I’m pleased to welcome Lynne Hinton to the Story behind the Story this week. Here’s a little bit about her new release, Sister Eve and the Blue Nun. (Great title, don’t you think?)

When Sister Eve returns to the monastery, the last thing she expects there is murder.

After solving several mysteries with her father at the Divine Private Detective Agency, Sister Eve finds herself torn between her calling as a nun and the thrill that comes with detecting. She knows she’s been using her father’s health as an excuse to extend her leave of absence from the monastery, but that excuse is running thin. She prays that a return visit to the monastery for a conference on the Blue Nun will help bring clarity to her calling, but when the conference speaker is murdered, Sister Eve’s two worlds collide.

Sister Eve knows the number one suspect, the victim’s brother and monk in residence, couldn’t possibly have committed the crime, and she’s determined to find the real killer. To do so means she must track down some mysterious newly discovered writings from the Blue Nun, said to date from the 17th Century, when the sister bi-located to the New Mexico region from her home in Spain. Could these texts from long ago be the key to today’s mystery? And will they offer any guidance to Sister Eve as she chooses which calling to follow?

Sounds great, Lynne. Can you tell us a little bit about how this story came to be?

Sister Eve is struggling with her vocation as a nun; she struggles with the sexism she feels in her community and from the Church hierarchy. She also has another deep love and that is solving mysteries. The story behind this story is that I too am a “called” minister, ordained in the United Church of Christ. As a woman in ministry, I have struggled with the undercurrents of sexism. I don’t feel them quite as much as I used to; but there were some hard days in my past. I also, like Sister Eve, struggle with whether I am a minister or a writer, two passions. And I’m never quite satisfied with just choosing one. Presently, I am getting ready to take a position as a co-pastor, allowing me the opportunity to have three months off a year to write. Perhaps, this will be the situation I have been searching for!

What a unique premise.

Lynne Hinton was born and raised in North Carolina. She is a graduate of UNC-Greensboro. She also attended NC School of the Arts, School of Filmmaking and graduated with her Masters of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, where she served on the Board of Trustees for six years and was a Distinguished Alumni in 2003. She is ordained in the United Church of Christ.

Lynne is the author of eighteen books, including the NY Times Bestseller, Friendship Cake and Pie Town, the 2011 NM Book of the Year: Fiction/Adventure, Drama Category and 2011 National Federation of Press Women’s Fiction Book of the Year. She has penned two mystery series and has one nonfiction collection of essays. She is a regular guest columnist in the Faith and Values Section for The Charlotte Observer and was the 2008 Lucy B. Patterson Author of the Year by the General Federation of Women’s Clubs in NC. In 2010 and 2015, she was the recipient of a Louisville Institute Pastoral Study Grant and was named Favorite Local Writer in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2012 by Albuquerque, The Magazine.

Lynne and her husband, Bob Branard, live in Albuquerque, New Mexico where Lynne has served as a hospice chaplain and pastor. She continues to write as well as teach classes and lead retreats on writing as a spiritual and healing practice. She can be reached at www.lynnehinton.com

Lynne is giving away a copy of her book, Sister Eve and the Blue Nun. Follow the directions below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks for visiting with us, Lynne!