Carol Anne O'Marie

Sister Carol Anne O'Marie, C.S.J., (August 28, 1933 – May 27, 2009) was a Roman Catholic sister in the Religious Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. She was also a mystery writer.^[1]

She wrote eleven novels, whose protagonist is Sister Mary Helen, an elderly sister who solves crimes. Most of the books are based in San Francisco, California, where O'Marie was born.^[2] Sister Carol Anne also ran a shelter for homeless women with Sister Maureen Lyons in Oakland, California.^[3]

She died, aged 75, from Parkinson's disease on May 27, 2009.^[4]

Sister Carol Anne wrote Like a Swarm of Bees, published by Graphic Visions in 2010. She finished the manuscript shortly before her death. It was written to recall a prophecy and a promise spoken in 1805 by the Abbé Piron of Saint-Étienne, France, by which he foretold that the Sisters of St. Joseph would increase in number and "like a swarm of bees" spread everywhere.^[5]

Sister Mary Helen Mysteries^[6]

• Novena for Murder (Book 1), 1984
• Advent of Dying (Book 2), 1986
• The Missing Madonna (Book 3), 1988
• Murder in Ordinary Time (Book 4), 1991
• Murder Makes a Pilgrimage (Book 5), 1993
• Death Goes on Retreat (Book 6), 1995
• Death of an Angel (Book 7), 1997
• Death Takes Up a Collection (Book 8), 1998
• Requiem at the Refuge (Book 9), 2000
• The Corporal Works of Murder (Book 10), 2002
• Murder at the Monks' Table (Book 11), 2006