Sister Carol Anne O’Marie. A Novena for Murder (1984) 183 pp.
Publisher’s description: “Sister Mary Helen, at seventy-five, had resisted retirement. She feared she’d find only prayer, peace, and a little pinochle. But she’d no sooner arrived at Mount St. Francis College for Women in San Francisco when [sic] she was greeted by an earthquake, a hysterical secretary, and a fatally bludgeoned history professor. Homicide inspectors Kate Murphy and Dennis Gallagher promptly made a very human error: They arrested an innocent. Perhaps it was divine inspiration, but Sister Mary Helen knew a mistake had been made. So as another sister invoked aid from St. Dismas, the patron saint of murderers, Sister Mary Helen turned her own talents into a hunt for the guilty—and found that nothing is sacred when it comes to catching a killer with a habit for murder.”
Hubin