Thief in Retreat/Aimee and David Thurlo

Rating:                         5/5
Genre:                         Murder mystery,
Tangential Interests: Nuns/Monasteries/Religious Artifacts/Dogs/Vehicular Repair
Part of a Series?        YES

Review

I finished this book and loved it, and am now backtracking and reading the first book in the series, Bad Faith, in which Sister Agatha acquires her lovable canine and her Harley Davidson. 

Reading this book, I fell in love with Sister Agatha's character.  Creating the character of a nun who is completely relatable to the average non-cloistered person must be a monumental literary challenge, but the Thurlos pass with flying colors. 

Unlike most of the sisters at the monastery, Sister Agatha is an extern, which means she has regular contact with the outside world.  She acts as sort of a go-between between the sisters and the outside world.  This book, the second in the series, takes place outside of her monastery at a place called The Retreat where valuable works of art have been stolen.  Sister Agatha must find the thief, working in tandum, as in the previous book, with her former lover, Sheriff Tom Green.  Their past history makes for some interesting dynamics, but the two manage to get along amicably, having squared away their differences in the first book in the series (I won't ruin the first book for you by telling you how that all goes down - besides which, I haven't gotten to that part in the first book yet!). 

This book left me wanting to know more about Sister Agatha and her awesome adventures with her canine buddy whose favorite pasttime is riding in the sidecar of her cherry-red '86 Harley Davidson motorcycle.  A nun on a motorcycle - what could be better than that?  Only her crowning glory - a red helmet painted with a white nun on a motorcycle, emblazoned with the title, "Heaven's Angels."