Corporal Works of Murder (Sister Mary Helen Series #10) » (Reprint)

Sister Carol Anne O'Marie has been a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet for the past 48 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 Sister Mary Helen mystery.

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

Kirkus Reviews

Sister Mary Helen is getting on in years, but in addition to ministering daily to homeless women at a church-run refuge, she's still the premier sleuth in residence at San Francisco's Mount Saint Francis College. Her latest case falls literally into her lap when undercover police officer Sarah Spencer is shot just outside the refuge building, uttering only a single word as she dies in Mary Helen's arms. Inspector Dennis Gallagher is furious, as always, when he finds Mary Helen on the scene, but his partner Kate Murphy, now Bassetti, greets her warmly-no surprise, considering the help the police will need cleaning up the neighborhood. Another undercover cop is ensconced in the New You Tattoo Parlor trying to track down rumors of a well-protected local prostitution ring. And prostitutes aren't the refuge's only problem. One of its daily visitors is Geraldine, a working-girl alumna worried sick about the disappearance of her nephew, tough guy Junior Johnson. She enlists Mary Helen's help, and eventually they find him, another gunshot victim-and not the last, until Mary Helen, working with Kate and helped by a single clue, uncovers the killer. The largely predictable adventure, though mostly for fans of the series (Requiem at the Refuge, 2000, etc.), is enlivened by interesting local color and softened by a mellowed Sister Mary Helen.