Jennifer McCreavy, is a young Episcopal priest. As the story opens, she has just accepted a position as chaplain, mistress of a girls’ dorm called Blackburne House, and Latin teacher at Saint Aidan’s, a boarding school in Connecticut. But she has also embarked on an undercover mission. Her half-sister Cathy Foxcroft was a second-year student at the school. The previous April she was found hanged in a dormitory stairwell, presumed a suicide. That was totally out of character; Cathy liked school and had no history of depression or self-harm.

When Jen arrives at Saint Aidan’s at the beginning of term, she discovers that the school has fallen under the aegis of a glamorous couple, Antonia and Alastair Brucemoore, a wealthy manager of a secretive hedge-fund and her husband the school’s academic dean and drama coach. A couple of years ago, Saint Aidan’s was in dire financial straits, and the Brucemores assumed control. They live in mansion overlooking the school.

Tackling new responsibilities, Jen concentrates on revitalizing the spiritual life of the school, insuring the safety and welfare of the girls in her dorm, teaching Classics and religion, and coaching the field hockey team. She makes new friends among the students and staff, especially the 17 year-old Amber Talbott, the proctor who assists her in running the dorm, and establishes a close working relationship with Josiah Powel, the senior Classics master. From the school nurse, Jen learns that drug activity and sexually transmitted diseases are rampant on the campus and that Cathy had asked for an HIV test shortly before her death.

Gradually we become aware that Saint Aidan’s is under the influence of dark spiritual forces. These work to implicate Jen in a scandal that would destroy her ministry in the Church and her teaching career. As Jen continues her investigation, it appears the Brucemoores’ mansion is focus of drug activity, sexual abuse, and internet pedophile pornography. When one of girls in Jen’s house is abducted and placed in grave peril, Jen and her friends must risk everything to rescue her.

The Chaplain of Blackburne House is an exciting mystery thriller as well as realistic depiction of life at at a boarding school. We see both the best and the worst features of an elite educational institution and how Jen’s spiritual values and devotion transform the lives of her students, revealing the power of love, friendship and commitment summed up in the house Latin motto, Res Unius Res Omnium. Along with the spirituality, there are paranormal manifestations well. Readers who enjoy school stories and mystery thrillers, along with more than a touch of the supernatural, should enjoy following Jen’s adventures.