Mother Paul, June Wright’s beloved nun-detective, returns to her sleuthing ways after taking up a new position as warden of a student hall of residence at the University of Melbourne.
No sooner has Judith Mornane arrived on campus than she startles her fellow residents by announcing her intention to discover the murderer of her sister, who disappeared without trace from the same dorm a year earlier. The ever-curious Mother Paul is drawn to investigate—did Judith’s sister simply run off for reasons best known to herself, as the police concluded, or could it be that she really was murdered? Could her disappearance be linked to a campus tragedy that happened around the same time—the accidental drowning (in her bathtub) of the wife of a college professor? And that drowning—was it in fact as accidental as the official investigation suggested? Mother Paul believes the two events are connected somehow, and a further tragedy, the faked-suicide death of one of her student charges, convinces her that a particularly cruel and clever murderer is still at work within the college. The Reverend Mother is not above a little subterfuge in the interest of discovering the truth, and she moves her colleagues, the students, and even the police around like so many figures on a chessboard until finally, amid high drama, the murderer is revealed.
Fans of June Wright’s blend of intrigue, wit, and psychological suspense will welcome this sequel to Reservation for Murder.
“A local queen of crime in the tradition of Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham.”—The Age
“Utterly engaging . . . Wright paints a vivid picture of mid-twentieth century mores, fashions, and entertainments.”—Australian Book Review
“[She] creates an engaging porthole into the past, with lively characters and inventive plotting.”—Publishers Weekly
