Deadly weed—in more ways than one!

The Deadly Weed (A Reverend Mother Mystery #10) by Cora Harrison    

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well this was a shocker! The twist at the end left me speechless. Oh, I suspected something was up but just didn’t expect the resolution to land where it did,

But back to the beginning. A man was found aphixiated from smoke inhalation when a fire broke our in a riverside factory. A cigarette factory just newly begun by one of the Rev. Mother’s cousins, Robert Murphy Robert had employed ten of her ex-students, school leavers, for six shillings a week to pack cigarettes from tobacco plants dating from Sir Walter Raleigh he’d found growing wild on his property. A brave new world was opening up and for these girls. A job is everything. Unfortunately a busybody, Mrs Maloney has watched the comings and goings for sometime and has seen one of the girls, Maureen leave after the others. Of course there’s all sorts of rumours about that.

Maureen, a wild fourteen year old young lass, unfortunately has annoyed the superintendent and has ended up In the woman's gaol as there’s no other place for her to be. Patrick is quite exercised about this.

Between the Rev. Mother, her young outrageous cousin Nell, former students Inspector Patrick Cashman, and Eileen McSweeney, a reporter and photographer for the Cork Examiner newspaper, the  truth must be sorted out for a Maureen’s sake. We are left hanging somewhat as Patrick is going to have to take a step his superintendent won’t like. (Just as it seems the job of local superintendent will becoming vacant soon, and Patrick’s in the running.)

The story of these people we’ve followed for years may be drawing to a close. The Rev. Mother has lost none of her indomitable will, but I sense she’s tiring. Not that I count her out at all!

A brilliant episode in this series.

A Severn House ARC via NetGalley.                                              

Many thanks to the author and publisher.