NUN OF THE ABOVE

A gentle excursion into the sadly shrunken order of Martha and Mary, which now consists of aged historian Sister Mary Teresa Dempsey and young Sisters Kimberly and Joyce in a house on Chicago's Walton Street. Here, Sister Dempsey's sleuthing instincts (And Then There Were Nun) are roused by the murder of her ex-student Sarah Pinking. Actors Brian Boone and George Tusker, hired to alert Sister Dempsey to the killing, are themselves found strangled. And Sarah's unlikely porno king/lover, Emesto Flavio, has been arrested--but Sister Dempsey isn't satisfied. She visits Sarah's sister, once a nun, and their deaf, introverted father, and deputizes Sister Kimberly to interview Flavio; a TV reporter who loved Brian; Brian's high-voltage agent; and several others. Dempsey mulls over all the bits and pieces and eventually pinpoints the rather far-fetched culprit in a kind of Christie gathering of those involved. A few artfully written passages and colorful people enliven an unpretentious story that never quite catches fire.