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The Shadow of Death

The Sister Agatha and Father Selwyn Mysteries, Book 1

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The Shadow of Death

By: Jane Willan
Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
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A charming and clever traditional mystery debut set at a bucolic Welsh convent, The Shadow of Death introduces Sister Agatha, a mystery loving nun who finds herself in the midst of a real-life murder case.

The sisters of Gwenafwy Abbey have cherished their contemplative life - days spent in prayer, reflection, tending the convent's vegetable gardens and making their award-winning organic cheese, Heavenly Gouda. Life seems perfect, except for Sister Agatha, a die-hard mystery fan who despairs of ever finding any real life inspiration for her own novel. That is, until the abbey's sexton is found dead under an avalanche of gouda. Despite the reservations of the local constable, Sister Agatha is convinced it's murder and the game is afoot.

Armed only with the notes she's scribbled during her favorite podcast, How to Write a Mystery Novel, as well as lessons learned from crime heroes ranging from Hercule Poirot to Stephanie Plum, Sister Agatha leads the nuns of Gwenafwy Abbey (and her unwitting sidekick, Father Selwyn) as they begin a race against time to resolve the death of Jacob, save the abbey, exonerate a beloved postulant, and restore the good name of their cheese.

©2019 Jane Willan (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing Amateur Sleuths Crime Detective Fiction Mystery Traditional Detectives Women Sleuths Women's Fiction Murder Suspense
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Good story with great narration. Nice to have a premise like this set in pretty much the present day, but where contemporary references don't feel too laboured. However, I have to admit that the amount of American terms that pepper the writing almost became distracting - zucchini, sidewalk, cellphones, and a nun being described as having Size 10 feet(!)

lose the zucchinis

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This is a lovely cosy crime narrative, but... the use of American terminology (zucchini, cell phone, pants, etc) combined with poor Welsh pronunciation (dd pronounced d etc) has really put me off. The accents are good, but if you're going to use Welsh place names, phrases etc, it would be less jarring if they sounded correct and natural. Frustrating.

Cosy crime plot - clearly written for American mar

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Entertaining enough, but a bit heavy-handed with the narrative at times.
And I strongly encourage Ms Willan to seek out an editor who understands Britain and the British.
Or at least pay attention to TV shows from the UK.
Or use google.
Our coroners are law officers and almost always lawyers. A police surgeon and the CID (detectives) would attend an unexpected death like that described. We typically use ball-point or roller-ball pens for writing notes, not Sharpies. The nuns' luxury purchases would be far more likely to come from Amazon rather than fancy retail shops hundreds of miles from the location. We don't "call the Fire Department", but "call 999" or "call the fire brigade". We don't have a "Fire Chief", but would have a "watch commander". We mostly drive cars with manual gearboxes, and even with an automatic, we'd park it, not "put it in park". A scone with cranberries in? Sacrilege. Currants and raisins, yes. Maybe a glace cherry for those living on the edge...

Entertaining enough, but sloppy errors abound

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What a shame that real involvement in the mystery was marred by jarring Americanisms such as ‘sidewalk’ ‘pocket book’ ‘city car’ terms so completely out of place in a rural Welsh community it kept jolting me back to reality. It made the whole read sound set up and insincere.

An interesting mystery but spoiled by random American vocabulary

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I ended up fast forwarding, found it irritating because whilst the clues were there the main character didn't string them together soon enough ie some of the clues were red herrings and I feel they could have been dispensed with sooner and saved me becoming irritated.

Took too long to get to the point

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