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Thicker Than Water: A Father Dowling Mystery

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SKU:
381
Condition:
Good - A few minor tears on dust jacket; clean, crisp and unmarked pages
Format:
Hardcover, 255 pages
Publisher:
Vanguard Press, 1981
Edition:
Second Edition
In the dreary, cold pre-Easter lull, Mrs. Merkin develops a case of persnicketiness. Someone has stolen from the church's offering box. The meat she has taken from the freezer and jars of her preserves have vanished. Footprints on the kitchen floor. But when she and reluctant Father Dowling track the footprints through the snow, they come upon something more horrendous than either Mrs. Murkin or Father Dowling had anticipated: a body in a pool of blood. Thus begin the dire events that shatter the seemingly peaceful innocence of Fox River, Illinois. Murder follows murder. Shades of drug-trafficking and organized crime loom large and menacing. The police press hard and Father Dowling is himself endangered before the murderous attacker is put to ground. But, as in Ralph McInerny's other Dowling mysteries, the chill of murder and of weather, of life's harsh realities, is thawed and warmed by the sunlight and wit of the writing and cozy intimacy of life-like characters. Besides old friends--Mrs. Murkin, of course; Phil Keegan; Cy Horvath; and, above all, the pervasive quality of Roger Dowling himself--we meet many new fascinating persons: a female cop and a sharp old lady, both of whom behave like veteran scene-stealers; a writer of church pamphlets; some aging, some tough, some smooth--too many characters to be even briefly noted. Thicker Than Water, the sixth Father Dowling Mystery, may be the best of all.

In the dreary, cold pre-Easter lull, Mrs. Merkin develops a case of persnicketiness.  Someone has stolen from the church's offering box.  The meat she has taken from the freezer and jars of her preserves have vanished.  Footprints on the kitchen floor.  But when she and reluctant Father Dowling track the footprints through the snow, they come upon something more horrendous than either Mrs. Murkin or Father Dowling had anticipated: a body in a pool of blood.

Thus begin the dire events that shatter the seemingly peaceful innocence of Fox River, Illinois.  Murder follows murder.  Shades of drug-trafficking and organized crime loom large and menacing.  The police press hard and Father Dowling is himself endangered before the murderous attacker is put to ground.

But, as in Ralph McInerny's other Dowling mysteries, the chill of murder and of weather, of life's harsh realities, is thawed and warmed by the sunlight and wit of the writing and cozy intimacy of life-like characters.  Besides old friends--Mrs. Murkin, of course; Phil Keegan; Cy Horvath; and, above all, the pervasive quality of Roger Dowling himself--we meet many new fascinating persons: a female cop and a sharp old lady, both of whom behave like veteran scene-stealers; a writer of church pamphlets; some aging, some tough, some smooth--too many characters to be even briefly noted.  Thicker Than Water, the sixth Father Dowling Mystery, may be the best of all. 

Editorial Reviews

"The most attractive of clerical sleuths....a particularly memorable cast." --Dan Andriacco, The Cincinnati Post

"A wealth of zesty minor characters....an especially genial addition to an easy-to-take series." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Ralph McInerny (1929-2010) was fortunately blessed with Midwestern directness (he was born in Minneapolis), Irish Catholic wit and humor, and a passion for things of the spirit.  (He started out toward the priesthood but became instead a philosopher and a teacher.)  McInerny is the author of more than fifty books, including the popular Father Dowling series, and taught for over fifty years at the University of Notre Dame, where he was the director of the Jacques Maritain Center. He has been awarded the Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award and appointed to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He lived in South Bend, Indiana.