery story took a backseat to other issues, namely Catholic/Protestant relations in a small Scottish town and how Sister Joan got along with various townspeople and the monks of a nearby monastery. The issue of the legendary "Black Morag" was, I thought, a bit silly, but necessary to introduce the clandestine romance between two young people, which the Sister Joan eventually discovers.

As a novel, "Sanctity" is a good read and does offer enough suspenseful action to keep a mystery fan occupied.

The tone is dry. The characters are interesting and believable. The sleuth is intelligent, fallible and stubborn. The story is fun to follow. Sister Joan on vacation! One of the most entertaining reads I've had.

I have all the Sister Joan paperbacks published so far and this is my favorite in the series. Her descriptions make the weather, countryside, and events seem almost palpable. Her comments on convent life and the life of a nun give even a Roman Catholic like me rare insights into a profession that itself is mysterious.