Customer Reviews

Rueful Death: A China Bayles Mystery

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China has survived the Christmas rush at her herb shop but is sadly in need of some private time. So off she goes to a nunnery! Together with her friend Maggie, she heads off to a remote nunnery where the sisters grow amazing garlic. Instead of the peace and quiet she longs for, China finds herself embroiled in a contentious power struggle between two groups of nuns working to combine two disparate orders into one. As the sister's jockey for position, fires break out and several mysterious deaths occur. If that wasn't enough, China runs into an old beau and the heat is still there. As she works to solve the nunnery mystery she is making major life choices for herself. Once again, I enjoyed the ride and learned more about herbs and gardening.

Another remarkably resourceful Texas cozy mystery, featuring China Bayles, former lawyer turned herb shop owner. China is on a post-Christmas overload, needing some soothing winding down time to consider whether to accept an offer to sell the herb shop, and whether to stick around Pecan Springs with McQuaid and son. She heads for some solitude at a quiet monastery where the sisters raise garlic. Full of garlic tidbits and trivia, the plotting is excellent and the characterization clever. Not only does China immediately find herself involved investigating some odd happenings, she also finds an old flame has moved into the vicinity.

Ms. Albert sketches the setting so well, I feel as if I had a brief respite. And there is an exceptionally fun website for China (and friends) at mysterypartners.com, where you can visit between books.

Rueful Death by Susan Wittig Albert takes place in a community of nuns. China Bayles, herb store proprietor, feeling hemmed in and increasingly entangled in domesticity, decides to go with her friend, former nun Maggie Garrett, to St. Theresa's Monastery for a retreat. But the monastery has undergone changes since Maggie was there, with nuns from an urban community forceably joined with those who chose this isolated rural environment. Resentment, power struggles, jealousy all grow from this mix. They produce arson and anonymous accusatory letters to some of the nuns. The menace and venom cascade from this novel. This is a mystery, but it is also a serious, thoughtful study of beliefs. The role of women within the Catholic Church is at the center of this novel along with the role of the Church and whether it should be contemplative or active. Two groups of nuns with exactly opposite ideas about such vital questions produce a foreboding and portentous atmosphere in which acts such as arson and threatening letters seem almost normal. This is a crackling good story, with entertaining people, intriguing problems and a surprising solution

Herb-shop owner China Bayles is worn out after the Christmas season, and living with her boyfriend McQuaid and his son Brian has caused its own stress in her life. Because of this China eagerly agrees to accompany her ex-nun friend Maggie on a retreat to the monastary where Maggie used to be. She anticipates two weeks of quiet, solitude, and the opportunity to meditate on the course she wants her life to take. When she arrives, she finds things to be very different than she had pictured. The monastary had been heavily endowed by the wealthy woman who donated the land and she intended for it to be used to house the nuns and to grow a special kind of garlic. Recently the old convent had been merged with another group of nuns and the new group wants to build a large meeting center with all the amenities. The sisters are deadlocked over this issue and it is causing strife between the two factions. Soon, disturbing letters are being sent to the nuns and some fires wreak havoc in the convent. Also some items begin to disappear and two elderly nuns die mysteriously. If this isn't enough, China encounters an old boyfriend from the days when she was an attorney in Houston. She is sorely tempted to resume her relationship with him, despite her attachment to McQuaid. All of these things cause a tangled web of intrigue which China unravels, after a few false starts. In a long-running series like this, it's always refreshing to have the books move to another setting from time to time. This is another good read from Susan Wittig Albert.

In Rueful Death, China finds herself involuntarily and unwittingly tricked into using her amateau detective skills. China has decided to take a two-week retreat at St. T's convent in order to wind down from the busy holidays. While there, she is asked to look into a series of fires. This book is different from Albert's others in such that you don't really want to choose a suspect, because who wants to think that a nun, or anybody working at a convent, is behind all the trouble? China also happens to run into a hunky ex-beau that she knew from her lawyer days. China doesn't get much rest on this retreat, but she does catch the firebug. Pretty much par for course in this series.

I just became acquainted with this author's series recently. I read (and enjoyed) Thyme of Death, and Witch's Bane, but this book is the best so far!! I enjoyed the setting and atmosphere, and the off-stage (so to speak) deaths (Witch's Bane and even Thyme of Death had some pretty bloody, gory deaths, which I don't care for).

One minor quibble: the author could do with a bit of better copy editing. 1) She had too many nuns name Rose (and variants thereof) -- it got confusing. 2) Early on in China's stay at the monastery, she & Maggie go up the cliffs at night. Just before they do, the author mentions a "sliver of moon" hung low in the sky, but when they're on the cliff, all is bathed in moonlight!! You don't get much moonlight from a sliver, and suddenly the moon is described as "quarter round" -- huh?? "Quarter round" I take to mean full -- certainly, the landscape won't be bathed in moonlight under a crescent (sliver) moon.

There is just as glaring a copy editing problem in Witch's Bane; unfortunately, it's just as China is realizing who the murderer is, so I'm not going to describe it here online.

Stories about nuns are risky, and seldom reviewed as superior among one's opus. I am thinking of Audrey Hepburn in THE NUN's STORY, a film in which she gave a magnificent presentation of the character, very believable and perfect in nuance. Yet, in the many books about her, little attention is given to that one-of-a-kind classic film.

Nuns are very difficult to present in art because its too easy to present unbelievable stereotypes, corny stuff, and miss the diverse and real women who form communities of prayer and service. Even forty years ago when most nuns dressed alike the careful observer could note differences in the women. I believe SUSAN WITTIG ALBERT has done a much better than average work in presenting counter-cultural women in the context of a page-turning mystery. While some details of convent life are a bit "over the top" the author is able to present women on a life-journey to live out their values. I want to proffer kudos to the author for her attempt at a difficult task, and celebrate the fine story she produced.

What intelligent reader would not really enjoy learning so much about herbs in the series and in this tome with a focus on garlic? That element alone make the story a noteworthy reading experience.

This reader experienced considerable joy with the character of SADIE MARSH. She was as real as they come in fiction, and charming. Its too bad she was not developed into a main character/ sleuth in her own series.

Susan Wittig Albert is among the most creative in her genre of fiction in its various forms and series. She creates characters worth knowing and plots that uphold the deeply human and spiritual, conjoined in life.

THOMAS PATRICK HULL, CHICAGO

Another installment in the China Bayles series. In this story, China has
moved in with her boyfriend McQuaid and his son and the daily routine is
getting to her and she's begun to wonder if her life is going in the
direction it should be. So she accepts an invitation from her friend Maggie
(owner of her favorite restaurant near her herb store) to go away to Saint
Theresa'a Monastery for a retreat. St. Theresa's is an idyllic spot with
acres of rich farmland where the nuns grow garlic to sell for income. Upon
their arrival, they learn that the sisters have been plagued in recent weeks
by a series of anonymous accusatory letters and small fires. Mother
Winifred enlists China's help in tracking down the guilty parties. As China
investigates, she discovers a deep chasm between two factions of nuns, each
with their own agenda for the future of St. Theresa's, and the plans
couldn't be more different. In the course of her investigation, China
reexamines her own personal life agenda, as well.

I found this episode to be rather depressing for some reason, but it was
well written and the mystery unwound in a logical manner. A little bit of
misdirection early on led me down the wrong path for a while, but eventually
straightened itself out.

How can you not like China Bayles? She is the kind of character that it truely believable. I enjoyed this story because of the unusual setting -- at St. Theresa's Monastery. China decides her hectic life could use a break, and she goes on retreat. It was interesting to see that the nuns were portrayed as real people. It was also refreshing to see China making mistakes (like the rest of us do). I enjoyed the story and can't wait for the next China Bayles mystery!

Susan Albert writes great mystery books but this one is not up to her usual high standards. Her sleuth, China Bayles, has been uprooted from Pecan Springs and transplanted in an abbey (she's on vacation). Nuns are not as amusing as witches (read Witches Bane!) and they are not as colorful as the inhabitants of Pecan Springs (I sure missed Ruby!). This is her worst book so far, but it is still pretty good, just not as good as her others.