Blackie Ryan Books
The Reverend Monsignor John Blackwood Ryan, the detective/priest investigates a widow's claims that her dead husband's spirit is haunting her and uncovers a possible case of murder
When one of Father Blackie Ryan's relatives, a wealthy dowager, is murdered aboard a luxury yacht whose other passengers are also relatives, Father Ryan must search his own family to find a murderer
The prosecutor who sent Clare Turner to jail for murdering her adoptive parents begins to doubt the conviction and confesses to Bishop "Blackie" Ryan, who must find the real killer before he becomes the next victim. Original.
Both of Nora MacDonaugh's husbands have died under mysterious circumstances, and Bishop Blackie Ryan is the only man who can resist the widow's charms long enough to solve the mystery. By the author of Wages of Sin. Original.
Responding to a call for an exorcist, Bishop Blackie Ryan learns about rich and famous Bart Cain's three narrow escapes from attempted murders and the eerie phone calls that Cain received from a woman who is believed to be dead. Original.
Investigating a suspicious series of paranormal occurrences that others have attributed to the ghost of the late Monsignor Charles McInerny, Bishop Blackie Ryan uncovers a conspiracy involving millions in missing church funds. Original.
One hundred years after the wife of tycoon Peter Paul Cardin is brutally murdered, Mrs. Peter Paul Cardin V realizes that she is destined to share the same fate unless Bishop Blackie Ryan is able to solve a mystery from the past. Original.
Bishop Blackie Ryan is feeling a little out of place on an aircraft carrier on duty hundreds of miles from land, but the ship troubled by the disappearance of several crewmembers and the discovery of a dead officer, leaving the churchman-sleuth to search for answers to the mystery. Original.
When the relic of the Three Kings is stolen from the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, Bishop Blackie Ryan finds himself at the head of the investigation and in need of a Christmas miracle. Original.
Millions of Blackie Ryan fans will be thrilled with his return in this exciting novel of mystery and suspense. Bestselling novelist Andrew M. Greeley has captured the imagination of the mystery reading public with the improbable Bishop Blackie Ryan, who works for the aristocratic, haughty, sometimes arrogant but often slyly good humored Sean Cardinal Cronin, the Archbishop of Chicago. The Vatican has just assigned auxiliary Bishop Gus Quill to the Archdiocese of Chicago over the violent protests of Archbishop Sean Cronin, and the not so silent protests of Bishop Blackie. Bishop Quill is under the illusion, one might say delusion, that he has been sent from Rome to replace the good Cardinal when in fact Rome was dying to get rid of him because of his incompetence. Immediately on arriving in Chicago, he manages to disappear while riding the L Train and it is up to Blackie to find him. As the Cardinal says, "The Vatican does not like to lose bishops, even auxiliaries." And thus begins the search for the missing bishop who no one really wants to find. Of course, none of this is too much for the intrepid little Bishop Ryan. He faces these problems squarely and, with the kind of deductive mind reminiscent of G.K Chesterton's Father Brown, manages to find solutions to some of the most baffling mysteries he has ever encountered.
The bestselling priest & novelist Andrew M. Greeley continues the tales of the intrepid Bishop Blackie Ryan with this absorbing & suspenseful mystery, set in France, of a missing beloved television priest. Not just an ordinary priest but a priest/television superstar, idolized by the people of France, loved by everyone except, of course the French hierarchy, the church, state and the Paris television community. The Archbishop of Paris, familiar with Bishop Blackie Ryan's impressive sleuthing skills, asks Blackie's boss, the Archbishop of Chicago Sean Cardinal Cronin, for help in finding this missing priest. As usual, Cardinal Cronin resolves the matter with a brusque "See to it, Blackie." In Paris, Blackie meets a young and beautiful woman begging for money at the door of the church of St-Germain-des-Prés. When he hires her as a translator, she turns out to be an excellent Dr. Watson and a brilliant musician as well. She is at his side as Blackie learns that neither the Church nor the police are eager to have the saintly priest returned, and once the public discovers the disappearance of their beloved priest, the miracles start-and nothing scares the Church more than miracles. Undaunted, Blackie and his beautiful sidekick defy uncooperative Paris police, an unbending church, and reluctant witnesses to find the bizarre solution to one of the most fascinating puzzles he has ever encountered.
Andrew M. Greeley's bestselling sleuth meets The West Wing . . . Blackie Ryan gets a call from his friend, the newly-elected Democratic president Jack Patrick McGurn―whom the media has seen fit to call "Machine Gun McGurn"―but of course the call is interrupted by Blackie's boss, the autocratic Cardinal Cronin. Cronin, without consulting Blackie, sends him off to the White House to solve a poltergeist problem. Ghosts in the White House? Of course. Blackie encounters a great deal more than ghosts; an evil spirit out to get the President, a right wing conspiracy, and four beautiful women, any one of whom could be contributing to the mischief in the West Wing. How Blackie solves the problem of the ghosts and the conspiracy, and perhaps even finds a beautiful wife for the lonely, recently widowed President makes The Bishop in the West Wing the best Blackie Ryan novel yet.
Bishop Black Ryan heads for a local Chicago university to investigate a baffling locked-room mystery involving the assassination of a Russian Orthodox monk in his office at the Divinity School, a case that ignites a storm of international intrigue, international crime, and dark secrets that may reach to the Vatican itself. Reissue.
"Blackwood, there's trouble in the old neighborhood! Murder in the sanctuary of the Church!" The church in question is St. Lucy's, a humble edifice at the heart of a venerable Chicago neighborhood now suffering the throes of gentrification. St. Lucy's has long stood as a bulwark against evil and change, which some in the community have often seen as much the same thing. Now three dead bodies have been left in the sanctuary, stripped, mutilated, and shot through the head, execution-style. A warning to those who would remake the neighborhood---or to St. Lucy's charismatic monsignor, who has made a few enemies of his own? Dispatched by his cardinal to investigate, Bishop "Blackie" Ryan fears that the atrocious murders are only the beginning of a campaign of terror directed at this particular church. But to solve the mystery, and to banish the evil gathering over the community, Blackie will need an unexpected assist from his own long-dead father, as well as the help of Declan O'Donnell, a savvy young cop with a touch of the second sight, and of Camilla Datilo, a radiant assistant state's attorney of Sicilian origins. The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood is another charming and compelling page-turner by bestselling author Andrew M. Greeley.
Matters of succession lead to attempted murder in the latest of Greeley's popular mysteries. Archbishop Malachi Nolan has designs on the Diocese of Chicago despite the fact the Most Reverend Blackwood Ryan, himself recently appointed an archbishop, is currently in line for the post. Assigned to keep watch on his rival, Blackie travels to the Nolan family estate in Grand Banks, where he soon finds himself immersed in an entirely different dynastic struggle. Spike Nolan, founder of Aviation Electronics, isn't even dead yet, but his children, grandchildren, and their respective spouses are already feuding over who will inherit control of the multimillion-dollar company. The only family member who doesn't have a stake in the quarrel is the clerical Malachi . . . so why is he the one targeted by an unknown killer? To get to the bottom of the mystery, Blackie will have to sort through the tangled family dynamics of this highly dysfunctional clan, as well as figure how out his fellow archbishop was nearly stung to death by hornets inside a locked room!
Taking leave of his usual Chicago haunts, Archbishop John Blackwood Ryan travels to the south of Spain in this latest mystery by bestselling author Andrew M. Greeley. Ostensibly Blackie is in the historic city of Seville to attend a conference on American philosophy, but a far more critical assignment also requires his attention. The local cardinal has summoned the wily archbishop to Spain in hopes that Blackie can avert a murder before it happens. The threat of violence hangs ominously over the regal palace of a family of wealthy Spanish aristocrats. Dona Teresa, a pious widow whose exotic beauty unsettles even Blackie, finds herself beset by avaricious relatives determined to control her life and fortune. A tangled web of obligations, traditions, and frustrated sexual desires binds the family together even as they bitterly contend against one another. With three generations of passionate nobility sharing the same roof, it seems only a matter of time before pride, greed, and lust leads to bloodshed. But while the archbishop attempts to forestall a modern-day Spanish tragedy, dramatic events back in Chicago conspire to change his life forever. . . . The Archbishop in Andalusia opens an exciting new chapter in the illustrious career of one of Andrew Greeleys most beloved characters.