The Discreet Charm of Mary Maxwell-Hume

Mary Maxwell-Hume is an enigma. She earns a living as a piano teacher, but also belongs to an obscure order of nuns. Their rules appear curious: although the nuns wear red habits occasionally, the order has a peculiar dress code: nuns wear ‘only as much as is necessary to preserve due modesty’ – plus liberal doses of Chanel No.5 perfume.

There’s the faintest hint that Mary might be a bit of a hustler, but she uses her sensual powers in such a way that nobody really minds – except for the odious Theodore Plews of Lambert’s Auction House in Edinburgh. Anyway, who would dare suggest that a woman of God might not all be all that she seems?

Eventually, she engages a young police constable as her faithful ‘assistant’...