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A Nun In The Closet

by Dorothy Gilman

This is an old book, published in 1975, but that doesn't make it one to overlook. It's a must read for every fan of contrast between the humorous and the grim. In A Nun In The Closet, Dorothy Gilman utilizes both in a tale so unusual I could hardly put it down. Ms. Gilman is also, of course, the well-known author of the Mrs. Pollifax novels, where she employs the same type of writing. After reading A Nun In The Closet. one might wish Dorothy Gilman would also make a series about Sister John and Sister Hyacinthe.

A Nun In The Closet begins with a bequest. A Mr. Moretti, totally unknown to the Sisters, has left them a property and its contents in northern New York State. Sisters at the Abbey of St. Tabitha are located in Pennsylvania, some few hundred miles south. A cloistered but democratic order, they decide that someone should certainly go view the property before they can decide what?s to be done with it. Sister John is elected by ballot, and she chooses Sister Hyacinthe to accompany her. Mr. Armisbruck, who owns the bakery for which the Abbey supplies home baked bread, loans them one of his delivery vans to make the trip. He also asks one of his delivery boys to teach Sister Hyacinthe how to drive. The subsequent trip north leaves Sister John wondering how her partner ever passed the driving test.

Since neither is familiar with any progress made in the outside world since their vows, everything encountered is somewhat startling to them. The gift of 'one hundred fifty acres with a house in disrepair' proves to be a huge old Victorian mansion with all its outbuildings, surrounded by both woods and pasture, with an Interstate highway close enough to be occasionally glimpsed. A spooky place, complete with a secret stairway, the house is nonetheless filled with lovely furnishings, all under dust sheets, including one of the best brands of piano. The basement, filled with cobwebs, boasts a wine cellar with a number of fine wines intact.

During their exploration of the house and grounds, the Sisters discover not only a huge cache of money, but also a man in an upstairs closet, bleeding and close to death. Since Sister Hyacinthe is the nun who recognizes and rejoices in all herbs (she can even make a meal out of them combined with weeds and ground nuts), she sets to work with a poultice made from puff balls and binds up the man's wounds. He refuses to tell them who he is.

The nuns are visited by a number of people, including the local sheriff, who turns out to be not only a bully, but a bigot and blusterer as well. In rapid succession the Sisters receive hippies, the sheriff and his man, a census taker, a man selling religious jewelry, and one who takes away garbage. Through the hippies, the Sisters discover the plight of migrant workers living nearby - pickers who are moved from place to place without any real home or school for their children. Sister John, somewhat of a rebel herself, takes some of the children to the town, with disastrous results.

A Nun In The Closet is full of people who seem to have a burning interest in the house - especially the pantry. Most of those people seem equally disappointed to discover Sisters from the Abbey of St. Tabitha have legal possession. Sister John and Sister Hyacinthe are besieged by haunting, with all the trappings. It doesn't move them from the house. A murder, a visitation by top Mafia men, followed by the FBI, uncovers causes for all the complicated happenings the Sisters have encountered, and A Nun In The Closet concludes with Sister John?s decision - with her Abbess'full approval - to use the found cash in helping the migrant families.

I suppose you could call A Nun In The Closet light reading, or as close to light reading as you can get in a book which contains the grim reality of
murder. Whatever way you look at it, A Nun In The Closet makes a delightful addition to your mystery bookshelf.

Alan Paul Curtis

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