From Booklist
O'Marie continues her delightful Sister Mary Helen series with another suspenseful whodunit set in a seedy corner of San Francisco. Since retiring from active duty at Mount Saint Francis College, Sister Mary Helen has been busy volunteering at a women's shelter. When an undercover police officer posing as a homeless woman is senselessly murdered, the good sister once again joins forces with homicide detectives Kate Murphy and Dennis Gallagher. Though slightly irritated by Mary Helen's persistence and her penchant for sleuthing, Murphy and Gallagher grudgingly accept her assistance when two more victims are discovered. With the reputation of the San Francisco Police Department at stake, the three work in concert to expose a good cop gone bad before he strikes again. One more entertaining--if predictable--installment in an unfailingly cozy mystery series. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"O'Marie continues her delightful Sister Mary Helen series with another suspenseful whodunit set in a seedy corner of San Francisco...One more entertaining...installment in an unfailingly cozy mystery series. -Library Journal

"[An] excellent mystery series...Hard to put down." -Booklist



Book Description
Readers have come to delight in the murder-solving exploits of septuagenarian Sister Mary Helen, a nun with a nose for nabbing killers. Publishers Weekly calls the mysteries "refreshingly different" and a "heady mix of humor and suspense." Once you meet this spry, clever sleuth, you'll make a habit of reading her adventures...

"...Bury The Dead."

On the feast of St. Francis Caracciolo, Sister Mary Helen finished chanting the Corporal Acts of Mercy-"...to feed and shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and bury the dead"-before she went to work at The Refuge, a San Francisco women's shelter. Immediately she wondered about a pretty new visitor, suspiciously too well kept to be down and out. Only a few minutes later, Mary Helen found the mysterious woman shot and dying on the sidewalk. The police don't want an old nun meddling in the case, but that doesn't stop Mary Helen from snooping around and discovering the victim's true identity. And when Mary Helen discovers two more bodies, it's the police who may be confessing their need of a sharp-witted Sister with connections to a Higher Authority....



Inside Flap Copy
Praise for the Sister Mary Helen mystery series:

"O'Marie twines the strands of these disparate lives with humor and sympathy."
--Publishers Weekly on Requiem at the Refuge

"Another first-rate installment in an unfailingly entertaining series."
--Booklist on Requiem at the Refuge

"Enlivened by its series of incisive character studies-and sure to please the Sister's legion of fans."--Kirkus Reviews on Death Takes Up a Collection

"O'Marie delivers compelling characters and sophisticated plotting in her best effort to date."
--Publishers Weekly on Death of an Angel

"[An] excellent mystery series...hard to put down."--Booklist on Death of an Angel

"The author's handy mix of humor and suspense again proves irresistible."
--Publishers Weekly on The Missing Madonna



Back Cover Copy
Readers have come to delight in the murder-solving exploits of septuagenarian Sister Mary Helen, a nun with a nose for nabbing killers. Publishers Weekly calls the mysteries "refreshingly different" and a "heady mix of humor and suspense." Once you meet this spry, clever sleuth, you'll make a habit of reading her adventures...

"...Bury The Dead."

On the feast of St. Francis Caracciolo, Sister Mary Helen finished chanting the Corporal Acts of Mercy-"...to feed and shelter the homeless, visit the sick, and bury the dead"-before she went to work at The Refuge, a San Francisco women's shelter. Immediately she wondered about a pretty new visitor, suspiciously too well kept to be down and out. Only a few minutes later, Mary Helen found the mysterious woman shot and dying on the sidewalk. The police don't want an old nun meddling in the case, but that doesn't stop Mary Helen from snooping around and discovering the victim's true identity. And when Mary Helen discovers two more bodies, it's the police who may be confessing their need of a sharp-witted Sister with connections to a Higher Authority....

"O'Marie continues her delightful Sister Mary Helen series with another suspenseful whodunit set in a seedy corner of San Francisco...One more entertaining...installment in an unfailingly cozy mystery series. -Library Journal



About the Author
Sister Carol Anne O'Marie has been a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet for the past fifty years. She ministers to homeless women at a daytime drop-in center in downtown Oakland, California, which she cofounded in 1990. The Corporal Works of Murder is her tenth novel featuring Sister Mary Helen.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Poor Inspector Gallagher - his premonition was right. Sister Mary Helen is once more in the middle of a homicide case. Not that she wants to be. No one would envy the old nun, who finds herself holding a dying young woman, shot to death in the street almost directly outside the Refuge for homeless women where Mary Helen volunteers. And even while she grieves over the loss of life, Mary Helen spots something odd about the victim. Although she is wearing near-rags, her skin is unblemished and healthy-looking. Her perfect teeth are white and unstained. She doesn't look like a woman whose life has been spent in poverty, on the streets." "Mary Helen's feeling is borne out when she discovers that the dead woman was Sarah Spencer, a Vice Department officer trying to find the people responsible for a neighborhood prostitution ring. And in spite of the warnings of her own conscience, the old nun feels that because the murder happened in front of her Refuge, it is her duty to find the officer's killer. She justifies this by telling herself that her connections with the women who use the Refuge put her in a unique position to get inside information about what is going on in their neighborhood. After all, isn't one of the Refuge's very own women, Geraldine, the aunt of Junior Johnson? And isn't Junior just about the most powerful and knowledgeable man in the 'hood? So Sister Mary Helen plunges in, determined to find Sarah Spencer's killer. Her "invasion" of the case enrages inspector Gallagher, but if she is to succeed, his fury will be well worth Mary Helen's triumph." The police officers assigned to the crimes might make the case that someone Mary Helen's age is running a serious risk dealing with criminals and their world. But the delightful old nun has the weapons of her logical mind, and her determination. And just maybe Someone whom she serves is rooting for her. In any case, she is able to work out of perilous situations, come up with commonsense answers, and gathe

FROM THE CRITICS

Kirkus Reviews