Hasty Retreat — Kate Gallison

NASTY HABITS

Monks chanting at vespers...total silence between nine p.m. and morning...simple furnishings and cloistered walls--to Mother Lavinia Grey, it sounds like heaven. Actually, it's a monastery in upstate New York, just the place for Mother Vinnie, an Episcopal priest, to spend a few days and escape her problems at St. Bede's Church. But there is no rest for the wicked, as they say. And Mother Vinnie soon suspects something very sinful is afoot. Who are the mysterious robed figures scuttling around at night? What is going on between a pretty guest and a visiting politician? And what in the world has happened to elderly Brother Basil, recently back from Africa? Finding the answers exposes a twisted knot of secrets, and Mother Vinnie soon discovers that silence may be golden, but someone's determination to keep her quiet may be... murder.