Murder In The Nunnery

MURDER IN THE NUNNERY is a compelling, heart-stopping novella of suspense, intrigue and surprise. Murder? In a convent? Mother Ellen, Prioress and Sister Irene, Novice Mistress are drawn into a web of mystery when their gardener, Richard Gibbs, is found stabbed to death in their greenhouse. The pervasive scent of lavender has them believing it could be one of their own! Upon further investigation the Denville police trace Richard's history to Ireland where youthful and heinous crimbes are discovered. Was he hiding in America? Was it someone from his past taking revenge? You will learn of his double life and his betrayal of the trusted nuns who treated him as a family member.

Written by Eric Shepherd, a onetime professor of English Literature at the University of Malta Murder in a Nunnery was inspired by his latter career teaching at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Roehampton. In the fictional Harrington Convent one of its more challenging inhabitants, Baroness Sliema is found murdered, Chief Inspector Pearson of Scotland Yard is called to solve the crime. He discovers the Convent is governed by a particularly shrewd and omniscient Reverend Mother and we meet a varied and entertaining cast of characters observed with wit and charm. Shepherd describes the world of a Convent with its colourful, and in some cases unlikely, inhabitants with sympathy and humour making for a gentle and entertaining tale.

Two years after the murder of a wealthy Baroness inside Harrington Convent, the orderly everyday affairs of the nuns and students are disrupted anew when a body neatly wrapped in brown paper is found by the gardener.

ON THE STEPS OF ST. JOSEPH'S ALTAR LAY THE CORPULENT BODY OF THE BARONESS SLIEMA - STILL, SO IT SEEMED TO THE HORRIFIED NUNS, HEAVING UNDER THE BLOW WHICH HAD STRUCK HER DOWN... Chief Inspector Pearson of Scotland Yard is called in to solve the crime - but the old wealthy Baroness had quarrelled with most everyone in Harrington Convent, and there is no shortage of suspects. What's more, he must deal with a particularly shrewd Reverend Mother, and nuns and students who lead him on a merry chase...

There has probably not been a person more maligned by the powerful forces of the Roman Catholic Church than Maria Monk. In 1836 she published the famous book, Awful Disclosures of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal. In that book, she told of murder, rape, and torture behind the walls of the cloistered nunnery. Because the evidence was verifiably true, the Catholic hierarchy found it necessary to fabricate evidence and suborn perjury in an attempt to destroy the credibility of Maria Monk. The Catholic Church has kept up the character assassination of Maria Monk now for over 175 years. Edward Hendrie has examined the evidence and set it forth for the readers to decide for themselves whether Maria Monk was an impostor or a brave victim. An objective view of the evidence leads to the ineluctable conclusion that Maria Monk told the truth about what happened behind the walls of the Hotel Dieu Nunnery of Montreal. The Roman Catholic Church, which is the most powerful religious and political organization in the world, has engaged in an unceasing campaign of vilification against Maria Monk. Its crusade against Maria Monk, however, can only affect the opinion of the uninformed. It cannot change the evidence. The evidence speaks clearly to those who will look at the case objectively. The evidence reveals that the much maligned Maria Monk was a reliable witness who made awful but accurate disclosures about life in a cloistered nunnery.