Fun read. I enjoyed it. ( )

Sister Eve, Private Eye (2014) by Lynn Hinton. When you’ve read what turnout to be a good read from an author you’ve never heard of, it is fun to track down other things they have written. In this case I managed to read the second in the Sister Eve series and had been looking for the first in the set. Finally I found it and dove into it with gusto.
A first in a series book has to not only introduce a plot with detailed storytelling that grips the reader and doesn’t let up title end, it also has to introduce not only the main character but the people surrounding them. And don’t forget to build in the location, hopefully something new or at least a new slant on what has come before. Toss in a lot of insider details, confrontations and plot twists and you will have the makings of a good series.
‘Sister Eve, Private Eye’ is one such book. Evangeline Divine (pronounced Deveen) is the daughter to Jackson Divine, a cantankerous, widowed father of two adult daughters, each so very different from the other. Jackson, or The Captain as those who know him call him, runs a small private detective agency in Madrid, New Mexico. He is also a diabetic and, due to an infection, had a foot and part of a leg removed. Sister Eve gets time away from the monastery she had resided at for the past two decades to take care of her gruff parent.
A Hollywood director who was staying near Madrid disappears. The director’s girlfriend/leading lady has hired Jackson to find him. When his body is discovered, she quickly becomes the most likely suspect.
There is so much more here, so many secrets both about the murdered man, the people in town and within Eve’s family. You can feel a second book in the offing by the way the characters are both introduced and mingled in the Eve and The Captan.
The story is like many other first novel in a series books, slower paced than you might like, a lot of pages used up in bringing in characters and talking about them, but in all the mystery is solid, the interactions believable, and the results surprising. ( )

Sister Eve is a 40 something nun in the American Southwest who prefers a Harley and boots to her habit. Her lifestyle is in the process of change, and she is not coping very well. Then comes word that she must return home immediately to give support to her ex-cop/private investigator father who is a mite testy on a good day. Her sister took care of her mother in the days between diagnosis and death from cancer, so now it is Eve's turn. He has just been engaged by a client on a missing person case, and it soon turns into murder and more. The suspense and plot twist in the investigation and beyond are well plotted and keep the reader engaged to the end. But I am a nurse, and I am very pleased to tell you that the dramatics relating to the nearly emergency amputation of a lower leg as a complication of Diabetes, the turmoil and grief following this, and the reactions to adapting to an artificial limb are spot on! Come for the mystery, and leave with a valuable learning experience.
Hillary gives a worthy performance, and provides sincere voice interpretations which certainly enhance the written word.
Purchased as Whispersync for less than $5.00. ( )

Sister Eve, Private Eye is the May selection for my Book Club, By The Book. We don’t often read mysteries, although some of us are big fans of the genre. To be honest, mysteries don’t always lend themselves to great discussion, other than who figured out whodunit. But we get into reading ruts, so I wanted to mix it up a bit and thought this one would do the trick. I have to say that while Sister Eve may stimulate some good conversation, it won’t be because of the mystery.

Sister Evangeline Divine (that’s pronounced Diveen, if you please) has been a nun for over 20 years. Her community is undergoing some changes and so is she. After her father, an ex-police captain turned P. I., undergoes an amputation, Eve takes over his care and his one case. Eve has great intuition and insight and maybe likes private detecting a little more than she would like to admit.

The examination of vocation in Sister Eve, Private Eye, is very interesting. Evangeline struggles with the patience and obedience necessary for her life as a nun. She also has to confront whether her religious life has insulated her from the daily joys and sorrows of her family. All of that was good, but where was the mystery? Yes there is a murder and suspects and clues, but it seemed secondary to the story of Eve and her spiritual introspection. I also was not keen on how the reader is left out of the uncovering of the murderer. I didn’t figure the mystery out mainly because I was not included! There is a second book in the series, but I don’t think I will be reading it. ( )