Opinioned Tannia Ortiz

Night Prayer from the Office of the Dead is author Brother Bernard Seif's newest release of the Brother Francis O'Neil's mystery series. In this book, the author will take the main character to China on a dangerous and life-threatening quest.

Brother Francis is a clinical psychologist, a doctor of Chinese medicine, and a committed Salesian monk. He has dedicated most of his life to studying the Salesian Order's founders, St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal.

Brother Francis' enthusiastic research and his skills as a historian will take him away from the quiet of his monastery in Pennsylvania to visit a friend's relative on a remote village in China. There, he will receive some mysterious ancient parchments which have been passed down from generation to generation. He is fascinated by their content and by the legend of doom surrounding them.

Some of the previous keepers of the parchments had met a deadly fate. Will Brother Francis be able to solve the mysterious hunting accidents that befell them without putting his own life at risk?

Although this is the sixth installment on this series, I did not have any problems following the story or understanding the character's predicaments. The author did a wonderful job disclosing relevant information without affecting the flow of the narration.

The captivating cover illustration transported me to the sixteenth century. Illuminated by a single candle, a religious man sits deep in concentration at a library desk, writing a letter with a quill pen. For me, the image raised interest about the significant relationship between the writer and the recipient of such letter. The expectations of an enigmatic tale and its resolution were fulfilled.

I recommend this book to historical fiction readers looking for a short, condense, and intriguing story.