Murder at Gulls Nest (Nora Breen Investigates #1)

by Jess Kidd

Transplant a person into different soil and although their

roots may recoil in shock, gradually they’ll stretch out again. She expects this is due to evolution and feels herself very forward-thinking for the notion. But then, as Nora knows, adapting is one thing; flourishing is another matter entirely.

Nora tells herself that the world may seem confusing but it is just the sum of its parts. Take it piece by piece until you can work out the whole.

Nora Breen states her name, only it feels strange in her mouth. It’s a name she hasn’t used for thirty years, the name she gladly dropped to become Sister Agnes of Christ.

That insidious thought needles her again: what kind of fool throws up thirty years of dedication to solve a puzzle, albeit a troubling one?

Nora is in the world and the world is beautiful, and for now that gives her some peace.

Nora is startled. Yes, she would likely be a grandmother now. She is of that age. She imagines the years that have fallen away from her. She feels dizzy at the thought of all that life gone. She sees glimpses of it as it hurtles away—like a rug pulled out from under her, sending her crashing.

“Don’t you tell me that God works in mysterious ways, or gives us only what we can bear, or any of that claptrap.” Irene hesitates. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be disrespectful.”

“I’m the last person to hazard a guess at how God works; the Big Man Above and myself are not seeing eye to eye at the moment.”