An elegant fable about intrigue, corruption, and electronic surveillance, 'The A
bbess of Crewe' (1974) is set in an English Benedictine convent. Steely and silk
y Abbess Alexandra has bugged the convent, and rigged her election. But the cat
gets out of the bag, and--plunged into scandal--the serene Abbess faces a Vatica
n inquiry.