“Death goes on Retreat” by Sister Carol Anne O'Marie

“Death goes on Retreat” by Sister Carol Anne O'Marie
1995, Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0-385-31047-1

I’ve always been a great fan of the religious. Once upon a time I aspired to be one, but those were girlhood dreams and were a long time ago. My husband and I have been married over 30 years and I morphed in my middle age into a psychic, so, presumably I am as far away from being a nun as I could possibly be. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t still be a fan.

This is a mystery with nuns at the center of the tale. It’ called, “Death goes on Retreat” and it was written by Sister Carol Anne O’Marie. A co-worker told me about her because she had recently passed on in May of 2009. She helped to co-found and run a homeless shelter for women in Oakland called A Friendly Place. Sister was from the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet religious order.

Central to “Death goes on Retreat” is Sister Mary Helen who is an elderly nun on retreat who somehow becomes involved in a murder investigation. While the detectives come to investigate Sister Mary Helen and her friend Sister Eileen begin their own investigation. They have already gained a bit of notoriety as sleuths in another murder and so know how to ask the right questions.

The story lets you peek into the lives of the clergy, the priests and nuns in the story. It also shines with love and compassion. It’s one of those books to read when you’ve grown tired of sirens and serial killers and mass murder.

Curl up and pick up one of Sister O’Marie’s books. She wrote 11 of them. Your library should have at least one of them for you to read. Mine did.

“What Matters Most” by Luanne Rice

“What Matters Most” by Luanne Rice
2007, Bantam Books
ISBN: 978-0-553-80533-8


“What Matters Most” by Luanne Rice delves deeply into love; the love between a man and a woman who can’t love each other but who do so anyway; the love between a clan and a newly discovered clansman; the love between two people who have known each other since birth.

Sister Bernadette and Tom Kelly are at the heart of the story. It’s got chaos, heartache and beauty. It’s especially interesting to me how Ms. Rice absolutely nails it about love and conflict and how love can win out every time.

Trust me and read it. I began it in the morning and finished it that evening. I was sitting on the edge of my seat. This is a really special love story.

"The Squire's Tale" by Margaret Frazer

The Squire's Tale by Margaret Frazer. Berkley; Reissue edition (December 1, 2001) ISBN-13: 978-0425182710

The Squire's Tale by Margaret Frazer is an absolutely delightful medieval who-done-it with the starring investigator of Dame Frevisse. She's a nun and like other people in fiction serials who are good at solving crimes also appears to find herself in the midst of them time after time. As my husband says occasionally when we watch other who-done-it shows on television, "They ought to lock her up."

This is the second of Margaret Frazer's tales I've read and, as with the first, I was captivated. This is not just your everyday who-done-it. This shows into the heart of times medieval, of the 1400's. It looks at spirituality that never gets old. It looks at the place of women in the society of medieval times.

At the end I cried. It was also a love story and, for me, the mark of a "good" book is that I cry at the end.

As time goes by I expect to see more reviews for this author. You can read more about Margaret Frazer on Wikipedia.

An interesting side note to my reading of this book relates to the first one I read. I'd spotted her books some time before in the library, however, at the time I had a full load to read and there wasn't room right then to select one of her books. But, I remembered some time later that I wanted to read one of Margaret's books. Except, I couldn't find them in the library. I knew they were located in the mystery section. So, I passed back and forth looking. The problem was I also couldn't remember the name of the author. A lady joined me in the stacks looking for her own mystery and I asked her if she knew of a writer of medieval mysterys with a nun as the lead character. No, she was sorry, but she didn't know and right at that very instant my eyes looked down to the lower shelf right in front of us and I spied the books in question. I thanked her for her help. She protested that she hadn't helped me at all and I said, "No, but you did. If I hadn't stopped to speak with you I would never have found them today."