A VOW OF CHASTITY

A second story featuring impulsive, thirtysomething Sister Joan, a nun in the Order of the Daughters of Compassion, who lives in the Order's convent in the Cornwall countryside and teaches a small class of children from local farms and the nearby gypsy community, along with newcomer Samantha Olive, whose writer father has bought an old house in the area. Sister Joan is troubled by a string of small incidents centered on the convent chapel, where a crucifix has been moved, holy water has dried up, flowers and candles have disappeared. She's disturbed also by the strange lack of mischief among her young pupils. It all culminates in the discovery, in the chapel, of the poisoned body of Petroc Lee, a gypsy boy missing for several days. Keeping much pertinent information from Detective Sergeant Mill, Sister Joan embarks on her own investigation, eventually uncovering the particularly nasty (and unlikely) source of evil. Endless replays of the convent's daily routines and the less- than-credible plot weaken a sporadically interesting story, which lacks the cohesion of the series debut, Vow of Silence.