A Sudden Death at the Norfolk Cafe

This clunky, though occasionally charming, debut mystery may tickle the fancy of parochial-school graduates. At the Convent of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Dorchester, Mass., Sister Cecile's PI certificate is posted alongside a reproduction of the Sistine Chapel Madonna. The independently wealthy nun helps pregnant teenager Jane Hersey escape her extortionist boyfriend, Martin Moon, who is in a killing rage because she absconded with the file of information he uses to blackmail prominent people, including Jane's father, a Boston politician who is up for re-election. In Cambridge, meanwhile, a rinky-dink drug dealer operating out of the Department of Public Works sets off a ridiculous chain of events ending in hot-blooded murder. As the bridge between these cases, Sister Cecile's lawyer, Paul Dorys--who repetitively sighs over her, as does she over him--persuades the good nun to help track the killer. In a contrived finale, nearly the entire cast of villians and heroes assembles for a shootout with the police. Sullivan consistently chooses plot convenience over reality: Sister Cecile's vocation is swept aside whenever it might conflict with sleuthing, and she rarely makes it back to the convent in time for vespers. (Feb.)