Vow of Chastity (19 page)

Bending his head briefly in the direction of the altar he strode out into the world again.

Sister Joan heard the closing of the door but didn’t turn her head. Her rosary in her fingers she had begun the gentle rhythm of her prayers.

Sister Joan of the Order of the Daughters of Compassion enjoys her work as teacher in the little school high on the Cornish moors, combining it with her religious life in the isolated convent. But beneath the placid surface an ugliness is stirring, revealed in a strange verse written by an eleven-year-old
newcomer
, the disappearance of an
au
pair
girl and the nebulous fears of a local farmer. Isolated as the convent is, it becomes the focus for an evil that is all too modern though its roots are as ancient as evil itself.

Sister Joan is drawn into a conflict between good and bad, a conflict that is mirrored within herself as old desires rise up in her to battle with her hard-won chastity. Temptation in the unlikely shape of a cynical police officer presents itself, becoming almost as great a danger as the killer who stalks the moors.

In this second book of the series featuring this very modern young nun, the rival claims of convent and crime deduction again lead to a solution as horrifying as any aspect of the devil against whom Sister Joan battles.

Echo of Margaret

Pilgrim of Desire

Flame in the Snow

Hoodman Blind

My Pilgrim Love

A Vow of Silence

Last Seen Wearing