Rueful Death: A China Bayles Mystery | Susan Wittig Albert

Rueful Death: A China Bayles Mystery | Susan Wittig Albert | A bit depressing

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Rueful Death: A Ch...

	Rueful Death: A China Bayles Mystery Susan Wittig Albert Berkley, 1997 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

During a supposedly relaxing retreat at a Texas convent, herbalist China Bayles and her friend Maggie, an ex-nun, investigate the seemingly accidental death of the Mother Superior and uncover a deadly conflict within the walls of the cloister. Reprint. PW. "

China goes on a retreat

Herb-shop owner China Bayles is worn out after the Christmas season, and living with her boyfriend McQuaid and his son Brian has caused its own stress in her life. Because of this China eagerly agrees to accompany her ex-nun friend Maggie on a retreat to the monastary where Maggie used to be. She anticipates two weeks of quiet, solitude, and the opportunity to meditate on the course she wants her life to take. When she arrives, she finds things to be very different than she had pictured. The monastary had been heavily endowed by the wealthy woman who donated the land and she intended for it to be used to house the nuns and to grow a special kind of garlic. Recently the old convent had been merged with another group of nuns and the new group wants to build a large meeting center with all the amenities. The sisters are deadlocked over this issue and it is causing strife between the two factions. Soon, disturbing letters are being sent to the nuns and some fires wreak havoc in the convent. Also some items begin to disappear and two elderly nuns die mysteriously. If this isn't enough, China encounters an old boyfriend from the days when she was an attorney in Houston. She is sorely tempted to resume her relationship with him, despite her attachment to McQuaid. All of these things cause a tangled web of intrigue which China unravels, after a few false starts. In a long-running series like this, it's always refreshing to have the books move to another setting from time to time. This is another good read from Susan Wittig Albert.

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A bit depressing

Another installment in the China Bayles series. In this story, China has
moved in with her boyfriend McQuaid and his son and the daily routine is
getting to her and she's begun to wonder if her life is going in the
direction it should be. So she accepts an invitation from her friend Maggie
(owner of her favorite restaurant near her herb store) to go away to Saint
Theresa'a Monastery for a retreat. St. Theresa's is an idyllic spot with
acres of rich farmland where the nuns grow garlic to sell for income. Upon
their arrival, they learn that the sisters have been plagued in recent weeks
by a series of anonymous accusatory letters and small fires. Mother
Winifred enlists China's help in tracking down the guilty parties. As China
investigates, she discovers a deep chasm between two factions of nuns, each
with their own agenda for the future of St. Theresa's, and the plans
couldn't be more different. In the course of her investigation, China
reexamines her own personal life agenda, as well.

I found this episode to be rather depressing for some reason, but it was
well written and the mystery unwound in a logical manner. A little bit of
misdirection early on led me down the wrong path for a while, but eventually
straightened itself out.

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rueful death: a china bayles mystery

very good almost as good as carvic and braun

China Bayles on retreat?

In Rueful Death, China finds herself involuntarily and unwittingly tricked into using her amateau detective skills. China has decided to take a two-week retreat at St. T's convent in order to wind down from the busy holidays. While there, she is asked to look into a series of fires. This book is different from Albert's others in such that you don't really want to choose a suspect, because who wants to think that a nun, or anybody working at a convent, is behind all the trouble? China also happens to run into a hunky ex-beau that she knew from her lawyer days. China doesn't get much rest on this retreat, but she does catch the firebug. Pretty much par for course in this series.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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