Sister Agatha is one of two extern nuns in the cloistered order at the Our Lady of Hope Monastery near the small desert town of Bernalillo, New Mexico. An investigative journalist before entering the monastery, now, as an extern it is Sister Agatha's role to be the link between her cloistered sisters and the outside world. It is the skills from both her past and current lives that she must bring to the task assigned to her by the Archbishop of her diocese. At a former monastery, closed and sold by the diocese and now operating as a hotel and business retreat, there are a series of mysterious goings on.
Several valuable pieces of southwestern folk art owned by the diocese and left on loan in the retreat have been stolen and replaced by replicas. After an art expert was called in to verify the remaining collection, he too disappeared without a trace. And then, there is the ghost - the restless spirit rumored to wander the halls of the resort.
At the request of the Archbishop, Sister Agatha's must now discreetly investigate the doings at the former monastery and make sure that an unwanted scandal is not about to engulf the diocese. But she soon learns that something even more sinister than a ghost is loose in the retreat and it is up to Sister Agatha to unravel the puzzle before the consequences turn deadly.
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From the Back Cover:
EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN...
A former investigative reporter, Sister Agatha has more than her fair share of spiritual challenges as an extern, a nun responsible for her cloistered order's dealings with the outside world. Still, she's instantly intrigued when the archbishop requests she discreetly investigate the odd disappearances of valuable religious folk art from The Retreat, a former New Mexico monastery-turned-upscale-inn. But soon Sister Agatha is entangled in one unearthly puzzle that includes an art expert who's vanished without a trace, a truly strange flock of out-there suspects, and an unnerving apparition no amount of rationality can explain. She'll have to bring all her worldly instincts and savvy to heading off a disastrous scandal--as well as a sheriff more interested in political glory than finding the truth. And between strange clues and plenty of unexpected motives, Sister Agatha will need plenty of spiritual intervention and heaven-sent cunning to bring one devilish murderer to book...
"Sister Agatha deserves a place with Father Brown in the gallery of canny religious
sleuths."
--Booklist
"[Sister Agatha is] intelligent, determined, funny, and deeply religious yet completely unstuffy."--Dallas Morning News
About the Author:
Aimée and David Thurlo are the authors of over forty novels that have been published in more than twenty countries, including the Ella Clah novels and Bad Faith, the first novel to feature Sister Agatha. The Thurlos live in Corrales, New Mexico.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherMinotaur Books
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 0312290985
- ISBN 13 9780312290986
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages272
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Rating