Father Dowling Books
Father Dowling must turn detective when his parish, which has remained undisturbed by the highways that roar past it to Chicago, becomes the scene of a chilling murder
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
Father Dowling's week of retreat is quickly upset by troubled souls who interrupt his pious observance of the Stations of the Cross
Father Dowling astutely sorts through a colorful assortment of scholars, librarians, and writers, all rival claimants to a noted author's unpublished manuscripts and letters, to solve several mysterious accidents--or crimes
When someone steals the church offering box and some of her food, Mrs. Murkin and Father Dowling track the culprit's footprints through the snow and discover a body in a pool of blood
Father Dowling helps the Fox River Police Department in their investigation of a series of four suicides that look suspiciously like murders. Phil Keegan and the Fox River, IL police department are bewildered by a series of unexplained deaths. Two attractive women, friends, are found dead, about a month apart: the first, in her bathtub with her wrists cut, the second, drowned in her car that had fallen into the river. The circumstances are ambiguous and could suggest suicide... Two more deaths follow—a man and a woman in their car, from carbon monoxide, and again there is a suspicion of suicide. But in no case is the explanation of suicide totally convincing. Captain Keegan, Lieutenant Horvath, and Officer Lamb keep digging away. And, of course, Father Dowling soon becomes involved, not only as confidant of Phil but also in his own right, while fulfilling his priestly functions. To heighten our enjoyment, McInery resorts to the comparatively rare device: the reader knows who the murderer is. thus, we can watch the duel, good vs. evil, progress. To such a point, in fact, that this time Father Dowling--who, in his sensitivity, finally spots the murderer--barely escapes alive. A LOSS OF PATIENTS is brightened once again with the human character touches and light humor that have made all the Father Dowling Mysteries such a success.
Clare O'Leary comes to see Father Dowling claiming that she has run away from her husband because he was planning to kill her
After Howard Downs is found not guilty of the murder of his wife, Captain Keegan and his men and Father Dowling reopen the investigation and turn up four more corpses
Father Dowling must see through the havoc of Latin American politics, liberation, theology, terrorism, and cocaine in the quiet little town of Fox River
A magic trick during a show a the St. Hilary's parish center uses a ring with an inscription memorable to Father Dowling, an item that figures largely in a subsequent murder investigation
Spiritual advisor and amateur sleuth Father Dowling takes on four baffling mysteries, in a collection that includes ""The Ferocious Father,"" ""Heart of Gold,"" ""The Dead Weight Lifter,"" and ""The Dutiful Son."" Reprint.
Agreeing to speak with the only child of a hedonistic priest, who wants to become a nun despite her father's opinions of the church, Father Dowling is stunned when she is brutally murdered, and uncovers a killer with a calling of his own. Reprint. AB. PW.
When Stacey Wilson, a former Las Vegas showgirl, refuses to reveal where she was on the day her playboy husband was murdered, despite the threat of a life sentence, Father Dowling decides to investigate
When Maggie Sinclair, a wealthy member of Father Dowling's parish, suddenly dies, Dowling suspects foul play, and the amateur sleuth investigates the secrets surrounding the squabbling Sinclair clan and their valuable art collection.
When a friend gives him tickets to the Notre Dame-USC football game and a Vatican cardinal asks to meet him there for a conference, Father Dowling travels to Indiana, where the visiting cardinal is kidnapped during the game.
The death of a local mobster stirs up some disturbing questions, but when investigators exhume his empty coffin, Father Dowling is on the trail of a body snatcher. 20,000 first printing.
In the latest installment of Ralph McInerny's beloved series, Father Dowling is caught in the middle of a dispute between former radio celebrity Jack Gallagher and Austin Rooney over one woman's affections. Meanwhile, Jack is the prime suspect in the death of another woman, Agatha Rossner, a lawyer better known as a seductress than a litigator. The Fox River police once again must turn to Father Dowling for help in sorting out this intricate tale of murderous affairs.
Father Roger Dowling is a busy man. He's got the ambitious and all-encompassing task of running St. Hilary's Parish, dealing with his busybody housekeeper, Mrs. Murkin, and counseling his flock with his characteristic blend of faith and compassion. He's not complaining, but it's no surprise that even a superior priest like Father Dowling needs a break now and again. So off he heads for a week-long retreat in Indiana on the quiet grounds of an old Catholic religious order, where he can meditate, reflect, and pray for a quick recharge of his waning energy. Unfortunately, Father Dowling's spiritual retreat turns into a baffling murder investigation when a dead man is found in a grotto on the grounds with the handle of an axe protruding from his back. Complicating matters is a long-running real-estate dispute that has pitted the brothers of the order against the previous owners of the huge and valuable piece of land on which their sanctuary sits. Who could have killed the man and why, and does it have something to do with the high-stakes mind games being played out between the parties vying for the land? No one's too sure, but what is clear is that Father Dowling is once again at the center of it all in another winning entry in a mystery series that's become an institution.
Father Dowling is used to unsolicited knocks on the rectory door, having done more than his share of counseling and assisting in delicate situations during his long career. So when Eleanor Wygant comes to visit Father Dowling he receives her graciously, though she is a stranger. As it turns out, members of her family are longtime parishioners of St. Hillary's, and it soon becomes clear that with family trouble brewing, Eleanor doesn't know where else to turn. When she enlists Father Dowling's help in persuading her niece Jessica to scrap the tell-all family novel she is writing and concentrate on more earthly pursuits, the venerable priest has little idea how enmeshed he is about to become in the family's edgy interrelations. For in recent years, the family has had its share of melodrama, including a philandering patriarch, a son who left the priesthood to take up with an ex-nun, and an underachieving academic, and it's up to Dowling to piece together their shared history in the hopes of putting their demons-and a vicious, previously unknown murder-to rest. In the hands of Ralph McInerny, one of mystery fiction's most beloved authors, Last Things is as delightful as his legions of fans have come to expect from the charming Father Dowling series.
Father Dowling, respected by all, is well-known for being willing to lend a helping hand whenever he can. So it's no surprise when Stanley Collins shows up at the St. Hilary rectory to confide in Father Dowling about the troubled marriage of one of the church's parishioners. Dowling promises to do his best to find a way to help, but it soon becomes too late. One of the parties involved is viciously killed in a hit and run car accident. Is it murder? Dowling knows there is good reason to suspect it might be, but when his friend, Detective Phil Keegan, labels it an accident, Dowling 's hands are tied. It's a question of ethics. Unable to break Collins's confidence, he can only keep tabs on the investigation from afar. While searching for the truth, Dowling must protect the secrets of his parishioners at all costs. In Requiem for a Realtor, the charming Father Dowling returns once again, tangled in a web of deceit that will intrigue and delight his dedicated fans in a complex, satisfying mystery from Ralph McInerny.
Henry Dolan's granddaughter, Martha Lynch, adopted 23 years earlier, wants to find her birth parents. Her adopted parents are frantic over the idea of losing her, so Henry seeks out Father Dowling for help. Meanwhile, Martha's birth father, Nathaniel Fleck, who left before Martha's birth, has contacted Martha's real mother, Madeline, for details about Martha. Madeline panics, afraid he won't leave her alone, and turns to Amos Cadbury, a lawyer, for advice. When Nathaniel is found murdered two days later, Dowling and Amos must juggle the responsibility of spoiling the peace of the families involved while uncovering the truth behind the murder. Blood Ties is an absorbing and suspenseful addition to this beloved series.
Gregory Barrett, a classmate of Father Dowling’s, left the priesthood twenty-five years ago. Now, after all these years, a woman threatens to bring a multimillion-dollar suit against him, alleging he sexually exploited her when he was still a priest and she was sixteen. Barrett has no memory of her, but is devastated at what these claims will do to his career as a radio host and to his new family. So he comes to Father Dowling for advice. Father Dowling, a parish priest in Fox River, Illinois, as usual, serves as part counselor, part sounding board, and part moral compass for priests and parishioners alike---not to mention cops and lawyers---and offers help to both Barrett and his accuser. Before Barrett can decide what to do, and before the now-adult woman has made her demands known to the archdiocese, a body washes up on the shore of Lake Michigan, and Barrett becomes the primary suspect in the murder. Also in the mix in this astutely drawn mystery are a failed writer, a parish busybody, an inept lawyer, and an embittered young man, each with his or her own agenda, and it is up to Father Dowling to unravel the links between these people whose lives were separated long ago, only to reconnect in tragedy.
Father Dowling is a dedicated parish priest who happens to have a knack for unraveling the mysteries of the real world as well as those of heaven, but the latest puzzle to catch his attention---the disappearance of Wallace Flanagan---doesn’t seem to be a mystery so much as a dirty little secret. By all appearances, Flanagan, the heir to a lucrative concrete business, skipped town with his mistress more than ten years ago, although no one talks about that out of respect for his abandoned wife. But appearances go right out the window when his mangled---and recently live---body is found wedged into one of his father’s cement mixers. If Flanagan’s unexpected return and immediate death aren’t enough to shake a few skeletons from their closets, childhood friends and lifelong enemies have started trickling home to Fox River, Illinouis, a town outside of Chicago. All of them had a stake in his disappearance, but which one would murder a man who was already all but dead? And would kill again to keep a dead man’s secrets? A collision between the past and present dislodges some hard and hidden truths that Father Dowling must uncover if he’s going to catch a killer in Ralph McInerny’s The Widow’s Mate , an absorbing and suspenseful mystery that is sure to please Father Dowling’s many fans.
Father Dowling has been serving as parish priest and resident sleuth at St. Hilary’s for a while now, but he’s no lifer, and there’s plenty that he doesn’t know about the old guard. So when a stranger comes to Fox River who isn’t a stranger to anyone but him, he has to rely on his prying housekeeper to tell him that the mystery man is actually a well-known murderer. Ten years ago, Nathaniel Green’s wife was dying of cancer, and after a short remission she relapsed into a coma. That small sliver of hope so utterly dashed must have been too much for him because when the nurses came to check on her they found that he had taken her off of her life support. Green’s return divides the community, but the more Father Dowling ponders the moral questions and reinvestigates the case, the more he wonders if Green committed any crime at all. With parishioners up in arms, Father Dowling has to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that a conviction is no proof of guilt in Ash Wednesday , the newest addition to Ralph McInerny’s acclaimed and beloved mystery series.
Here, collected for the first time, are fifteen of the best Father Dowling mystery short stories. Each cunning case is carefully examined by the good father, accompanied by the cast of characters that fans around the world have grown to know and love. In a sleepy Illinois town on the banks of the Fox River lives one of the greatest fictional detectives ever created. Father Dowling, the benevolent, brilliant priest of the St. Hilary church, leads and cares for his congregation, and also finds the time to unravel the knottiest of mysteries. Ralph McInerny's sleuthing priest has appeared in more than twenty-five novels, and his exploits were also made into a television series, The Father Dowling Mysteries. But Father Dowling has also appeared in many short stories as well, solving crimes no less complicated for their brevity. Whether unraveling the identity of a skeleton found under the parish parking lot, or figuring out what really happened to the parents of a distraught parishioner, Father Dowling brings his unique perspective and quiet determination to bear on each crime he encounters, leaving the guilty nowhere to hide.
Tough times and the unsolved murders of anyone with ties to the Deveres---a family of wealthy parish patrons---back Father Dowling up against a wall in his struggle to save his church from the chopping block. With too many churches and not enough people to fill them, the Archdiocese has to make some cuts, and many of them, including the proposed closing of St. Hilary’s, are dangerously close to the bone. Father Dowling rushes to drum up support from church officials and parishioners, including the Deveres, who don’t want to see the stained glass windows they donated go anywhere other than the church they were meant for, but they can hardly be of help when those closest to them start turning up dead. Church politics, long-kept family secrets, and a determined killer come together to put St. Hilary’s---a church that countless characters and devoted readers have come to love---and its parishioners in peril in Stained Glass , the latest in Ralph McInerny’s treasured mystery series.
Presents stories that feature Father Dowling, who presides over St. Hilary's parish, as he solves mysteries with the help of his housekeeper, Marie, and the town's police detective, Phil.