An authentic and realistic crime novel due to author's career as a police detective. Sinister secrets from World War Two are revealed by the investigation. Police detectives shown as real people rather than two-dimensional characters.
When the nun is found beaten to death, in the grounds of a Lordship's estate, Detective Inspector Alby Cooper is assigned his first murder. It is May 1949 and Sister Margaret had come to the village of Beaumont to support Lord Roding whose faith has been shattered by the death of his wife and son. It was to have been her mission to guide him back to religious belief. Her task was to be made more difficult by Lord Roding's new, and much younger wife Fanny who had a deep dislike for Sister Margaret, and her interference in their marriage. The investigation of Sister Margaret's murder was though to unearth far more sinister events in the nun's past.
Unusual for the time Inspector Cooper's team of investigators has been supplemented by two female detectives. When it turns out that one of these is the Police Superintendent's niece Cooper fears that she has been planted to spy on his investigation. It soon becomes apparent that this WPC is in fact a great asset to the team. But as the Inspector's personal feelings for her also develop, he must take care his professionalism is not compromised.
As the police team investigate, a tale leading back to the Second World War is discovered, sinister dealings of elements of the Roman Catholic church are uncovered, and the hidden lives are brought out into the open.