As Father Stenner, Whitton's President, put it, 'a garish killing in a
place for aspirants to the priesthood is, by the world's standards, an
exotic crime.' Father Stenner's forebodings were, if anything, well
short of the mark. The killer was apparently a madman whose first murder
was to be merely the beginning of a bloody series. And into the
maelstrom of violence and fear that he created came another and possibly
even more sinister element, personified by a beautiful young woman named
Agnes Grey. Agnes's concern was with ultimate depravity, and for a
killer priest she had a very specific use.