Requiem at the Refuge

All of this author's books are super. I have all of her books and enjoyed all of them. I am hoping that they will all be made available in the Kindle format as well. Although I will continue to get them in paper form as well.

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.

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.

Another lighhearted romp through murder set in the Bay area. It's a delightful read. The characters are real, from the homeless women to the nuns. Sister Carol Ann knows the underside of the San Francisco landscape and the reality of religious life today. Gentle and fun.

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