In another splendidly atmospheric tale of County Cork in the 1920s, we revisit Reverend Mother Aquinas who runs the school and charity for the poor of the city. The people have to pay rents to slum landlords and are crammed into tall tenement buildings on land that floods regularly. The DEATH OF A PROMINENT CITIZEN occurs, but that person, a landlord, isn’t lamented.
Charlotte Hendrick has decided to dispose of her fortune in her will by inviting relatives to dine with her and explain how they would use the money. The Reverend Mother is instructed by the Bishop to attend her cousin’s dinner, little though she likes the idea. If Mrs Hendrick wanted to help the poor she’d have done it years ago. Instead the odds are on a scholar of Cork’s Viking past. A young lady wants the excitement of studying in Paris and Moscow, while a miffed relative who keeps house for Mrs Hendrick feels she deserves the money for her unpaid service. Bachelor's Quay, the home of the merchants, is troubled by a riot against landlords on the same night. Only the arrival of the ‘peelers’ – police – and floodwaters are enough to disperse the crowds, which are watched by a female reporter from the city newspaper.
The death of one of the people in the house will feel entirely expected by the reader, more so because during the riots the house was like a fortress. Someone inside must have been the culprit. Reverend Mother, with her sharp eyes, knowledge of human nature, and tendency to read Agatha Christie, assists the doctor and police in placing the blame where it belongs.
Some of the earlier books in the ‘Reverend Mother’ series necessarily, because of the date, dwelt upon the Civil War and political issues which jarred the lives of Cork people. This seventh book looks at the people themselves; their living conditions, contrasts, motivations and inequality. I had a fine time reading Cora Harrison’s latest book, which is accessible as a standalone as well as fitting snugly into the series. Because we’re leaving out war and politics the tale isn’t as heavy as others, though mainly serious, and anyone who enjoys Golden Age crime fiction will feel at home, just as much as the lovers of historical crime. Don’t you love it when two sub-genres blend so well? DEATH OF A PROMINENT CITIZEN will keep you informed and entertained.
Money is the root of all evil, according to the Reverend Mother but is it the motive for her cousin's murder?
Wealthy widow Charlotte Hendrick had always promised that her riches would be divided equally between her seven closest relatives when she died. Now she has changed her mind and summoned her nearest and dearest, including her cousin, the Reverend Mother, to her substantial home on Bachelor's Quay to inform them of her decision. As Mrs Hendrick's relatives desperately make their case to retain a share of her wealth, riots break out on the quays outside as the flood waters rise . . .
The following morning, a body is discovered in the master bedroom, its throat cut. Could there be a connection to the riots of the night before or does the killer lie closer to home? In her efforts to uncover the truth, the Reverend Mother unearths a tale of greed, cruelty, forbidden passion . . . and cold-blooded malice.
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