Rating: 
Summary: Will Someone Get Away With Murder?
Review: Another remarkably resourceful Texas cozy mystery, featuring China Bayles, former lawyer turned herb shop owner. China is on a post-Christmas overload, needing some soothing winding down time to consider whether to accept an offer to sell the herb shop, and whether to stick around Pecan Springs with McQuaid and son. She heads for some solitude at a quiet monastery where the sisters raise garlic. Full of garlic tidbits and trivia, the plotting is excellent and the characterization clever. Not only does China immediately find herself involved investigating some odd happenings, she also finds an old flame has moved into the vicinity. Ms. Albert sketches the setting so well, I feel as if I had a brief respite. And there is an exceptionally fun website for China (and friends) at mysterypartners.com, where you can visit between books.
Rating:
Summary: Will Someone Get Away With Murder?
Review: Another remarkably resourceful Texas cozy mystery, featuring China Bayles, former lawyer turned herb shop owner. China is on a post-Christmas overload, needing some soothing winding down time to consider whether to accept an offer to sell the herb shop, and whether to stick around Pecan Springs with McQuaid and son. She heads for some solitude at a quiet monastery where the sisters raise garlic. Full of garlic tidbits and trivia, the plotting is excellent and the characterization clever. Not only does China immediately find herself involved investigating some odd happenings, she also finds an old flame has moved into the vicinity. Ms. Albert sketches the setting so well, I feel as if I had a brief respite. And there is an exceptionally fun website for China (and friends) at mysterypartners.com, where you can visit between books.
Rating: 
Summary: More murder in a nunnery
Review: China Bayles gets out of Pecan Springs for a while, but doesn't get away from murder. Her friend Maggie arranges for the two of them to go on a retreat at her former home, but neglects to tell her of the strange happenings that they want her to investigate. A typical Bayles mystery, they are always entertaining, with a new set of characters.
Rating:
Summary: More murder in a nunnery
Review: China Bayles gets out of Pecan Springs for a while, but doesn't get away from murder. Her friend Maggie arranges for the two of them to go on a retreat at her former home, but neglects to tell her of the strange happenings that they want her to investigate. A typical Bayles mystery, they are always entertaining, with a new set of characters.
Rating:
Summary: Get thee to a nunnery!
Review: China has survived the Christmas rush at her herb shop but is sadly in need of some private time. So off she goes to a nunnery! Together with her friend Maggie, she heads off to a remote nunnery where the sisters grow amazing garlic. Instead of the peace and quiet she longs for, China finds herself embroiled in a contentious power struggle between two groups of nuns working to combine two disparate orders into one. As the sister's jockey for position, fires break out and several mysterious deaths occur. If that wasn't enough, China runs into an old beau and the heat is still there. As she works to solve the nunnery mystery she is making major life choices for herself. Once again, I enjoyed the ride and learned more about herbs and gardening.
Rating:
Summary: Get thee to a nunnery!
Review: China has survived the Christmas rush at her herb shop but is sadly in need of some private time. So off she goes to a nunnery! Together with her friend Maggie, she heads off to a remote nunnery where the sisters grow amazing garlic. Instead of the peace and quiet she longs for, China finds herself embroiled in a contentious power struggle between two groups of nuns working to combine two disparate orders into one. As the sister's jockey for position, fires break out and several mysterious deaths occur. If that wasn't enough, China runs into an old beau and the heat is still there. As she works to solve the nunnery mystery she is making major life choices for herself. Once again, I enjoyed the ride and learned more about herbs and gardening.
Rating:
Summary: China goes on a retreat
Review: Herb-shop owner China Bayles is worn out after the Christmas season, and living with her boyfriend McQuaid and his son Brian has caused its own stress in her life. Because of this China eagerly agrees to accompany her ex-nun friend Maggie on a retreat to the monastary where Maggie used to be. She anticipates two weeks of quiet, solitude, and the opportunity to meditate on the course she wants her life to take. When she arrives, she finds things to be very different than she had pictured. The monastary had been heavily endowed by the wealthy woman who donated the land and she intended for it to be used to house the nuns and to grow a special kind of garlic. Recently the old convent had been merged with another group of nuns and the new group wants to build a large meeting center with all the amenities. The sisters are deadlocked over this issue and it is causing strife between the two factions. Soon, disturbing letters are being sent to the nuns and some fires wreak havoc in the convent. Also some items begin to disappear and two elderly nuns die mysteriously. If this isn't enough, China encounters an old boyfriend from the days when she was an attorney in Houston. She is sorely tempted to resume her relationship with him, despite her attachment to McQuaid. All of these things cause a tangled web of intrigue which China unravels, after a few false starts. In a long-running series like this, it's always refreshing to have the books move to another setting from time to time. This is another good read from Susan Wittig Albert.
Rating:
Summary: This was a great story!
Review: How can you not like China Bayles? She is the kind of character that it truely believable. I enjoyed this story because of the unusual setting -- at St. Theresa's Monastery. China decides her hectic life could use a break, and she goes on retreat. It was interesting to see that the nuns were portrayed as real people. It was also refreshing to see China making mistakes (like the rest of us do). I enjoyed the story and can't wait for the next China Bayles mystery!
Rating:
Summary: Definitely Her Best -- So Far!
Review: I just became acquainted with this author's series recently. I read (and enjoyed) Thyme of Death, and Witch's Bane, but this book is the best so far!! I enjoyed the setting and atmosphere, and the off-stage (so to speak) deaths (Witch's Bane and even Thyme of Death had some pretty bloody, gory deaths, which I don't care for).
One minor quibble: the author could do with a bit of better copy editing. 1) She had too many nuns name Rose (and variants thereof) -- it got confusing. 2) Early on in China's stay at the monastery, she & Maggie go up the cliffs at night. Just before they do, the author mentions a "sliver of moon" hung low in the sky, but when they're on the cliff, all is bathed in moonlight!! You don't get much moonlight from a sliver, and suddenly the moon is described as "quarter round" -- huh?? "Quarter round" I take to mean full -- certainly, the landscape won't be bathed in moonlight under a crescent (sliver) moon.
There is just as glaring a copy editing problem in Witch's Bane; unfortunately, it's just as China is realizing who the murderer is, so I'm not going to describe it here online.
Rating: 
Summary: I agree, Not Her Best
Review: I was so excited to find this series, and I've enjoyed all the books so far. I enjoyed this one too, but it was not her best. I really missed Ruby. We only see her at the beginning, and there were no real harmless eccentrics in this one, and I think that is what Ms. Albert does so well. Also, the mysteries were a little simple compared to her other plots. I will continue to read the series because I love China Bayles so much. I'm also curious to see what she does with her life after she has reflected in the nunnery.
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