A spate of anonymous letters being received by the nuns and staff of a Convent and associated school leads to blackmail and murder.
This is a later work by the redoubtable Gladys Mitchell,written when she was 74. There is no tailing off of her remarkable talent here,and the description of the nuns of the Order of Companions of the Poor are quite wonderful. Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley does not appear until well after page 100,when she is invited to investigate the anonymous letters. Needless to say she not only does that,but she unmasks the murderer too. It is the descriptions of the characters and of the peculiarities of Dame Beatrice rather than the crimes themselves that enthusiasts continue to lap up these books. It is pleasing to see that more of the long out of print titles are now being reissued by several publishers. This one is no exception and has been produced in a nice edition by 'Greyladies',complete with an introduction by Rosemary Auchmuty. ( )