Requiem at the Refuge: A Sister Mary Helen Mystery (Sister Mary Helen Mysteries) [Mass Market Paperback]

Sister Carol Anne O'Marie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005 | Series: Sister Mary Helen Mysteries

DIVINE INTERVENTION

How do you make God laugh? Tell Him you've got a plan. That's what Sister Mary Helen reminds herself when she sets out to start a new life--as a volunteer in a women's homeless shelter. A savvy octogenarian with an adventurous streak, Mary Helen is no stranger to the shady side of San Francisco's hilly streets. So when a young resident at the Refuge shelter is found dead, Mary Helen makes it her business to solve the murder. Soon this lady of the Order gets herself into a holy mess involving corrupt local politicians, a prostitution ring, and a tangled web of private-eyes, police officers, and the 'refugees' themselves. Mary Helen calls upon her beloved sisters at St. Francis College for salvation, but it's going to take a lot of prayers to protect Mary Helen from the dangerous characters--and shocking confessions--that come in her wake...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Eightyish Sister Mary Helen is almost resigned to retirement and is learning to knit when a young friend, Sister Anne, suggests she volunteer at the Refuge, a shelter for homeless women in San Francisco. But during her first hours there, Sister Mary Helen finds the battered corpse of a young prostitute. As in previous books in this series (Death Takes Up a Collection, Death of an Angel), O'Marie's feisty heroine proves the match for any professional detective. The author, a San Francisco nun of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, evokes convent life in the '90s with simple reverence and gentle humor. Who else would use such a homely aphorism as "If beggars were horses, this entire hill would be full of manure" on the same page with a passage ("O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new") from the Confessions of St. Augustine? The clients of the Refuge, mostly past-their-prime prostitutes, are portrayed with compassion, yet with no attempt to sanitize the sordid realities of their lives. On Nob Hill, meanwhile, Richard Dunn, successful lawyer and erstwhile candidate for governor, is romancing the lovely Amanda, a paralegal in his firm. His plain, plump wife, Betsy, awaits him at home, finally facing the fact that he is a philandering heel. O'Marie twines the strands of these disparate lives with humor and sympathy. Readers won't forget, in particular, the authentic prostitutes Venus, Candy, Genie, Crazy Alice, Peanuts and Miss Bobbie. Mary Helen unravels the mess with her usual insight and sturdy independence, aided, she firmly believes, by her good friend God, who loves them all.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Unexpectedly forced into retirement by the arrival of a new president at Mount St. Francis College, feisty octogenarian Sister Mary Helen decides to volunteer at a downtown San Francisco shelter for homeless women. Before she has time to adjust fully to her challenging new ministry, she discovers the lifeless body of a young prostitute and becomes entangled in a psychologically twisted game of cat and mouse with the culprit. Being no stranger to murder, Sister Mary Helen is determined to help her old friends, homicide detectives Kate Murphy and Dennis Gallagher, solve the brutal crime. Undertaking her own quiet investigation, she uncovers a startling motive, endangering the lives of all the nuns at Mount St. Francis in the process. Fans of the Father Dowling mysteries will also enjoy the exploits of the indefatigable Sister Mary Helen. Another first-rate installment in an unfailingly entertaining series. Margaret Flanagan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312938217
• ISBN-13: 978-0312938215
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent character study..., March 26, 2000

By 

S. Colbert (Portsmouth, NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Requiem at the Refuge: A Sister Mary Helen Mystery (Sister Mary Helen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I've read all of the Sr. Mary Helen mysteries and enjoyed this one the most. The mystery was a little bit too obvious (i pretty much figured it out half way through) but the story was enjoyable and i really learned more about the main characters than in any of the other books (esp. Sr. Ann). The only character that i really missed was Sr. Eileen and im hoping that she'll be in the next book. I'm looking forward to the next installment in this series

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice quiet read, August 9, 2006

By 

Coastie "PPSB" (SA, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Requiem at the Refuge: A Sister Mary Helen Mystery (Sister Mary Helen Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I look at books like this as palate cleaners, they're nice little reads that require little thought or effort and they can be read in a few hours. I have always enjoyed Sister Mary Helen stories because they are written by a retired nun who resides in SF and having lived there it's nice to read references to places I know as she gives a lot of detail to locations. This story involves the murder of a young prositute who's body is of course discovered by Sister Mary Helen on her second day working at a homeless womens refuge operated by a younger nun in her order. There are a couple of possible suspects and I do find it humerous that Sister Carol Anne O'Marie writes of a world that must be a little foreign to her even if she has worked in the Tenderloin it's still observations and not "having lived the life". I like these little stories and if you're looking for a light harmless read you could do a lot worse than this series. If you like gory or mind twisting mysteries then pass on this book.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, But...., October 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Requiem at the Refuge: A Sister Mary Helen Mystery (Sister Mary Helen Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I've been reading this series since the beginning and I've always enjoyed it. This installement is no exception. However, I was very bothered by one thing . The way the African-American characters talked. I'm African-American and I've never heard other African-Americans sound as ignorant as the characters in this book. Just because someone is black, poor, and homeless doesn't mean they automatically have to say such things as "I be" , "you be", and "whats a matter?" Maybe if one or two characters talked this way I wouldn't have been as bothered but they all talked like this. Otherwise, I enjoyed the book.