Bishop as Pawn

Father Dowling #2

by Ralph McInerny

The thoughtful, patient, and wise Father Dowling and Captain Keegan, his friend and associate, play their dangerous parts in a perilous game involving kidnapping for extortion, blackmailing for terror, and murder for revenge

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

219 pages, Hardcover

First published December 31, 1978

About the author

Ralph Matthew McInerny was an American Catholic religious scholar and fiction writer, including mysteries and science fiction. Some of his fiction has appeared under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, and Monica Quill. As a mystery writer he is best known as the creator of Father Dowling. He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June 2009. He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fr. Roger Dowling, rector of St. Hillary's in Fox Ridge, Ill., is counseling a young woman on whether or not she should marry the man her parents do not approve of when his housekeeper's husband, gone for fifteen years, appears in the kitchen, much to Marie Murkin's surprise, and dismay.

After getting over her shock, Marie banishes him to her room. When she goes up later to confront him she finds him shot to death. Thus begins a tale of thievery, deception, kidnapping and murder that leads Fr. Dowling and his friend, police detective Phil Keegan, on a path to find out whodunit in an entertaining fashion.

This book is marked as the second book in the Fr. Dowling series, but it is actually the third one. I found it as entertaining as the first book in the series. Mr. McInerny draws realistic characters that keep the story flowing and draw in the reader.

I enjoyed the way he drew all the different threads together, and wondered why I didn't catch the subtle hints he provided throughout the tale.

The Fr. Dowling mysteries are working their way into my top ten series to read.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Father Dowling does it again! Great plot, interesting characters, and perfect commentary on religion!

[Gene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not an expert on mysteries, but this one seemed at least as good as most I've encountered. Having just completed all of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries, I can see some obvious parallels. Father Dowling comes across as more flawed, and thus more real. And the longer format permits a more intricate plot and more believable characters.

The unraveling of the moderately complex mystery was pleasant to read, but what was even more enjoyable was the consistent orthodoxy and the many jabs at modern trends away from traditional theology. Also there were several dialogues cleverly written to induce chuckles that were not tied to religion.

I'm glad I have another Father Dowling mystery waiting to be read

[Candyce · Rating 2 out of 5]

I grew up watching Father Dowling, a Catholic priest who solves crimes, on television (1987-1991). Based on a series of books (1977-2009) by Ralph McInerny, it is clear that Father Dowling is based on Father Brown, an earlier G. K. Chesterton creation. The character of Father Dowling is very different in the television show than he is in the book, and I think any enjoyment of the book for me was due almost entirely to my superimposing Tom Bosley's Father Frank Dowling over McInervy's Father Roger Dowling. There is more than just a simple first name change here. Tom Bosley's Father Dowling is a bit more of a free spirit, while McInerny's Father Dowling is far more traditional. A prime example is their dress--Tom Bosley's Father Dowling wears more modern clothing--always with his priest's collar, of course--while McInerny's Father Dowling wears the more traditional cassock. Tom Bosley also brings a certain amount of energy to the character, but this energy did not leap off of the printed page.

As much as I love Father Dowling, I have to admit that this book just wasn't very good. It jumps around to different threads of the story, but even knowing that eventually all of these threads must somehow fit together by the end of the story doesn't make it a very interesting read. Maybe some of my disappointment was in that this was a different character than I am used to, but even so, this Father Dowling did not seem overly fleshed out as a character. Also, information needed to solve the crime isn't really given throughout the entire book. The books seems to "kill time" by providing conversations and details that ultimately do not have anything to do with the crimes being committed. Most of those conversations peter out and go nowhere. Worse than that, however, was the fact that characters would act one way earlier in the book, and then they would go through massive personality changes--without any kind of explanation whatsoever. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in a delightful interview (1927), explains why he created Sherlock Holmes. He felt that the author was duty bound to explain how the detective arrived at the facts that (s)he ultimately arrives at by the end of the story. McInerny does not follow that same line of thinking. Characters will act completely against the way they have been shown to be, and it feels that it is simply to provide a surprising end--one you didn't see coming. I felt deceived as a reader, and not in the delightful way.

I am not myself Catholic, but I was still able to fall in love with the television show and the character. The book did not focus on Catholicism or its tenets, but it did provide a nice backdrop for the story. This was only the second book in this series, and I am going to give McInerny another try and read some other Father Dowling mysteries to see if his stories do not improve as he gained more experience in writing and with the character. Father Dowling is a great character even if this one particular book wasn't that great of a read.

[EuroHackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs Murkin has served as the rectory housekeeper for fifteen years. She is shocked when she opens the door one day to find her estranged husband Billy standing there. He'd left her 15 years before without a word, had disappeared from her life completely, only to now show up, acting as insolent as ever. What's worse, he's there for a mere few hours before he's shot dead in her bedroom. The police find the shell casing 500 feet away, on the on ramp to the interstate. As it turns out, Billy Murkin may have left Marie 15 years ago, but he stayed in Fox River, taking an assumed name and a new wife. So why did he feint a reunion with the woman he'd abandoned so long ago, only to end up dead?

Father Dowling has plenty on his plate: (1) trying to give marriage instructions to a furtive young couple, when only the girl shows up for the meetings (and she speaks so unconvincingly of her fiancé that Dowling wonders if he's an actual person); (2) dealing with newcomers to his parish who are raving about the super-progressive parish they came from in Wisconsin, who suggest that he radicalize his uber-traditional services in order to entice more people to attend; (3) rumors abounding of a radical "freelance" priest in the district, Ambrose Chirichi; (4) the visit of Bishop Art Rooney for the confirmation classes of young parishioners.

When the bishop is kidnapped from the rectory, Dowling starts to wonder if strange things are happening at his home, or if indeed he was the target all along - not only for kidnapping (as he and Rooney have an uncanny resemblance), but also for murder.

I really enjoyed this story, the third in the Father Dowling series (not sure why it's mislabeled as #2 on GR). The threads of the seemingly disparate plots all come together in the end along with a "hidden" murder that Dowling finds in his files from the marriage tribunal in very interesting ways. The discussion of "radicalizing" the traditional Catholic liturgy was also of great interest to me, feeling the pain of the schism in my own church these days. Chirichi may be everything Dowling is not, including an opportunist, but there is an argument to be made that he has a place in the wider landscape of religion. I really enjoy this philosophical questions that arise as part of these novels.

[Crissy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was rewatching the TV series and noticed it said based upon characters so I paused the DVD to get the information. We couldn't get #1 at the library so figured start with #2, why start now reading in order. I was spoiled by the TV shows, the only thing the same was the setting and most of the characters by name. I also think we may have ended up with a copy that may have been an ARC, because there were pencil changes throughout and some areas the story seemed very choppy. Overall I found it very hard to read and didn't flow naturally.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An atheistic Priest and a renegade priest form part of the plot in which the killer is female. Clearly, these are more than potboiler mysteries but insight into the Notre Dame professor who wrote them.

[Mandy Huot · Rating 5 out of 5]

found this book by accident and absolutely love it

[RYAN · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book a lot, it was hard to put down.

[Gene Georgelis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the humanity and concern for mercy of father Dowling.

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent read, and so far my favorite book in the series. I can't wait to see what misadventures Father Dowling gets himself into next!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book that I have read in the Father Dowling series. I just happened to be in the library when they were withdrawing this book and my favorite librarian handed it over to me. I've now read both of the books I was given and I will be taking them to the Used Book sale held by the Friends of the Library later this month. In this third book of the series, not only is there a murder in the rectory of St. Hilary's in Fox River, Illinois, but Bishop Rooney of the Archdiocese of Chicago is kidnapped from that same rectory just days later. Father Dowling again helps the police in their investigations by suggesting links between the two crimes while leading his parish through Confirmation, Lent, and Easter. I am quite intrigued by this series and will be searching for other books to continue the adventures with Father Dowling, Marie, the Rectory's housekeeper, Phil Keegan the Chief of Detectives in Fox River, and the members of St. Hilary's parish.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Father Dowling #3

[Jennifer]

BISHOP AS PAWN. A Father Dowling Mystery by Ralph. MCINERNY (1978)

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the second of the series better than the first. Again, much meatier stories than the TV show had to offer. Good mystery. Kept me guessing. When housekeeper Marie's estranged husband reappears out of the blue after fifteen years only to be shot and killed in Marie's bedroom the same night, the police and Father Dowling must untangle layers of deception.