A Novena For Murder
Sister Mary Helen series #1
by Sister Carol Anne O’Marie
Sister Mary Helen has held out as long as possible, but at last she has given in, at the age of seventy-five. Her
new vocation, in a life devoted to teaching, is to take up her historical studies at Mount St Francis College For
Women and do some research, but before she has barely settled in, there is a murder. Professor Villanueva has
been found dead on the floor of his office, and it looks as though the murder weapon is a statue of Dom Sebastiao.
As both the Professor and the late Dom shared a reputation for being saviours of the Portuguese people, who would
have wanted to kill him? It is up to Sister Mary Helen to assist the police with their enquiries and stop the
wrong person from being arrested.
It is so interesting to read this book from the point of view of twenty-two years later! The case is assigned
to detectives Dennis Gallagher and Kate Murphy, with her being mentioned as the department’s "token female".
Dennis does his best to convince her to let her live-in boyfriend make an honest woman of her, and there is a
feeling of being on the edge of the modern era, but with one foot in the past. Sister Mary Helen is a Miss
Marple-like character who makes good use of being a nun (albeit in secular dress) and manages to inveigle her way
into all kinds of places and be first to solve the clues. This makes for an engaging and cozy tale that is now
available to a UK audience for the first time. |
The Book |
Hale Crime (Robert Hale) |
November 2006 |
Hardback |
ISBN13: 9780709082101
ISBN10: 070908210X |
Crime - 1984, San Francisco |
More
at Amazon.com US
|| UK |
Excerpt |
NOTE: The amazon US link is NOT the same book, but an earlier paperback version |
The Reviewer |
Rachel A Hyde |
Reviewed 2007 |
NOTE: |
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