A Canonical List

November 24, 2016 9:14 PM

Fictional Clerical Detectives. "I take clerical detectives to mean any detective with a significant church or religious background, so I include not only priests (male and female), ministers, monks, nuns, ex-nuns, a Shaker, two rabbis (and rabbis' widows and ministers' wives), a church administrator, and a clerk of a Quaker Meeting, but choirmaster/organists, religously inspired policemen, Buddhists, Muslims, and even a few witches. " Links to each nun can be found on the linked page (scroll down)

Bonus: A beginner's guide to nun detectives, including ....
"The most intriguing and most well-connected nun? Sister Fidelma
The most lively nun? Sister Joan
The most sexually explicit nun? Sister Agnes
The "least cut out to be a nun"? Sister Pelagia
The most unbelieving nun? Soeur Auguste
The most formidable nun? Sister Mary Teresa
The nun with the simplest faith (and the most obedient dog)? Sister Agatha
The most amusing nun? Sister John
The nun who hides mystery stories in her prayer book? Sister Mary Helen
The nun described as a "self-opinionated little devil"? Soeur Angèle
The shrewdest but least seen nun? Sister Ursula
The nun who got married at 14? Abbess Helewise
The nun with a private investigator's licence? Sister Cecile....
The very first detective nun, in a story "free of gore and sex"? Sister Simon
The medieval nun who most resembles a modern woman? Hildegard
The nun who is a "Rectress" and has to deal with "freshettes?" Mother Paul
The nun whose dotty father pretended to be a priest? Sister Ria
The nun who uses a huge candlestick as a weapon? Dame Averilla
The nun who is given a red cell phone by the grateful police? Sister Angela
The nun who was sure her superior was devil possessed? Sister Ana
The 17th century abbess who fought for women's rights? Mother Hilda
The nun who was an expert basketball coach? Sister Maureen
The nun who is seconded to be deputy sheriff? Sister Margaret
The nun who helps a (real if magical) dragon solve cases? Sister Grace...
The nun who got speeding tickets on her Harley motor bike? Sister Eve
The best detective of the Sisters of the Last Straw? Sister Krumbles
The nun who prefers chasing murderers to counselling? Sister Justus
The gun-packing nun who is the Pope's secret agent ? Sister Claire
The Nosy Nuns? Sisters Gabriel Schmidtzer and Mary Jo Brunetto
The nun who was glad not to have to "feign stupidity"? Mother Aquinas
The "crazy nun" who is an expert in martial arts? Sister Justicia Marie"

posted by storybored (19 comments total)

Ooops I should mention the links to each nun can be found by scrolling down on the page.
posted by storybored at 9:15 PM on November 24, 2016

Great find, thanks!
posted by rjs at 10:27 PM on November 24, 2016

And here I thought this was going to be a site about forensic accountants...
posted by schmod at 11:02 PM on November 24, 2016 [1 favorite]

They missed Diana Tregarde, a Wiccan who gets tangled up in supernatural mysteries.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 11:02 PM on November 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

Er... no Father Brown?
posted by Sunburnt at 11:07 PM on November 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

Father Brown's on the list, just not the intro page linked above.
posted by paisley sheep at 11:38 PM on November 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

This is the kind of old-internet homepage weirdness I support.
posted by kersplunk at 2:49 AM on November 25, 2016 [9 favorites]

This is the kind of old-internet homepage weirdness I support.

Careful, it's habit forming
posted by thelonius at 3:19 AM on November 25, 2016 [7 favorites]

I know what I'm doing over the long weekend. Dame Frevisse and Sister Fidelma, I am rereading you!
posted by catlet at 4:08 AM on November 25, 2016

I thought I was going to catch it out, as I had a vague memory of Kinky Friedman being ordained. A quick Google says my brain's playing tricks on me though. This site sure knows its clerical detectives. Respect.
posted by threecheesetrees at 4:09 AM on November 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

As has been mentioned above, the link is only a landing page, not the full list of detectives. I nearly posted a "What, no Cadfael?!" until I spotted the link to the full list.
posted by faceplantingcheetah at 6:27 AM on November 25, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm glad they included the rationale; Montague Egg is on the list "just in case." The case isn't very strong, but a case is made none the list (I wouldn't have included Egg, myself).
posted by willF at 6:56 AM on November 25, 2016

This is the kind of old-internet homepage weirdness I support.

Taglineysterical
posted by y2karl at 7:02 AM on November 25, 2016

Church of England Films in association with the Sunday Schools Board presents...
posted by lagomorphius at 7:23 AM on November 25, 2016

It's been a very enjoyable morning, reading through descriptions of old favorites and so many new-to-me detectives. Thank you for sharing!
posted by mixedmetaphors at 8:27 AM on November 25, 2016

THIS is why I love the internet!
(And Metafilter)
posted by BlueHorse at 10:23 AM on November 25, 2016

How about Dr. Siri Paiboun, from Colin Cotterill's mystery series about a Laotian coroner?

As the series progresses he discovers he is host to the spirit of an ancient shaman..
posted by Nerd of the North at 7:41 PM on November 25, 2016 [1 favorite]

*blusters into herbal essence plot-line laid by the ever present brother Jerome.
posted by clavdivs at 10:46 PM on November 25, 2016

This will come in very handy for a category on the King William's College Quiz some year.
posted by nonane at 2:51 PM on November 26, 2016