The Reverend Mother receives a decidedly gruesome gift in this
compelling Irish historical mystery.
Ireland. 1925.
Like all who seek charitable contributions, Reverend Mother Aquinas is
used to being gifted some fairly dubious items. But nothing like this.
On opening the evil-smelling trunk, labelled 'old books', the Reverend
Mother is horrified to discover it contains the dead body of one of
Cork's richest merchants, wrapped in decomposing animal hides.
Many had reason to loathe the hides and skins merchant: his rebellious,
republican son; his frustrated, clever daughter; his neighbours; his
business rivals; and those whose unbaptised babies were buried on the
site of his new tanning yard. But when suspicion falls on a former lay
sister from her convent, the Reverend Mother decides she must help find
the real killer.