cover image In the Rosary Garden

In the Rosary Garden

Nicola White. Cargo (IPG, dist.), $13.95 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-9088-8566-1

As graduation looms, Alison "Ali" Hogan and her best friend, Carmen "Fitz" Fitzgerald, the heroines of British author White's impressive debut, are eager to move on from St. Brigid's, a Catholic girls' school in 1980s Dublin. Dying for a smoke, Fitz sneaks off to the Rosary Garden, her and Ali's haven away from the nuns. As soon as she's able, Ali sneaks off too, only to find a near hysterical Fitz standing over the body of a dead infant. White plays it cool, helping the reader conjure the full range of gruesome and titillating implications of a dead baby in a convent garden. As suspense builds and poor%E2%80%94literally and figuratively%E2%80%94Ali becomes Det. Insp. Vincent Swan's prime suspect, she emerges as a virtual poster child for all that was wrong about Ireland's sexual mores in the late 20th century. Family secrets and the headline-hungry media also figure in this well-crafted mystery. (Oct.)