Mon 4 Jan 2021
A 1001 Midnights Review: ANTHEA COHEN – Angel Without Mercy.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[6] Comments
by Kathleen L. Maio
ANTHEA COHEN – Angel Without Mercy. Nurse Agnes Carmichael #1. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1984. Published earlier in the UK by Quartet, hardcover, 1982.
There have been many stories about lovable rogues and mastermind criminals in suspense fiction over its long history, but a group of novels in which a troubled murderer is the heroine is an unusual event. That is what Anthea Cohen has created in her new “Angel” series. Cohen, a nurse and writer on medical topics for twenty-five years, uses her knowledge of hospital locale and atmosphere to enrich her series.
In Angel Without Mercy, Cohen seems to be setting up a classic whodunit – and taking her time about it. She shows us a hateful nurse supervisor named Hughes, and shows us ample evidence of why practically the entire staff of St. Jude’s Hospital wants her dead. The reader may become impatient for the murder and the discovery of the body about three-quarters of the way through the book, but Cohen will not be rushed. She is concerned more with the emotional and psychological mystery of human conduct than with a tidy murder puzzle.
Although Cohen allows the reader the chance to reason out the identity of her murderer, she does not feel the need to have the police do the same. Her murderer gets away with it, and lives to return for other deadly adventures in Angel of Vengeance (1984) and Angel of Death (1985). It is essential to read these novels in order. And it will be interesting to see how Cohen proceeds with her intriguing series.
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Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
Editorial Update: Given the premise as I read it in Kathi’s review (and perhaps I have it all wrong), I saw little opportunity for any expansion of the the three book series she refers to. I was mistaken. There were 18 in all, with the last published in 2005. Nurse Carmichael may have branched out in other directions (??).
January 4th, 2021 at 4:09 pm
I’ve read most of the Sister Agnes books over the years, and I’m not quite sure if she did ever branch out. In virtually every novel, she gets away with more murders–over the years she kills an HIV-positive surgeon, a fraudulent vicar, her husband’s literary agent, and countless questionable characters, often drug dealers and animal abusers. A few of the books have a vague mystery to be solved, but you couldn’t really call Agnes a sleuth.
Cohen was a compelling writer and for whatever reason, I quite enjoyed these books, even though they get pretty absurd after the first few. But they’re certainly not for everyone!
January 4th, 2021 at 4:36 pm
Thanks for the update. That was fast! I didn’t know if I’d get any replies on this one or not, and I really appreciate hearing from you. Cohen is a totally new author to me, but whether or not I follow up on looking for any of her books, I’m not sure. I probably fall into the category of “not for everyone.”
January 4th, 2021 at 7:03 pm
It’s my pleasure–not every day that one of my pet lesser-known authors gets featured in the blogosphere. 🙂
For what it’s worth, all the Sister Agnes novels except the last 3 were reprinted in inexpensive ebook editions by Endeavour Press (I think they’ve changed their name to Lume Books now?), and while they’re hardly bestsellers, judging on reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, people seem to like them!
January 4th, 2021 at 8:05 pm
Yes, thanks again. I found them on Amazon for Kindle, ranging in price from 99 cents to $2.99, some free along Kindle Unlimited. Can’t beat those prices!
January 4th, 2021 at 8:12 pm
Sounds like a cross between Dexter and Nurse Ratched. Any chance there is a vein of dark humor in these, or are they serious?
January 4th, 2021 at 8:49 pm
David, they are pretty serious–I don’t recall any humor. I think I read somewhere (I can’t possibly remember where!) that Cohen’s main influence was Patricia Highsmith, whom I’ve not read, but I think in terms of mood she’s in the vein of Ruth Rendell’s non-Wexford novels, if they had the same gloomy depressive murderer-protagonist in every book.