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Searching... Silver Falls Library | MYS O'MARIE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | MYS O'MARIE | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic (m) O'Marie, C. 1995 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Mount Angel Public Library | O'MARIE Sister Mary Helen #06 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"When Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen are dropped off at St. Colette's for the nuns' annual retreat weekend, the two nuns from Mount St. Francis College expect to have a quiet two days away from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco. Instead, they discover that they're a week early and it is in fact a priests' retreat. Unable to reach Sister Anne (their transportation) until morning, and somewhat trapped by the German shepherds growling at the doorstep, Mary Helen and Eileen are convinced by Sister Felicita to stay. However, when Laura, the cook's assistant, comes out threatening to quit, the two nuns begin to realize St. Colette's will probably provide for a less than peaceful retreat!" "Out for a walk, Sister Mary Helen has the unfortunate surprise of stumbling upon the body of Greg Johnson, Laura's rebellious boyfriend and a former student of the priesthood. Realizing he's dead, Mary Helen runs panting down the hill to get help. At first it looks like Greg fell, but upon further examination it becomes clear that he was murdered. And the worst part of all is, until policemen Little and Kemp uncover who did it, Sergeant Loody considers all the people at the retreat suspects, including Sister Mary Helen. No one is allowed to leave." "For once both suspect and sleuth, Sister Mary Helen begins an investigation of her own. Moving slowly through the list of suspects, she confronts all who knew Greg, from Monsignor McHugh to Greg's mother, Marva Johnson. Almost everyone had a beef with him." "While Kate Murphy, Sister Mary Helen's SFPD connection, grapples with her reservations about moving from San Francisco to Marin County, Mary Helen must decide in her own mind whether being a priest absolves a man from murder."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author Notes
Sister Carol Anne O'Marie was a mystery writer and a nun in the St. Joseph of Carondelet religious order. She wrote eleven novels about a main character named Sister Mary Helen, an elderly nun who solves crimes. Most of the books take place in San Francisco. Sister Carol Anne O'Marie co-ran a shelter for homeless women in Oakland, CA. She was born in 1933 and died in 2009.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Poor Sister Mary Helen! After her eventful trip to Spain (Murder Makes a Pilgrimage), the septuagenarian and her cohort, Sister Eileen, find more trouble only 65 miles from their San Francisco college home. Arriving at St. Collette's Retreat House in Santa Cruz a week earlier than scheduled, the two meet the harried administrator, her antagonistic cook and young assistant. They decide to stay for the night and have dinner with the five priests who are beginning their week's retreat. The next morning, as she walks around the grounds, Sister Mary Helen stumbles on the body of a young man who, she learns, was the cook's assistant's boyfriend, a former activist seminarian well known to the other priests. As in past books, the good sister's curiosity nags her into discovering who stabbed the young man to death. She elicits the help of Kate Murphy, her SFPD homicide inspector friend, to find out about the man's mother and befriends local Detective Sergeant Bob Little, who shares information, some of it personal, with her. Sister Mary Helen's gentle insights inform this story about age-old prejudices with a quiet wisdom. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
San Francisco's Sister Mary Helen is once again embroiled in a murder case (Murder Makes a Pilgrimage, 1993, etc.), this time while on retreat at St. Colette's in the Santa Cruz Mountains. She and colleague Sister Eileen mistakenly arrive a week early--at the start of a retreat for a group of priests headed by Monsignor McHugh of downtown San Francisco. There's plenty of room, and, encouraged by St. Colette's head, Sister Felicita, the nuns remain. That night, walking in the woods, Sister Mary Helen comes across the bloody corpse of Greg Johnson, boyfriend of Laura Purcell, who'd just quit her job as helper to sour-natured Beverly, the cook who runs St. Colette's kitchen. True to form, Mary Helen starts to poke about--asking questions, getting some input from old friend Inspector Kate Murphy of the San Francisco PD, while likable Detective Sergeant Bob Little does rundowns on everyone in residence. The retreat's guard dogs are found dead of poison, and there are odd vibes between Beverly and arrogant Sergeant Eric Loody that don't go unnoticed by Mary Helen or by Sergeant Little, who winds up with yet another corpse. Naturally, it's Sister Mary Helen who puts things right. Full of inane conversation, paeans of praise to the scenery, and coincidence stretched to unconvincing lengths: this sixth in the series is only for the author's fondest fans.
Booklist Review
Accidental sleuth Sister Mary Helen literally stumbles across another corpse while attending a religious retreat. When Sister Mary Helen and her bosom companion, Sister Eileen, arrive at St. Colette's Sanctuary, they are dismayed to discover that they are actually an entire week early for their scheduled conference. Undaunted, they join the retreat for diocesan priests already in progress. While taking an early morning stroll, Mary Helen uncovers the lifeless remains of a former seminarian familiar to all of the priests temporarily residing at St. Colette's. Employing her uncanny flair for detection, the energetic old nun resolves to expose the true identity of the murderer before he or she has the opportunity to strike again. Another delightful installment in this breezy and entertaining series of mysteries. Margaret Flanagan