At first sight, the horror seems instantly familiar. A mute, troubled boy, betrayed in some way – unspoken, unspeakable – by his priest-confidant. Confronted by the police, the priest vanishes. We draw the obvious conclusion—obvious, because painful experience has made it so. But there’s already a knot in the storyline. The Silent Ones is the sixth outing for William Brodrick’s detective-contemplative Father Anselm Duffy, of the fictional Gilbertine priory at Larkwood. (The Gilbertines exist, but only as historical fact: the order was dissolved in 1539.) Seven months after the priest dis­appears, an anonymous visitor comes to Larkwood to ask Father Anselm to find him. Anselm doesn’t have to look far. The face in the photograph the visitor shows him