The Mary Maxwell-Hume Novels
These novels feature Mary Maxwell-Hume, the extraordianry piano-teaching nun from The Piano Exam.
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 a peculiar dress code: nuns wear ‘only as much as is necessary to preserve due modesty’ – plus liberal doses of Chanel No.5 perfume.
Mary Maxwell-Hume first appeared in a short story written about Brian Reid, the central character in Four Old Geezers and a Valkyrie. Brian – "Captain" from the novel – is looking for a piano teacher who will put him through a Grade 3 piano exam as an adult. He ends up with the mysterious nun Sister Mary Maxwell-Hume, and with more than he bargained for.
What happened next was that many readers asked for more stories about Mary. That led to the 2017 publication of Gordon's novella The Discreet Charm of Mary-Maxwell-Hume, a series of adventures where we learn a little about the mysterious ways of this mysterious nun. The Piano Exam – rewritten in the past tense – is included at the end as a bonus story, although it's free to read in many places, including here on this site.
In the third story, Mary takes a young police constable under her wing, and they form a fascinating partnership. By the time of The Midnight Visitor, due for publication early in 2022, the young PC has been promoted to Detective Inspector...
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 a peculiar dress code: nuns wear ‘only as much as is necessary to preserve due modesty’ – plus liberal doses of Chanel No.5 perfume.
Mary Maxwell-Hume first appeared in a short story written about Brian Reid, the central character in Four Old Geezers and a Valkyrie. Brian – "Captain" from the novel – is looking for a piano teacher who will put him through a Grade 3 piano exam as an adult. He ends up with the mysterious nun Sister Mary Maxwell-Hume, and with more than he bargained for.
What happened next was that many readers asked for more stories about Mary. That led to the 2017 publication of Gordon's novella The Discreet Charm of Mary-Maxwell-Hume, a series of adventures where we learn a little about the mysterious ways of this mysterious nun. The Piano Exam – rewritten in the past tense – is included at the end as a bonus story, although it's free to read in many places, including here on this site.
In the third story, Mary takes a young police constable under her wing, and they form a fascinating partnership. By the time of The Midnight Visitor, due for publication early in 2022, the young PC has been promoted to Detective Inspector...
The Discreet Charm of Mary Maxwell-Hume
(published 2017) £5.99 |
The Midnight Visitor
(publication date 2022) £9.99 |
