What do you think about a Nun Detective?

There were some things I liked about this book, and some I didn't really care for. Sister Eve is a nun/detective. She has a knack for solving crimes and although she is currently still a nun, she is also working as a detective for her father's agency. In this book, she is at the convent where she used to live for a convention. Dr Kelly Middlesworth,  a religious researcher, is supposed to be speaking at a conference there, but ends up murdered instead. Detective Eve's crime solving habits kick in, and she ends up on the trail of a possible killer.

I liked the plot, it was unique and different from any book I've read. For the most part, it was interesting and kept me wondering who did it and what would happen next. I was pretty sure I knew who did it from the start, but the author did a pretty good job of promoting various alternative options that kept me guessing.

What I didn't like about the story was that, although I liked Eve as a person, she seemed like a bit of an incompetent detective. She compromises the crime scene, lies, hides
evidence, and doesn't seem to be sorry or receive consequences for her actions. It also seemed like the monk who stole the valuable documents doesn't suffer any consequences either. At least none other than ones they pretty much brought on themselves. Of course, some of those were pretty dire, but I would have preferred Eve to have been on the up and up, especially being a nun. There were a few other parts of the story that really didn't impress me. I suppose its a matter of opinion.

I have not read any of the other books in this series so I didn't really have anything to compare it to. I wouldn't mind reading a different book in the series to see what it was like.
I received a free copy of this book from Fiction Guild and Thomas Nelson to review. I was not required to review positively and all opinions are my own.

Book Synopsis:

Sister Eve knows God moves in mysterious ways. And Eve adores a good mystery. Especially a murder.

Two decades into her calling at a New Mexico monastery, Sister Evangeline Divine breaks her daily routine when a police officer appears, carrying a message from her father. Sister Eve is no stranger to the law, having grown up with a police captain turned private detective. She’s seen her fair share of crime—and knows a thing or two about solving mysteries.

But when Captain Jackson Divine needs her to return home and help him recover from surgery, Sister Eve finds herself taking on his latest case.

A Hollywood director has disappeared, and the sultry starlet he’s been running around with isn’t talking. When the missing man turns up dead, Captain Divine’s case escalates into a full-blown murder case, and Sister Eve’s crime-solving instincts kick in with an almost God-given grace.

Soon Sister Eve finds herself soul-searching every step of the way: How can she choose between the vocation in her heart and the job in her blood?

About the Author:

Lynne Hinton was born and raised in North Carolina. She attended Wake Forest University and is a graduate of UNC-Greensboro. She also attended NC School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking and graduated with her Masters of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California.

Lynne is the author of nineteen books, including the NY Times Bestseller, Friendship Cake and Pie Town, the 2011 NM Book of the Year: Fiction/Adventure, Drama Category and 2011 National Federation of Press Women's Fiction Book of the Year.  She is a regular guest columnist in the Faith and Values Section for The Charlotte Observer and was the 2008 Lucy B. Patterson Author of the Year by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in NC. In 2010, she was the recipient of a Louisville Institute Pastoral Study Grant and was named 2012 Favorite Local Writer in Albuquerque, New Mexico by Albuquerque, The Magazine.

Lynne and her husband Bob Branard live in Guilford County, North Carolina where Lynne serves as Co-Pastor of Mount Hope UCC with Rev Kristin Gerner Vaughn.

Visit her online at lynnehinton.com Facebook: Lynne-Hinton-Books