In this book, the third in the SAMMY KEYES mystery series, Sammy is doing time for misusing the junior high school's P.A. system --- she has to complete 20 hours of community service at St. Mary's Church. A church should be a safe enough place even for Sammy, and she actually kind of enjoys painting Father Mayhew's walls and washing the stained glass windows. Until Father Mayhew accuses her of stealing his ivory cross, that is. Then, things are anything but safe and enjoyable.

Sammy knows she didn't steal that cross. But she and Father Mayhew were the only ones in the church when he noticed it was missing. Weren't they? Well, now that Sammy thinks of it, there WAS another girl in the church. And anyone could have entered the room next to Father Mayhew's office, because the door was unlocked. As a matter of fact, it turns out that there are lots of suspects, including nuns. But why would nuns want to steal a priest's cross? Sammy feels bad about Father Mayhew's cross; she knows it means an awful lot to him. Now she just has to help him find it. But with Sammy, nothing is ever that simple.

For example, Sammy still has her worst enemy, Heather Acosta, breathing down her neck. They are on opposite teams for the softball playoffs at school. Heather, as usual, will stop at nothing to win, and she's full of dirty tricks. Officer Borsch still lurks in the background of Sammy's life every chance he gets. And there's lots of gossiping and secret skullduggery going on inside the sacred walls of St. Mary's --- Sammy is shocked at how unholy some holy people can behave. The three singing nuns who drive the NunMobile are pretty far out, too. Are they all they seem to be? How can Sammy tell? Nuns who wear black tights and purple feathers aren't exactly what she expected to find during her time at Saint Mary's.

As with all the SAMMY KEYES books, this one is fast-paced and exciting, with lots of subplots. In the middle of cracking a safe and trying to figure out who that mysterious girl in the church really is, Sammy discovers that finding Father Mayhew's cross is the least of her troubles. After all, when you run across somebody low enough to steal a cross from a priest, you're dealing with some dangerous characters. Sammy quickly learns that finding the cross would be nice, but coming out of all this alive would be even nicer.

   --- Reviewed by Tamara Penny