Sacred Hearts: A Mystery Introducing Sister Agnes [Hardcover]

Even with red herrings enough to corner the market in kippers and a cast that could populate Billingsgate, the debut appearance of an appealing clerical detective shows plenty of promise. After spending 15 years in a cloistered convent, savvy Sister Agnes Bourdillon departs to work with runaway teenagers in her native London, assisting an old friend, Father Julius. Once there, she learns that her former husband, Hugo, is suspected of murdering his second wife, Phillipa, in a Gloucestershire village. Although she is still haunted by the physical and sexual abuse that prompted her to divorce Hugo, Agnes can't believe he'd actually kill a woman. She offers Hugo her help and easily gains the confidence of just about everyone she meets: Hugo's houseman admits his brother had an affair with Phillipa; the wife of a missing blackmailer gives Agnes some videotapes. Despite her continued support of the violent Hugo, Agnes applies her insight to others' motives and her sharp powers of observation to the evidence, besting the police with her investigative talents.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Fifteen years after driving his long-suffering first wife out of his hearth and home and into a convent, the magnetic, dangerous Hugo Bourdillon, who's capable of sending you flowers and a fat check the morning after attacking you with a wine bottle, has murdered his second. Or so it seems to the Gloucestershire police. But Sister Agnes, who's left her order in London to return to her ex-husband's unlovable side, doesn't believe Hugo really stabbed Philippa Bourdillon to death; despite his amply documented history of abusive behavior, he'd never been one for knives or bondage gear, as Philippa's flamboyant friend Athena Paneotou, who seduced Hugo on commission from Philippa, duly notes. Guided by Athena and an unlikely gaggle of sullen teenagers, Agnes delves into Philippa's equally sordid private life and uncovers a clever, ruthless blackmail plot Philippa shared with her ``business partner'' David Mellersh--a plot much more likely to have led to her murder, as it's likely to lead to others. Though charismatic, monstrous Hugo and self-tormenting clotheshorse nun Agnes aren't the most realistic characters you've ever met, first-novelist Joseph writes with such pointed authority that she has you believing in them in spite of yourself. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Sister Agnes Bourdillon, an unconventional nun who escaped her abusive ex-husband behind the walls of a convent, turns sleuth when her ex-husband becomes the prime suspect in the murder of his second wife.