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 peculiar dress rules: they 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 con woman, but she uses her sensual powers in such a way that nobody really minds except for the odious Theodore Plews of Lamberts Auction House in Edinburgh. Anyway, who would dare suggest that a woman of God might not all be all she seems?

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

NB: Includes, as bonus story as an Appendix, The Piano Exam. (Free on Smashwords anyway.)