A Matter of Time (Faith Abbey Mystery Series, Book 3)

When Brother Bartholomew is banished to Bermuda for a mandated spiritual retreat, he’s not a happy camper. And when his spiritual adviser tells him he’ll be there for “as long as it takes,” he feels like it’s more a prison sentence than an opportunity to be alone with God. While he’s leading the contemplative life in the one-room Quarry Cottage away from Faith Abbey on Cape Cod, there’s lots of local action in Bermuda – much of it revolving around illicit drugs, torture and murder.

As it happens, a Cape Cod friend of Brother Bartholomew’s, Eastport’s Chief of Police Dan Burke, is in Bermuda, too, for a fishing vacation aboard the boat of Bermuda charter captain Ian Bennett, who’s a friend of a Dan’s friend Ron. Burke notices that Bennett’s son Eric appears a bit skittish when the young boy learns Dan is a police chief. With good reason, as Burke believes Eric’s erratic behavior has to do with drugs.

The reader is also introduced to Ian Bennett’s brother Colin, who wants nothing more than to sail and fix boats. Unfortunately, his blue-blood father-in-law considers him a lazy ne’er do well … and it appears from the divorce papers he’s received that his wife Amy does, too. Plus it looks like he will be forced to sell his beloved sailboat to make a lump-sum custody payment.

Add in a few murders, some very unsavory characters, two nosy tourists, a philandering newlywed husband, the Gold Cup Regatta and a sudden hurricane -- it’s quite a mix. If this sounds a bit confusing, I thought so, too. Whole sections and chapters seemed like diversions from the story, not additions to it. For example, the pages devoted to Colin and Amy’s relationship seemed quite overdone compared to the part Colin played in the plot.

Always a fan of mysteries featuring religious protagonists -- Father Koesler, Rabbi Small, Sister Mary Helen, Reverend Randolf – I was also very disappointed when Brother Bartholomew was relegated to secondary character status. I must admit the novel’s climax was pretty thrilling. Brother Bartholomew was also a wonderfully complex character … I would have liked him to be more a part of the story.

By Diana. First Published in Mystery News, December 2002-January 2004

Review based on publisher- or author-provided review copy. ( )