Murder Makes a Pilgrimage

Sister Mary Helen #5

by Carol Anne O'Marie

Traveling to the shrine of St. James on a pilgrimage, Sister Mary Helen finds a beautiful woman's body behind the saint's silver casket and suspects a fellow pilgrim, and her suspicions may make her the next saintly martyr. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Cozy Mystery, Christian, Christian Fiction, Mystery Thriller

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Sister Carol Anne O'Marie, CSJ was a mystery writer and a nun in the St. Joseph of Carondelet religious order.

She wrote eleven novels with the protagonist Sister Mary Helen, an elderly nun who solves crimes. Most of the books are based in San Francisco.

Her final book, Like a Swarm of Bees, is about the origins of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the United States.

Sister Carol Anne O'Marie and Sister Maureen Lyons ran a shelter for homeless women in Oakland, CA.

Reviews

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 stars. Thoroughly enjoyed this mystery.

[Elena Santangelo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the first 4 novels in the Sister Mary Helen series. The main character was much like many of the older nuns I've known. Her sidekick, Sister Eileen, is just plain fun. The police detective in the series, Kate Murphy, is an interesting, intelligent character. I would give those novels 5 stars. I haven't had a chance to read novels #6 and later, so I can't judge. But this one, #5, I wasn't able to get through both times that I attempted to read it.

I thought trying it as an audio book this time might be different, but still no luck. If anything, the reader made the book worse--her narration had little energy. She gave Sister Mary Helen an oddly accented (Midwest maybe?), flat voice. She breathed in weird places. She sometimes overlapped Sister Eileen's Irish brogue into the narration or even other characters (though she did the brogue well). Her Spanish accents were adequate but maybe a bit caricatured. Most of the characters sounded too much alike.

The story has very little action--it just plods. I think one of the main problems, though, is the setting. The nuns leave their usual San Francisco neighborhoods and go to Spain, but the setting is poorly described. At best, I felt like I was watching boring vacation photos. The murder itself was well done, but then the momentum dies.

So, read the 1st 4 novels, at least, but give this one a pass.

[Nancy Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Divine intervention, perhaps--I found this book in a Little Library after returning from Santiago de Compostela, to where amateur detectives, Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen, have won a free pilgrimage. When Sister Mary Helen discovers the body of a a beautiful young woman on their tour behind the crypt of St. James in the cathedral, the nuns happily investigate their fellow peregrinos, much to the dismay and delighted of the local Comiserio and their friends back home in the SFPD.

[Sandra Strange · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since the setting of this mystery was Santiago de Compostela, I wanted to read it. It was ok, part of the Sister Mary Helen series, but a bit slow and not as fascinating as I would have wanted. A bit too routine.

[Mary Warnement · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave Mom this series years ago. Somehow she got two of this title. I'd finished my mystery during my last visit and took this one for the plane trip home. Perfect. The series made me think of my Aunt Priscilla who had a good friend Sister Max. I could imagine them getting into trouble together.

[Linda Rawlins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol Anne O'Marie writes another enjoyable mystery about Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen as they find a dead body while on a pilgrimage to Spain. I've always enjoyed this series. I love how the nuns solve murders, usually with the help of the San Francisco Police Department.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun!

[Rosemary Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy this series.

[Kathleen Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy fun read!

[Drebbles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sister Mary Helen is surprised to find out that she is one of ten winners of a trip to the shrine of St. James in Santiago Spain - she didn't know her good friend Sister Eileen had entered her name in the contest. At the urging of restaurant owner Senior Carlos Fraga de la Cueva, who would like her to keep an eye on his wayward nephew Pepe, Sister Mary Helen agrees to go to Spain with Sister Eileen. This is supposed to be a nice little getaway, but murder has a way of finding Sister Mary Helen and it's not long before she stumbles across the dead body of someone in their tour group. Her police friends in the United States, Dennis Gallagher and Kate Murphy, urge Sister Mary Helen to let the local police, headed by Comisario Serrano, do all the investigating and Sister Mary Helen be content with sightseeing. But Sister Mary Helen can't help being involved and soon there are several attempts on her life. Comisario Serrano, with the aid of several phone calls to Kate Murphy, scrambles frantically to solve the murder before Sister Mary Helen is fatally hurt.

I always enjoy reading Sister Carol Anne O'Marie's cozy mystery series featuring Sister Mary Helen and "Murder Takes a Pilgrimage" is no exception. Gray haired Sister Mary Helen is a delightful character who loves to read murder mysteries that she hides behind plastic prayer book covers so she doesn't shock others with her choice of reading material and she has an unfortunate habit of getting involved in real life mysteries. Sister Eileen is also a delight; especially with her habit of quoting what she claims are sayings back home in Ireland, although Sister Mary Helen suspects she makes them up as she goes along. Since much of the action in the book takes place in Spain, we don't see as much of Kate Murphy and especially Dennis Gallagher, which is a shame. But the few glimpses we get of Kate and her agonizing about whether or not to go back to work after the birth of her son are well done and add a lot of the book. While I did miss the absence of the other nuns, especially Sister Anne, throughout much of the book, characters like Maria Jose add some nice bits to the book. The mystery itself is well plotted and it was fun to try to figure out who the murderer was. The book isn't without flaws - it's obvious who will be murdered; readers will figure out why someone is trying to steal Sister Mary Helen's purse long before she and the police do; and the final scene where the murderer is revealed seems intended to be sad but was unbelievable to me. But these are minor flaws in an otherwise very enjoyable mystery.

"Murder Takes a Pilgrimage" is a delightful cozy mystery.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sister Mary Helen wins a trip to Spain for herself and a guest. She and Sister Eileen enjoy their trip until Mary Helen finds the body of one of the group in a nearby cathedral. She enlists the help of her local San Francisco police friends to help solve the case. It's an interesting trip through parts of Spain learning about the history and religion as they solve the crime.

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

When it comes to murder mysteries, faith is not usually a player. It is, however, when the sleuth is a nun, as is the case in this book. And faith is also important to the author, Carol Anne O'Marie (1933-2009), for she also was a nun. When Sister Mary Helen wins a trip to Spain, she and her companion, Sister Eileen, are thrown into a group of strangers Like all people the other travelers have secrets, but one of the group may know more about those secrets than is good for her. Sister Mary Helen is very much in the tradition of other clerical sleuths, such as Father Brown and Sister Joan, but she is also quite elderly, a trait that often causes people to underestimate her more than religious nature, and makes situations that much more dangerous. Like a regular detective, Sister Mary Helen follows clues, questions suspects and makes observations, but where murder to a police detective is a matter of breaking the law, murder to Sister Mary Helen is a matter of sin; when it comes to bringing people to task for their sins, she has a very demanding client. This book, and others in the series, will appeal to the reader who appreciates detective fiction with a firm moral compass.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

After winning a free trip to Santiago, Spain, the Sister’s find their holiday marred when one of the members of their tour group is found strangled in the crypt of a cathedral. A delightful mystery in an utterly charming and entertaining series of whodunits. And, yet ---I didn’t like them in Spain ---seemed to be a lot of endless chit-chat on the cathedrals etc. that unless your Catholic (and, I’m not) found sort of ….too much! The Sister’s are like bees to a hive when let lose ANYWHERE!

[Melody · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sister Marty Helen wins a trip to Santiago Compostela, long a pilgrimage site. Of course she takes Sister Eileen. And of course she finds a murder victim. One of her fellow pilgrims is murdered in the crypt. As strangers in Spain, one of their fellow travellers is the most likely suspect. But which one? And why.

[Rusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this mystery with Sister Mary Helen and Siter Eileen but thought it was slow moving in spots. Basically, the story begins with Sister Mary Helen winning a trip for a pilgrimage to a famed spot in Spain.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had been awhile since I had read anything from the Sister Mary Helen series! Fun story plot, interesting travel information, ending not too surprising!! But will continue to occassionally read this series as it is always a light, easy read!

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feel like a trip to Spain? Pack your umbrella for this pilgrimage with a side of murder. Put this Sister Mary Helen tale in your carry on next time you are on a plane and you won't be bored even with a lay-over.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Catholic nuns solving mysteries. This one, however, seemed a bit contrived.

[Alexandra]

5th in the series.

[Barbara Radisavljevic · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review for this series is under Novena for Murder.

[Marianne Jay (back from taking a break) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super cute cozy mystery with Sr. Mary Helen as a mystery solving 80-something year old nun.

I think this would be an adorable tv show staring Betty White.

[Kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great characters and lots of fun.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho-hum.

[Kyrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have liked more about the actual church and area of their pilgrimage, but it was a good who dunnit with lots of good suspects.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of red herrings, interesting plot, good characterization.