Missing Madonna

A Novena For Murder and Advent of Dying introduced author Sr. O'Marie and her disarming amateur sleuth, Sr. Mary Helen (MH) of a Catholic college in San Francisco. In her 70s but still sharp-eyed and an incurable snoop, MH is devoutly religious and equally devoted to fighting crime. As the nun's third tale gets underway, she's just returned with her confederate, Sr. Eileen, from a meeting in Manhattan of OWL (Older Women's League). Hearing that one of the lay OWL members, widowed Erma Duran, has disappeared, MH prods Eileen into helping her investigate. They question Al Finn, who owns the apartment building where Erma has lived for years, but learn little. Nor do the sisters gain much from consulting Erma's grown children. By now, all the OWLs are worried about the absent woman, and MH descends again on her friends the police, who groan at her interference but agree to play a role in the search. Meantime, MH searches Erma's rooms and keeps tabs on her delinquent adult offspring. So the unwise old OWL is aloneexcept for a merciless adversarywhen she learns Erma's fate. The author's heady mix of humor and suspense again proves irresistible. Mystery Guild alternate. (Dec.)