Sister Carol Anne O'Marie (1933–2009)

The Oyster Festival! Until last week Mary Helen had never heard of the event, but then Eileen had called with the sad news that her sister Molly, whom she had gone to County Galway, Ireland, to nurse through her final illness, had died. Eileen's nieces and nephews were so grateful for her help that they insisted on treating their aunt to a holiday before she returned to her convent in San Francisco. The Oyster Festival was in County Galway, so why not attend that? As an added surprise, they had purchased a ticket so that her good friend, Sister Mary Helen, could join her.… (more)

Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen have stopped at St. Agatha’s to drop off a loaf of homemade soda bread, in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, as a thank you from Mount St. Francis College. What they find is an emergency meeting of the parish council. Something is up and it must not be good due to the meeting being on Sunday.

Monsignor Joseph Higgins takes the sisters’ visit as a perfect interruption to the tension of the meeting, by having them stay for tea and soda bread. Later that evening, the Monsignor suffers some strange symptoms that lead to his death. Was it the soda bread? He was the one who ate any of it.

Officers Dennis Gallagher and Kate Murphy are assigned to the case. They have had previous cases where the sisters have had a hand in solving ‘who done it,’ but Gallagher is no fan of theirs. Since the two nuns are some of the last to see the monsignor alive, Gallagher is hoping they may be the guilty parties. Murphy has opposite feelings.

What comes out is the monsignor’s love of money and the spending of it, even if it isn’t his. Seems he also never took his vows seriously. There are also secrets among the parish council that aren’t complimentary to the images of the members. Maybe they all have motives for wishing the monsignor dead.

With the curiosity and sleuthing of the sisters to clear any suspicion of guilt on them, a number of the secrets are revealed — along with the solution.

This is a fun cozy series with humour and perseverance of characters.… (more)