Notre Dame Books

Introduces a mystery series featuring two brothers, a private detective and a philosophy professor at Notre Dame University, who investigate the murder of a trustee who dares to criticize the institution's football tradition. Reprint.

When sports and religion collide, it results in an ungodly murder... As the Notre Dame campus gears up for one of the most religiously-charged sporting events in history-the big game between Catholic Notre Dame and Protestant pastor Edwina Marciniak, plans to make a statement by disrupting both the game and the theological conference campus scholars are holding. But the murder of an administrator threatens to steal the headlines... Who killed the unlamented Hazel Nootin? Detective Philip Knight and his brother, brilliant philosophy professor Roger Knight, are summoned to put a lid on the case. As they hone in on their prime suspects-and on-and-off-the-wagon reporter, a troubled football star with an explosive secret, and Hazel's hapless husband-the Knights must score a goal for justice. This is one game they can't afford to fumble.

In the University of Notre Dame's philosophy department two young scholars, Amanda Pick and Hans Wiener, are competing for the same tenure position. Sleuth Roger Knight is a friend to both, and as he painfully witnesses the fierce competition unfold, he also becomes keenly aware of the many secrets that both professors have to hide. While Amanda is a beloved teacher who incorporates a passionate and liberal approach to her students' learning, Hans follows a more conservative route, and has a family to support. Through their designs, both earn the ire of their many colleagues, until Amanda Pick crosses the wrong path and ends up dead. At the same time, speculations are building about the true origins of an unknown manuscript by G. K. Chesterton, who spent time on the Notre Dame campus. How is the awkward researcher of these papers tied into Amanda's death? And how did Notre Dame's foremost Chesterton scholar, Sean Pottery, fall madly in love with the young ill-fated professor? Displaying Ralph McInerny's trademark wit and intelligence, Irish Tenure is another clever romp through the hallowed halls of academia, and once again demonstrates why McInerny is considered a master of the mystery form.

A series of pranks prompts Notre Dame's administration to turn once again to brothers Roger and Philip Knight. They appear to be related to a eccentric scholar's claim that the land on which the university stands was stolen from the Indians. The pranks turn serious: at a football game against the FSU Seminoles, one stunt is aired on national TV, and the university president is kidnapped. But before the Knights can get to the root of these malicious acts, the scholar turns up dead, an Indian headdress wrapped around his bloody head. All in all, it is a delicious installment in a wonderfully crafted series.

Heavyweight Notre Dame professor Roger Knight and his p.i. brother Philip investigate a baffling puzzle when some extremely rare literary documents go missing in the fifth installment of this smart academic mystery series. Complicating matters for the brothers are the impending nuptials of some dear friends, Larry Morton and Nancy Beatty, which hit a snag. When Larry was an undergraduate at Notre Dame he made a prudent but overly optimistic reservation to marry his freshman sweetheart, Dolores Torre, in the popular campus rectory six years in the distant future. Their relationship didn't last, and now Larry wants to use the reservation to marry Nancy. Unfortunately, his old girlfriend Dolores has a similar plan. When both Larry and Dolores try to claim the forgotten reservation on the appointed date for their very separate marriages, pandemonium ensues. Dolores's new fiance, Dudley, is a man with a troubling secret past that may come back to haunt all of them. When a woman winds up strangled to death, both weddings are suddenly on hold until everyone can figure out what's going on. What is Dudley's connection with the missing documents, and how could such a white-collar, academic crime lead to a grisly murder? Between the two of them, Roger and Phil Knight can handle many tough questions-but this particular puzzle is bound to prove quite a challenge in this intelligent, witty mystery from one of the genre's masters.

Martin Kilmartin is a popular young Notre Dame professor and a promising poet, and as far as everyone on campus knows, he's off to visit his ancestral Ireland over winter break. It's a shocking moment when Professor Kilmartin is discovered dead in his office, never having made it on his winter retreat. Apparently the victim of a weak heart, Kilmartin's death comes just months before he is to be wed, and on the heels of some outstanding recognition for his verse. All in all, it seems to be just another campus tragedy, and while some wonder at the authenticity of the official explanation for his death, the police are content to blame his medical condition for his untimely demise. That is, until Professor Roger Knight, big man on campus and compulsively curious amateur sleuth, gets involved. The rotund professor's interest is piqued after reading some of Kilmartin's melancholic work, and he points to several anomalies at the crime scene in questioning the case. Before long, he's unearthed more than a few people with motive to harm the burgeoning artist. Roger's first task, with the help of his brother Phil, will be to determine whether there has in fact been a crime, and if so, who exactly was behind it. Before he's through, he'll use his diverse experience with poetry, literature, Irish history, and Notre Dame lore, not to mention his ear for university gossip, to get the bottom of another fascinating acadamic whodunit from master storyteller Ralph McInerny.

An Anthony Award-winning Author When Fred Neville of the Notre Dame athletic department winds up dead under mysterious circumstances, academic and amateur sleuth Roger Knight and his P.I. brother, Phil, investigate the apparent murder. The trouble is, there are no suspects - until two grieving women show up at the poor man's wake. Could it be that unassuming Fred Neville was actually involved with two women, in secret and at the same time? Roger thinks not, and finds a notable piece of evidence to back up his hunch. Available only in Basic 6 & 7.

One early morning during spring break, Detectives Phil Knight and Jimmie Stewart are enjoying a golf game at the University of Notre Dame when they find a man apparently suffering a heart attack on the green. They summon help and the man is rushed to the emergency room. But it's too late--the man dies at the hospital and an autopsy suggests that his death was not an accident. The victim--poisoned with deadly nightshade--turns out to be Mortimer Sadler, something of a boor but also an extremely generous donor to the university. He'd returned to campus for an unofficial class reunion, along with several classmates, including his three college roommates. Soon, long-buried animosities surface among the old friends. But are these old wounds strong enough to result in murder? Or was there a more recent disagreement brewing? Phil and his brother Professor Roger Knight team up to uncover the truth behind Sadler's death. Green Thumb is an intriguing addition to this series by the author of the beloved Father Dowling mysteries. Filled with suspense and plot twists galore, not to mention McInerny's trademark clever wit, it's guaranteed to enchant new readers as well as dedicated fans.

When South Bend, Indiana, Detective Phil Knight meets Boris Henry, an enthusiast of the historic Father John Zahm, a Notre Dame priest who was once involved in theoretical disputes during the 19th century, he wants to introduce Boris to his brother, Notre Dame's Professor Roger Knight, who shares a passion for this legendary man. As expected Boris and Roger have much to discuss. But then some of Boris's collection of rare Zahm artifacts go missing and Boris turns up dead, and the Knight brothers team up to uncover the truth behind the murder in Irish Gilt , an absorbing addition to this series by the author of the beloved Father Dowling mysteries.

Once the college football season draws to a close for the Fighting Irish, there is little reason to ride out the winter in South Bend, Indiana. Those who can leave do, but P.I. Philip Knight stays on at Notre Dame when the university asks him to discreetly investigate a rash of threatening letters that have been sent to a number of administrators, including the new football coach, who resurrected the team in a single year. While conspiracy theories are as prevalent as the cold, Philip and his brother Roger think the letters are probably a prank or possibly a student paper's attempt at yellow journalism but nothing more. Then a controversial professor's car is set on fire, a man is found dead on campus, and the Knight brothers find themselves hot on the trail of a killer in Ralph McInerny's tenth mystery set at Notre Dame.

With the Fighting Irish set to square off against Georgia Tech, Roger Knight, the rotund professor of Catholic studies, and his brother Philip, a semi-retired P.I., know that Notre Dame fans will be out in force. The faithful swear that on game day the entire campus comes alive to cheer on the football team, and they don't have to look any further than Touchdown Jesus or Fair Catch Corby, a statue of a Civil War chaplain who seems to be signaling another pass completion, for proof, misguided as it may be. But this year, this friendly and sometimes heated North-South rivalry turns downright hostile when Notre Dame's ties to the Union during the Civil War are dug up, and two students, brothers and Southern gentlemen, are spurred to defend their honor with a prank nearly 150 years after the fact. While they both admit to being the culprit, only one of them could've actually committed the vandalism. But which one? By stretching one alibi over two people, they may dodge expulsion. But then they become suspects in a seemingly unrelated murder case that the Knights must solve, or else getting thrown out will be the least of the boys' problems. Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award winner Ralph McInerny's Irish Alibi is a great addition to this stellar series, in which the past, no matter how distant, is never forgotten and always poised to rise again.

Any year when the Fighting Irish don’t go undefeated is a disappointment, but to turn in a losing football season is unheard of. This year the faithful are refusing to admit defeat even as the losses start to pile up. With the students in a funk and the alumni in an uproar, something must be done, or more precisely, somebody has to go. Since they can’t expel the team, they’ll have to settle for firing the multimillion-dollar head coach---but will a new coach satisfy everyone? There are some---namely faculty members with a distaste for university athletics---who see this as their chance to refocus the school on academics. When the battle between Notre Dame’s academic and athletic traditions turns deadly, however, Roger Knight, professor of Catholic Studies, becomes a marked man. Accustomed to working together, Roger and his P.I. brother Philip will have to go their separate ways in Ralph McInerny’s delightful The Green Revolution to unravel a campus-wide conspiracy and put the Irish back on top.

The University of Notre Dame relies on Roger Knight, the rotund professor of Catholic Studies, and his brother Philip, a semiretired PI, to investigate certain delicate situations that could put the school in a bad light. Students, faculty, and alumni, like David Williams, are all fair game. Having been a successful financial adviser until recently, David has returned to campus to renege on a pledged donation to the university’s ethics program. While he’s there, one of his former classmates sends a letter confessing to the murder and a secret burial of one of their closest friends, a student who had gone missing decades before and was never found. As students, David, Patrick, and Timothy made up the “Trinity,” an irreverent nickname for three close friends and fierce rivals---be it for on-campus prestige or the affections of a beautiful St. Mary’s student from across the road. Ready to help the school put the whole sordid tragedy behind them, Roger and Philip set about the sad task of unearthing Timothy’s body, only to find that they have a much bigger mystery with which to contend. With rivalries rekindled and the brothers Knight digging into the university’s past, Sham Rock , the latest in Ralph McInerny’s well-loved mystery series, is as witty and charming as ever