Murder Makes a Pilgrimage (Sister Mary Helen Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: A fun, old-fashioned mystery.
Review: The story follows two nuns, Sister Mary Helen and Sister Eileen, who regularly are mixed up in murder. In this case, they win a contrived "free" trip to Spain to visit the final destination of the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela. The sisters meet an odd mixture of fellow winners, including one haughty upper-crust couple, two young adult women who were childhood girlfriends, a retired college professor and his wife, and a stereotypic crass couple who own a furniture store. In Santiago they encounter a clever police chief, his wife and their niece who has agreed to help assist the tour guide.

While the characters don't actually make the pilgrimage, the book does give a good account of the story of St. James.

In the cathedral, one of the pilgrims is brutally murdered, her body discovered by Sr. Mary Helen. From there the mystery unfolds in a standard way. Okay, the plot is formulaic, but entertainingly so, and I found the story interesting and well written. It was an easy read, straightforward and had little pretense.

This was my first of this series and I plan to read more. It is lightweight, but in a fun, escapist way.