A Vow of Compassion

A Vow of Compassion  by Veronica Black (1997) 208 pages

This book is the tenth in the Sister Joan series. Sister Joan, of the Daughters of Compassion Order, is curious when she learns about a number of deaths at the local hospital, in Cornwell, England. The deaths could be perfectly natural and/or suicide, but the  volume of them causes her to have questions, even though the doctors and the local police haven't blinked an eye. Once Sister Joan gets the ear of Detective Sergeant Mill, she delves into details about the hospital staff and the deceased patients, with the approval of Sister Dorothy, the Prioress at the convent. When a four-year-old girl disappears from the hospital, the search for answers becomes more desperate.

A front-row seat into the workings of the convent and the hospital are almost as interesting as watching the mystery investigation move forward.

Witness the Night / Kishwar Desai 242 p.

A murder mystery combined with stringent social commentary set in Punjab.  Simran Singh is a social worker sent to investigate the case of a thirteen-year-old girl found badly injured but alive amidst the murdered bodies of her entire extended family.  She's been imprisoned, and while it's clear that local authorities would like to hold her solely responsible and be done with it, Simran has her doubts.  The story unfolds in the alternating perspectives of Simran and the child, whose memories have an intense dream-like quality.  Touching on issues of infanticide and the deplorable state of  women in the region, Desai manages to be both outraged and cool at the same time.  Very good.

Minding Frankie

Minding Frankie by Maeve Binchy  381 pp.

I think I've only read one of Binchy's books before and it was probably better than this one. All the way through the book I kept thinking it would be great material for a soap like East Enders or Coronation Street. Alcoholic A dying young woman contacts alcoholic Noel to tell him he is the father of her soon to be born daughter. Noel, his parents, friends and neighbors all become an extended family to little Frankie while conspiring to keep the evil social worker, Moira, from taking her away from him. There are plenty of side stories involving a visiting American cousin, a womanizing restauranteur, Noel's religious fanatic parents, and more. I listened to the audiobook of this. If I had been reading the book I probably wouldn't have finished it.