Sister Caravaggio

This book had the possibility to become a five star book, but the last couple of chapters seemed to be rather disjointed and the pace, jerky. I really liked Sister Alice and Sister Maggie. At times, Maggie was hilarious! But towards the end, the narrative just didn't flow correctly, and there were a couple of spots where I said, "Huh?? How did they get to this point?"It wasn't until after the book ended and I read the description of how the book came to be that I understood just why that happened. It could have done with a bit of polishing up at the end. But the book was worth reading.....

This is an interesting concept --- a collaborative novel. I purchased it because I am a huge fan of Maeve Binchy and seeing her as one of the authors made me buy the book right away. Although this is definitely not a typical example Maeve Bnchy novel, it was a good read. Strange to say, but the editor/author's note at the end, about his meeting and conversations with Maeve, left the best impression for me. I wish that note had been at the beginning of the book instead of the end, because it gVe a great perspective of this novel.

What do you get when a convent of nuns comes into possession of a found Caravaggio? Murder, of course. When former police detective Sister Alice wakes up to the theft of the Caravaggio and bodies start dropping, she and Sister Mary Magdalene take off in the convent van to investigate, drink a bit and have a smoke or two. Their adventure takes them to Dublin where Sister Alice hooks up with her former partner to solve the crimes. Fast, fun book. I hope the authors don't burn in hell.

This take on a murder-caper is delicious escape reading for a Sunday afternoon in the hammock. A convent of nuns comes into possession of a rare Caravaggio painting, and murder ensues. Sister Alice, a former police detective wakes up to find that the Caravaggio has been stolen and bodies start piling up! Sister Alice and Sister Mary Magdalene start to investigate, and commit a few sins along the way. Their adventure takes them to Dublin where Sister Alice connects with her former partner to solve the crimes. Fast, fun book that seamlessly alternates the writers.

Lots of twists and turns in this story. I thought I was getting a book written by Maeve Benchley, so was very surprised that it was a murder mystery. Bodies fell every other page and the story charged on. It is a quick read and the murders seem like a fairy tale so it isn't stressful to read, just a lot of fun.

The responsible spirit of these two women is amazing and moving in the dangerous circumstances to recuperate the Caravaggio. Treason is a theme very well entertained in the narrative.

Not what I expected. Hadn't read maeve Binchy in years. Exciting book lots of twists and turns. A little scary

Excellent read. The collaboration of seven authors sounds as though it could be messy. The authors made the story come together beautifully. Really enjoyed this book.

Take seven Irish authors and have them write a novel, and this is what you end up with. The whole idea of writers teaming up is nothing new, and it does work where it is a series of interconnecting short stories, but as you can see if you read this it doesn’t really work that well within a traditional novel framework.So here we have a tale where a painting or rather what is technically known as a fragment is taken from a small convent. For the handful of nuns who live in the place this is a disaster, because the money made from those coming to visit the painting is really all that is keeping the place open. With the Garda investigating so does the recent novitiate at the Abbey, Alice also start making inquiries, for Alice was a former Detective Sergeant. As she is given permission to leave the premises to try and locate the stolen picture so also is another nun allowed to go with her, the Abbey’s librarian.Each author manages to keep this fast paced but also there are elements that do not really gel together, and the whole story does become quite convoluted, especially as the mystery of the theft is not that particularly difficult to solve. Thus added here are criminals from the petty to a big time crime lord. Add to this brew an assassin and a number of murders and this becomes overly complex and distracting.As a beach time read, something that you read once and soon forget this is okay, but if you are looking for something that is really good you will not find it here, and to be honest and to give fair dues to the writers involved with this it is a difficult task to undertake, and I don’t think anyone was expecting something great, just a tale that was quite entertaining.If you are looking for something that will take you through say a quiet Sunday then this may be what you are after, and where you can whiz through this whilst chilling out, but if you are looking for something that will stimulate and get your juices going then this most definitely won’t be for you.

The name Maeve Binchy drew me to this book as I've loved all her stories. It wasn't until I started it I realised that it was actually a book written by a group of writers; maybe that's why it comes across as being somewhat disjointed. At times it seems overly complex as if each writer is setting up the next with a "now get out of that!" scenario! However there are some great characters and some very funny scenes. For me it was a 3.5 read but I have given it four stars as, on the whole, the writers have managed to pull it off.

I was extremely disappointed by this book. The story itself is good but unfortunately is told very poorly and gets very convoluted towards the end. The writing is disjointed and lacks flow and some chapters are also very poorly written. I found myself getting annoyed with this book as incidents and situations that should have been funny were not purely because the writing was poor. The writers also tried to create tension by ending chapters on 'cliffhanger' moments but I felt it was done too obviously and predictably. I would not bother buying this book.

a most ridiculous concept. cobbled- together rubbish

This story was totalling different to all of the other Maeve Binchy books. I had not realised until the end that it was a collaboration of different authors. I really enjoyed the story line. And each chapter was as the good as the one before.