Two more murders follow and, after all present have been questioned, several secrets become known - including the fact that one of the students is unknowingly the son of one of the lay lecturers and that, through his mother, he will inherit the property, should it be closed and sold. Forensic evidence clinches the case against the lecturer and he confesses. The college is closed and the student inherits the proceeds.

Well thank you for coming to see me, Father. I always appreciate your visits. But, sadly, sex is the last the thing on my mind right now."Others present include only a few of the students, the Fathers, the resident help, a visiting lecturer, Emma Lavenham, and a researcher, Clive Stannard. to the mystery, not the subplot? - 70% Murder of certain profession? - students/teachers Misc. Murder Plotlets - "All in the family" murder - Big focus on forensic evidence Kind of investigator - police procedural, British Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

An elegant work about hope, death, and the alternately redemptive and destructive nature of love.” — The Miami Herald To add to the message, the fellow priest who pushed for exposure and prosecution is demonised: 'a priest hounding a fellow-priest into prison? It would be disgraceful if anyone did it. Coming from him it's abominable. And Father John [the paedophile] - the gentlest, the kindest of men.' Er, no, Ms James, this isn't 'hounding' but reporting a crime that the church would rather have covered up. What is 'disgraceful' and 'abominable' are the ideas that the paedophile should be left to continue his predations among children. The story starts in the past with the original discovery of the boy's body by Margaret Munroe, an elderly woman who works at St Anselms. This part of the story is told through the means of Margaret's diary. She ends it with a statement that the death concerns her and that it reminds her of something that occurred in her past. Margaret is discovered dead the day after this last entry. A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read. The conclusion -- the final, full explanation -- and the small ray of hope for Dalgliesh's personal life that are presented in the brief, final section seem almost a bit much -- though James does get away with it (just).Despite that, everyone except the 'baddie' who is murdered loves him, including Dalgleish himself and his new love interest so James makes it very clear that we as readers are supposed to side with them: as one character says 'He pleaded guilty to misbehaviour with two young boys. He didn't rape them, he didn't seduce them, he didn't physically hurt them' - so in James' world and that of the book, a bit of covert fondling and illegal touching of young boys is perfectly fine - he might not have 'physically' hurt them, but any psychological trauma from being assaulted by their priest is airily waved away. Secondly the entire motive for the murderer doesn't make a grain of sense. This person had no regard for the person he was benefiting by committing the murders as he made perfectly clear on a number of occasions. That being so, why murder anyone? I have read previous reviewers who mention the paedophile priest. This storyline was only mentioned 3 times in the entire book and was in no way part of the story so do not let you put you off. Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. The college might stand in defiant symbolic isolation between the sea and the acres of unpopulated headland, but the life within its walls was intense, tightly controlled, claustrophobic.