Murder in a Nunnery

Harrington Convent #1

by Eric Shepherd

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.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Detective

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1940

Reviews

[CLM]

The heroine of this novel always reminded me of the girl in Saki's The Open Window.

I remember my 7th grade librarian telling me that the author's sisters were RSCJ nuns, which was why the convent setting was both accurate and respectful.

[Thereadingbell]

Murder in a Nunnery (1940) by Eric Shepherd takes place at the Harrington Convent School. Baroness Sliema, who lived in the convent as a sort of permanent guest, together with an old servant and a ward, both of whom she bossed around. Baroness Sliema is found dead on the steps of the St. Joseph altar in the convent's chapel. Chief Inspector Pearson is assigned to figure out what happened in this community of nuns. The nuns of the school step there toes into trying to help solve the case as well. Pearson is surprised by the schoolgirls they are not at angelic at all but ruthless. The story was mediocre it was not that good but not horribly bad. The mystery is solved with a confession.

[Susan]

Elderly Baroness Sliema has a hobby: making enemies. But as an honored (paying) guest at the Harrington Convent School, she doesn't expect to be murdered...Chief Inspector Pearson doesn't know anything about convents or nuns, but when he meets the Reverend Mother, he knows he's in the presence of someone special. Some of the girls in the school are not as meek as the nuns would like, which both helps and hinders him in this classic detective story.

[Rosemary]

Enjoyable and undemanding.

[Bev]

Murder in a Nunnery (1940) by Eric Shepherd takes place at the Harrington Convent School. The Baroness Sliema is found murdered on the steps of the St. Joseph altar in the convent's chapel and Chief Inspector Pearson is surprised to find that passions and motives abound in what he expected to be a quiet, chaste little community of nuns. Mother Peck, the Reverend Mother Superior in charge of the convent, soon puts him straight:

There is rancor and ill will in a Convent as outside. I myself have a shocking temper.

She also tells him that while the Baroness may have been patron to the convent, the woman was a nasty piece of work who collected enemies like some people do stamps. The Baroness's ward and secretary Venetia resents her interference in her love-life. Her son resents her clasp on the purse strings. And her down-trodden companion resents the way she treats the young Baron (who she nursed as her own when he was small). The nuns don't care much for her interfering ways and general unpleasantness. And no one is particularly saddened by the Baroness's untimely demise.

The Reverend Mother and her students seem to be a lot more worldly than the gentlemanly Inspector Pearson. Pearson is almost diffident and apologetic in his dealings with the nuns and it's amusing to watch him pussyfoot his way through his investigation. He is definitely out of sorts when he sneaks into Venetia's bedroom (sure that she is not there and is, in fact, roaming the convent disguised as a nun) and finds her chastely in bed.

The students are very interested in the murder--but are even more interested in the ghostly nun observed by one Verity on the night of the murder. Verity turns girl sleuth and hunts for clues. Her disregard for convent rules and regulations has her posing for pictures and giving all the gory details to a pack of journalists. One of whom produces a scrap of nun's veil that he found in the garden while lurking in hopes of someone like Verity coming along to give them a story. She passes the scrap along to the Inspector..and is rewarded for her resourcefulness by being taken into Pearson's confidence. He requests that Mother Peck allow Verity's bed to be moved to the window so she can watch for a reappearance of the ghostly nun.The scrap of cloth and a lingering scent that Pearson's superior olfactory senses finds attached to it and wafting throughout the vital scenes will lead him to the culprit once he determines whether the ghostly wanderer is one of the nuns or someone else in disguise.

This a funny, comedy of manners style of mystery. Great fun and easily read in one sitting. It was amusing to watch Pearson's interactions with the convent community and Mr. Turtle, the gardener, is quite easily the best of the bunch. He is a very down-to-earth character full of common sense...and his heirloom timepiece plays a vital role in verifying the time of the attack.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Ann]

An unusual setting for a British mystery : a murder in a convent school ! The murder victim is the disagreeable Baroness Sliema, who lived in the convent as a sort of permanent guest, together with an old servant and a ward, both of whom she bossed around mercilessly. The nuns and the schoolgirls are extremely interested in the police work, and vice versa, the police inspector assigned to the case, becomes absorbed into the rhythms of the school. He finds out that angelic-looking schoolgirls may be quite ruthless and that the Reverend Mother is adept at managing the politics and emotions of the women under her care. It's the growing respect and admiration between these 2 characters that made the book for me, because as a mystery it wasn't anything special. The solution of the mystery hinged in part on a dramatic confession that strained my credulity.

[TheOldWoman&TheSea]

Charming little story about a murder in a convent.
The book reminded me about Agatha Christie books, but the story felt ... 'friendlier' somehow. I was kept guessing until the very end.

[Cidney]

I borrowed this 5 cd audio book from my local library. Never heard of Eric Shepherd and I think he wrote this during the war in 1940, so a very different era from what I'm used to. I quite liked this, the gentle wanderings around and the musing of the detective assigned to the case, Pearson. A murder takes place in now was it called the Harrington? convent. The mother superior is indeed superior and a skilled negotiator, what with the excited young pupils and the querulous staff and wandering police men and the ability to handle the gentle Pearson who is in charge of the investigation.

Baroness Sleema, (not sure how you spell it),the patron of the convent who lives there but is an extremely unpleasant old lady and no-one in the convent is sad at her death. The young girl pupils are keen to help Pearson but somehow they always get in the way, the nuns themselves are also excited in having the police around and Pearson himself has no idea how to manage all of them!

The story gently rolls along and there is something rather sweet about it, the manners of the time, life in a convent school, the nuns, the police who tiptoe round the nuns not sure how to treat them. It all adds up to a nice slow story, the only downside coming into view? The ending, not sure how we got to it but we did and it wasn't a satisfactory ending for me.