This is my first Father Dowling mystery, one of the few my wife keeps on her shelf. She's been saying I should read them sometime, that as a Chicagoland expatriate I would enjoy them. So let this stand as a testimony that, a) my wife was right and, b) I do accomplish things on my to-do list... eventually. Professor McInerny's tale made me feel back at home, his characters reminding me of the folks I grew up with. He took his dear sweet time with the mystery--the question of who killed a man and parked his body in front of the St. Hilary rectory--but I enjoyed the ride. I particularly enjoyed the spiritual underpinnings of the tale. It would have been so easy to write a detective character who just happened to wear a clerical collar. But Father Dowling definitely thinks and acts like a pastor.
--J. ( )