Death Takes Up a Collection

Sister Mary Helen #8

by Carol Anne O'Marie

Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen are delivering homemade loaves of Irish soda bread on St. Patrick's day to all of Mount St. Francis College benefactors. Eager to finish for the day, they make their last stop at St. Agatha's Church, where they interrupt a mysterious meeting of several prominent members of the community. Invited by Monsignor Joseph Higgins to stay for tea, the nuns agree but, sensing great tension at the meeting, they hurry out shortly thereafter.The next day they are greeted with the startling news that the monsignor is dead, and it appears he has been poisoned. With Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen on the case, it quickly becomes apparent that everyone present has something to hide, as did the monsignor himself.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Humor, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

252 pages, Hardcover

First published September 28, 1998

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

[Jjean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun - cozy type mystery - fast read- written on the style of Agatha Christie - Many possible murder suspects in one room -

[MarilynLovesNature · Rating 5 out of 5]

AUDIO VERSION. This is #8, the second one in this series I have read and it was hilarious in a dark sort of way. I enjoyed it much more than the first one I read that was #6 in the series, which was also enjoyable and humorous. It's well written and a bunch of entertaining well-described characters. The audio was one of the most skillful I have listened to by ms. Rosenblatt, who added greatly to my enjoyment.
There was a clue, which I had overlooked that might allow some readers to identify the murderer. Besides Sister Mary Helen, an elderly amateur sleuth, Kate, the assistant homicide detective and her family are charming characters. The most entertaining part is where all the suspects are angry and insulting towards each other in arguing about who might be the murderer. It was especially rewarding to hear the more reserved/polite characters express their true feelings. Parts might be a little slowed by side stories but I'm not sure if it deserves a 4.5 because of this. The humor for me was a definite 5! Highly recommended.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was more of a tribute to Agatha Christie than a Sister Mary Helen mystery. A monsignor who has been embezzling funds from the church is murdered, and there are 8 suspects, all of whom had a motive to kill him. The story line gives us backgrounds and motives for all of the suspects, then Sister Mary Helen figures out whodunit, and the finale involves re-enacting the crime scene and getting the culprit to confess.

Slow moving and ponderous. There is very little action since the story line is about digging into the backgrounds of all of the suspects and exploring their motives. Sisters Mary Helen and Eileen are moe like supporting characters.

Not one of my favorites in this series.

[Chazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... fine. Fluffy, mildly fun, nothing special. I found it because the audiobook was narrated by my favorite reader, Barbara Rosenblat, and she did a fantastic job with it, but the actual plot / writing were just okay. I've been fascinated by nuns and female religious since I was a kid, and Sister Mary Helen was totally delightful - I'd be very happy hang out with her again - but the police detective duo and the other supporting characters were mostly flat and/or annoying. If BR has narrated more books in the series I'll probably give another one a try eventually, but they won't be anywhere near top of my list.

[Kellene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would have done Agatha Christie proud. An old school "locked room" type mystery with multiple plausible suspects. None of them particularly likable and none that could be described as well-balanced. I had an inkling who the guilty party was but had totally missed the tell. Glad Sister Mary Helen is more observant than I am.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 3 out of 5]

While delivering loaves of homemade Irish soda bread on St. Patrick's Day to all Mount Francis College benefactors, Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen interrupt a mysterious meeting at St.
Agatha's Church and find themselves investigating the poisoning death of Monsignor Joseph Higgins.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book of this series that I have read. The two nuns are charming and the books are a fun read. This book had a lot of great suspects for the murder and they all had great reasons to kill the "victim". A fun read!

[Beverley Lombardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this book as well as "Murder in Ordinary Time". It would have made a good short story. The story was too drawn out. Although I enjoyed the characters.

[Elizabeth]

Stopped reading series at this point

[Katie Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

I happened to look at this book on March 17th and I realized it takes place between March 16th and March 22nd, so I decided I had to read it immediately. It was a light, quick closed room mystery involving a priest and a parish council. It was pretty predictable overall, but the nuns' personalities and the connection to the liturgical year always make these fun. I'm going to try to read the other ones I have during the time of year in which they are set as well.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Monsignor is not a nice man and ends up murdered. The sisters and others work to determine who the culprit is. You'll never guess!

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasant little jaunt to San Francisco, and a murder mystery solved by two dear old nuns. Everybody had a reason to kill the monsignor, but who actually did the deed? Sister Mary Helen and her buddy, Sister Eileen, figure it out in the end.
The characters are engaging, the victim really won't be missed by anyone, and there's just enough mystery to keep you engaged through the book. This is mystery light, and should not take long to read.
The author has written a number of mysteries with Sister Mary Helen as the sleuth; it's nice to see an investigator who is not in the prime of youth (she's 77 in this book). The police department characters are in their forties or thereabouts, and their interaction with the nuns is very entertaining.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted a book that wasn't going to take up too much space in my brain but that would still provide entertainment and likable characters. That's what I got in this mystery. The story line is the old "locked room" story line, but with a slight twist. The characters don't develop much as the series moves along, but I don't find that disturbing. It's nice to have a book I can just listen to, enjoy, and put aside without any large social issues coming to the fore.

Barbara Rosenblatt was the narrator and she is wonderful! She adds just enough difference to the characters that you can differentiate them, but doesn't go over the top.

This is a mystery I would recommend to anyone looking for some light reading that isn't complete fluff.

[Willa Guadalupe Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book for free & I wasn't expecting too much- figured a murder mystery by a nun sounded right up my alley, though & it was really a fun read.There was a lit continuity problem here & there & the end was a bit of a surprise (I wonder when the characters will figure out who REALLY done it) but over all i would say this is a great potato chip book & I am going to look into others by this author.

[AnnieM · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cozy, or close to it. Nuns as protagonists make it a nice change of pace. The location of San Francisco makes it an interesting location, but doesn't make a huge impact. It is just a location instead of a character as other authors might have made it.

While religion does make a large portion of the storyline, it doesn't get preachy or overly weighty.

I'd pick up another, but wouldn't actively chase one down.

[Kyrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sister Carol Anne had apparently been reading a lot of Agatha Christie and it seeped into this story.

Who killed the Monsignor Higgins. (More accurately, did anyone NOT want to kill him?) It's got lots of potential murderers - all in one room - all feeling guilty.

Sister Mary Helen quotes or references Hercule Poirot nearly as often as Sister Eileen comes up with sayings from Ireland.

It's a nice escape, but not deep.

[Kathie H · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know, the plot was intriguing, & I went to Catholic school all my life (including college), but God bless her, Carol Anne O'Marie is just not a good writer. I didn't give up on this book though; I read the whole thing. But I won't break my neck getting to the library to check out any more of this series.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The two dare-devil sisters are forced to tread where angels fear to fly because they had delivered the soda bread to the father of St. Agnes Parish on St. Paddy’s Day ---that could have been the source of poison that found him dead the next day! Very vivid characters, light humor and fun to read!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining mystery that features two nuns who solve mysteries. Written by a nun who runs a ministry for homeless woman in California. The two nuns solve the murder of an unpleasant monsignor who has a taste for the finer things in life. Each parish council member had a reason to dislike him. who killed him? Great characters. Will lok for more to read

[Cherie Waggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've only read a few of these by Sister Carol Anne O'Marie. They're fun and different, although I don't like the detectives much, especially the male. How can you blame everything bad that happens on nuns who would rather not stumble over things?

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Entertaining.

[Lynn Shurden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice clean mystery!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting mystery. I don't think I've ever read one about nuns and priests. haha. I liked how the author wrote different parts of the book from different suspects point of view.

[Scott L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like mysteries where I have it figured out before the "detective" does. All-in-all, the reading is enjoyable even if the mystery is transparent.

[Toesnorth's mom]

fair

[Christine Wahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Start date November 4, 2014

Finished November 6, 2014

Cute mystery. Light. Fun. Would recommend. Nice characters. No big twists but easy to get through.

[Betty Ann Baer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute book about two nuns that solve the murder. It goes through each person that is a suspects life and the police trying to find out who did it. Very light read.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

These nuns are cool.
A priest is poisoned and everyone has a reason to hate him.
He has stolen money, slept with ex-nun, etc. A bad person.
Good book.

[Corinne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual for this series, well-written, with a great locked-room mystery. Reader of audiobook was very good.