The Religious Body — Catherine Aird

MURDER IN AN ENGLISH CONVENT POSES A DIFFICULT PROBLEM FOR INSPECTOR SLOAN

When the body of a murdered nun is discovered at the Convent of St. Anselm in the village of Cullingoak, Inspector C.D. Sloan of the Calleshire C.I.D. finds himself with fifty suspects--all black-habited nuns who at first look exactly alike to him. It's the sardonic Sloan's first venture inside convent walls and, for most of the nuns, their first encounter with the police. Before the killer is unmasked, both the police and the nuns will come to learn a great deal about each other.

First published in the United States in 1966, The Religious Body marked Sloan's first appearance. Aird's quietly witty debut was warmly welcomed by critics and readers alike ("Miss Aird is a most ingenious writer."--The New Yorker), who recognized that she was writing an updated version of the classic British mystery novel that had won the hearts of readers during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction (1913-1953).