Why Mary Forgot

Award-winning author Brian Striefel serves up a delicious crime thriller through the eyes of rookie-detective Hanna (2005) and Miss North Dakota (1927.) When Sister Mary Murphy confesses several long-ago murders that involve a saucy pageant winner, some Sioux Indians, and a chef named Pierre — Detective Hanna suspects dementia and hurries to disprove the little nun. Another dead-end case could doom Hanna’s career, but nothing is as it seems in 1927. This novel features a cold case mystery and a budding romance, appropriately seasoned with humor, crappy apartment life, and a very active puppy. Pope Benedict desperately needs a hero. He discovers that opportunity through Sister Mary Murphy’s 100th birthday. Her celebration will include the church’s highest missionary honor: the Lumen Christi. Her audience will include a hundred dignitaries and every single resident of Fort Yates, North Dakota, the rural community that she served for almost eighty years. If Hanna can’t convince Sister Mary Murphy of her innocence, the elderly nun will also admit to murder. Stir together Evanovich’s One for the Money and Atwood’s The Blind Assassin to find this novel’s feel. It’s loosely written into actual events — alternate historical fiction from the time of Prohibition.