A Vow of Sanctity

Plucky and engaging Sister Joan, whose sleuthing was previously chronicled in A Vow of Silence and A Vow of Chastity , leaves her Cornwall convent for a month-long retreat in western Scotland. On excursions from her furnished cave, overlooking a beautiful loch and a nearby monastery which was originally a lookout post from which the natives hoped to spy maurauding Vikings, Joan is greeted with suspicion and hostility by the locals, who are mostly Calvinists. She also uncovers a number of mysteries to ponder when she is not praying. Why did Alasdair McKensie, a Catholic, disappear six years before? Did his wife kill him for having an affair with Catherine Sinclair, wife of the Protestant cleric? And was Catherine's death three months later a suicide or an accident? What of the nocturnal tryst of young Morag Sinclair with a cowled oarsman who could be the considerably older abbot of the monastery? After Joan observes modern shoes on one of the mummifed bodies of the supposedly ancient priests seated in a monastery crypt, the body disappears. Joan's bravery in battling a fierce freak tide leads to the recovery of that body and the unraveling of other puzzles. Her wit, true innocence, humility and joyous spirit win the admiration of villagers and readers alike. Black's other novels include last year's My Name Is Polly Winter.(Aug.)