Sudden Death at the Norfolk Cafe [Mass Market Paperback]

Winona Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1995

In Dorchester, Massachusetts, the nuns at the Convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel offer sanctuary to the terrified pregnant daughter of a Boston politician. In Cambridge, a small-time crook is murdered. Low priority trouble for a big city, but the hidden connection between the two events is deadly: blackmail, drugs, and big bucks for those who can stay alive long enough to collect.

At the center of things is Sister Cecile, a private investigator heiress, and Catholic nun, who does God's work in strange and wonderful ways. She heads a east that includes lawyer Paul Dorys, who loves her; Martin Moon, a blueblood who loves nobody; Sister Raphael, who loves everybody; and Lyuba McVey; whose heart belongs equally to booze and her murdered son.

It's a crew that requires Sister Cecile to call upon heaven for more help than usual. Heaven, alas, is in no hurry to give it....

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This clunky, though occasionally charming, debut mystery may tickle the fancy of parochial-school graduates. At the Convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Dorchester, Mass., Sister Cecile's PI certificate is posted alongside a reproduction of the Sistine Chapel Madonna. The independently wealthy nun helps pregnant teenager Jane Hersey escape her extortionist boyfriend, Martin Moon, who is in a killing rage because she absconded with the file of information he uses to blackmail prominent people, including Jane's father, a Boston politician who is up for re-election. In Cambridge, meanwhile, a rinky-dink drug dealer operating out of the Department of Public Works sets off a ridiculous chain of events ending in hot-blooded murder. As the bridge between these cases, Sister Cecile's lawyer, Paul Dorys--who repetitively sighs over her, as does she over him--persuades the good nun to help track the killer. In a contrived finale, nearly the entire cast of villians and heroes assembles for a shootout with the police. Sullivan consistently chooses plot convenience over reality: Sister Cecile's vocation is swept aside whenever it might conflict with sleuthing, and she rarely makes it back to the convent in time for vespers.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The author has been a teacher and analyst for the CIA, and she has a devious mind....The Boston scene, the teenager and the nun, and the dialogue are attractively written."

-- The Boston Globe

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Fawcett; . edition (March 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804112134
• ISBN-13: 978-0804112130
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,363,220 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The only mystery is how this won a contest, April 21, 2004

By 

Daniel L Pratt (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sudden Death at the Norfolk Cafe (Mass Market Paperback)

There's no mystery in this book: all the criminals are identified as their crimes are revealed.

There's hardly any sleuthing, and most of it is done by the bad guys, not by Sister Cecile or her lawyer friend.

There's very little even in the way of suspense.

How did this win the Best First Private Eye Novel Contest?

The characterizations and settings are excellent, and one hopes that the author can somehow contrive to use them in a mystery one day.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "This is two stories in one with two mysterious endings.", October 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Sudden Death at the Norfolk Cafe (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a story of connected events which involves life and death situations in a world of blackmail, drugs and big money. In this corrupting world people begin to owe others but sometimes the price becomes their own life. When you get involved in criminal activities like these you pay a high price. The author Winona Sullivan has very well coincided two plots in one story. This mystery is a vow of chastity, a vow of sanctity and a vow of silence.