Shadow of Death by Alison Joseph - Revision history

Sue at 09:33, 11 March 2018

2018-03-11T09:33:33Z

Sue at 16:07, 2 December 2014

2014-12-02T16:07:08Z

Sue at 14:52, 30 November 2012

2012-11-30T14:52:14Z

Keith at 01:05, 7 November 2009

2009-11-07T01:05:18Z

Keith: 1 revision

2009-10-24T17:26:19Z

1 revision

Sue at 15:38, 9 September 2008

2008-09-09T15:38:23Z

New review

{{infobox
|title=Shadow of Death
|author=Alison Joseph
|reviewer=Sue Magee
|genre=Crime
|summary=A thought-provoking and intriguing story from Alison Joseph's ''Sister Agnes'' series provides the sort of characters who stay with you long after the book is finished. Recommended.
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|format=Paperback
|pages=288
|publisher=Allison & Busby
|date=12 Mar 2007
|isbn=978-0749081911
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749081910</amazonuk>
|amazonus=<amazonus>0749081910</amazonus>
}}
Sister Agnes is helping to sort out a library of books before the building in which they're housed is sold. For the most part it's Victoriana and lives of the saints. There's one collection which catches her eye, though, and that's the Hawker archive - a beautifully preserved collection of leather-bound books dating from the seventeenth century. Many of the books are about spells and magic but Agnes is most intrigued by the diary of Alice Hawker which tells her story and those of her husband and their daughter who died in infancy. Alice did not live much longer herself, but her story seemed to have a strange resonance in the present.

I didn't think that I was going to enjoy this book. I was expecting a better-than-thou heroine, but instead I discovered a feisty woman with human failings and one who freely admitted that atheism might have been the easier option. She loves good food and wine and despairs of what is served by her Holy Order and considering that she has taken her final vows her dislike of living in the convent is something of an inconvenience. Her preference for driving a Mercedes rather than the Order's more mundane form of transport doesn't make life easier either. There should be more nuns like this.

There is a religious element and I thought that this might be a problem as this normally puts me off a book, but it's there in a rather understated way but with some thought-provoking ideas about the nature of faith and that not all religious are necessarily good people. Even a week after I finished reading the book I was still thinking about some of the subtle distinctions and looking at some points in a new light. That's unusual in a work of fiction.

I loved the characters and it's not just Sister Agnes who's there fully-fleshed. Even relatively minor characters bring a lot to the story, from the doctor's wife who's suicidal in her desperation to have a child and believes that prayer will bring this about when medical science suggests that it's all but impossible, to the librarian prepared to devote her life to her mother. They're all people who stay with you. I found myself wondering how they got on after the end of the story.

The plot isn't complex but it is neatly done. I guessed the identity of the murderer at quite an early stage, but I hadn't fully worked out all the reasoning. This didn't really matter though as this is one of those crime novels where the telling of the story is as important as the solving of the mystery. There are some moments of tension and drama, but the book stays in my mind as a gentle, thought-provoking read. The various sub-plots, including the story behind the Hawker Archive are all brought neatly together with no sense of artifice. It was very satisfying.

I don't normally like civilian investigators. The stories usually lack realism and are more akin to comedy than crime, but there's no lack of realism in this book. For another book featuring a civilian investigator you might like to read [[Maxwell's Mask]] by M J Trow.

My thanks to the lovely people at Allison and Busby for sending us this book.

{{amazontext|amazon=0749081910}} {{waterstonestext|waterstones=5588285}}

{{commenthead}}

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{infobox
+{{infobox1
 |title=Shadow of Death
 |author=Alison Joseph
@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 |date=March 2007
 |isbn=978-0749081911
-|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749081910</amazonuk>
+|cover=0749081910
-|amazonus=<amazonus>0749081910</amazonus>
+|aznuk=0749081910
 }}
 Sister Agnes is helping to sort out a library of books before the building in which they're housed is sold. For the most part it's Victoriana and lives of the saints. There's one collection which catches her eye, though, and that's the Hawker archive - a beautifully preserved collection of leather-bound books dating from the seventeenth century. Many of the books are about spells and magic but Agnes is most intrigued by the diary of Alice Hawker which tells her story and those of her husband and their daughter who died in infancy. Alice did not live much longer herself, but her story seemed to have a strange resonance in the present.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |buy=Yes
 |borrow=Yes
 |pages=288
 |publisher=Allison & Busby
@@ Line 30: / Line 29: @@
 My thanks to the lovely people at Allison and Busby for sending us this book.
-{{amazontext|amazon=0749081910}}  {{waterstonestext|waterstones=5588285}}
+{{amazontext|amazon=0749081910}}
 {{commenthead}}

← Older revision	Revision as of 17:26, 24 October 2009
(No difference)