Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Sleeping Witness by Fiorella de Maria

Fiorella de Maria is the pseudonym of Fiorella Nash, an English bioethicist whose research focuses on life issues from a feminist perspective. She is a conference speaker and nonfiction writer dealing with abortion, gendercide, maternal health, and commercial surrogacy. Her novels are published under her nom de plume and include historical mysteries featuring Father Gabriel, a Benedictine priest. The first of these is The Sleeping Witness (Ignatius Press, 2017).

The story takes place in the village of Sutton Westford and the nearby St. Mary’s Abbey in August after the end of World War Two but before the end of sugar rationing. The war and the damage it caused is fresh in everyone’s memories. Father Gabriel serves as narrator. He is approaching middle age, with gray now appearing in his hair, aching joints, and failing close-up vision. The reader is left with the impression he came to the monastery after a career in the world, much like his predecessor Brother Cadfael. Certainly he is more willing to engage with the outside world than many of his brothers are, and Abbot Ambrose must routinely redirect his attention.

The local doctor and his wife are the subject of ugly rumors in the tiny community. She is quiet, pale, and fragile, and the doctor is always by her side. Large bruises on her arms lead observers to some natural but unpleasant conclusions. When she’s found in the cottage of a Danish artist visiting for the summer, both covered with blood and apparently dead with a gun lying nearby, suspicion falls on her husband who steadfastly denies that he hurt either of them. Despite the active discouragement of Abbot Ambrose and Inspector Applegate, Father Gabriel plunges headlong into investigating the crime.

This is an unusual mystery. Much about the characters and the setting, especially Father Gabriel, are implied rather than stated. There is no back story at all. I wondered what Gabriel was doing in the abbey, as he doesn’t seem quite suited for the monastic life. Nearly everyone has something in their past they don’t talk about. Abbot Ambrose for instance seems to have served in intelligence during the war. Other characters turn out to be other than who they say they are. As Miss Marple stated in A Murder Is Announced, anyone could show up in a village in post-war England with a new identity and background. The records were in such disarray, they were likely never to be challenged. An intriguing read. Recommended especially for fans of historical mysteries and of religious detectives.

 

·         Publisher: Ignatius Press (February 10, 2017)

·         Language: English

·         Paperback: 176 pages

·         ISBN-10: 1621640760

·         ISBN-13: 978-1621640769

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2021 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.