From Publishers Weekly
The fifth entry in Black's series centering on Sister Joan, of Cornwall's Convent of the Order of the Daughters of Compassion, is less deftly plotted and deeply textured than the previous four Vow mysteries. The suicide of the housekeeper at the rectory of the local parish occurs just after the pastor begins an extended vacation. The arrival of his replacement, a sternly scrupulous new priest, coincides with the appearance at the convent of a dour, earnest new nun. Sister Joan, sent to town temporarily to fill in for the housekeeper, surreptitiously investigates the suicide, which she believes was murder. The discovery of the mutilated corpse of an unidentified young man, followed quickly by two more unexpected deaths, leads Sister Joan to another crime 20 years past. Black's otherwise sharp and modern-minded heroine misses a connection that readers will make easily in a tale whose red-herring characters are too easily distinguished from the guilty ones.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Sister Joan is far too curious to settle easily into the confines of the convent of the Order of the Daughters of Compassion. But she's trying; that is, until the death of the housekeeper at the rectory is discovered to be a murder and Sister is sent to replace her. Her sudden death turns out to have been a murder. Is the murderer the new nun at the convent, with her suspicious and painfully austere ways? The new priest who doles out incredible penances for mild infractions? Or a sadistic parishioner? Sister Joan snoops, interrogates, chats with the police chief, and sets a trap for the villan. Except for the fairly nonchalant attitude of this woman of God to four sudden deaths, Black's story is a viable, entertaining mystery.
Denise Perry Donavin
