Murder Most Catholic: Divine Tales of Profane Crimes

By Anne Perry and Ralph McInerny

Book Overview

The murder mysteries that make up this unusual anthology all have one thing in common: the hero or heroine who solves the crime is a Catholic cleric. From Chesterton's classic priest-turned-detective Father Brown to Peter Tremayne's historical Celtic nun and lawyer, Sister Fidelma, religious men and women put aside their professional duties for a moment to take up an altogether different vocation for a short time - that of detective and solver of crimes unspeakable. The stories in this collection of Catholic clerical sleuthing includes: Whispers of the Dead by Peter Tremayne - Bless Me Father, For I Have Sinned by Ed Gorman - Death by Fire by Anne Perry and Malachi Saxon - The Arrow of Ice by Edward D. Hoch - The Rag and Bone Man by Lillian Stewart Carl - Divine Justice by Charles Meyer - Cemetery of the Innocents by Stephen Dentinger - Veronica's Veil by Monica Quill - Lowly Death by Margaret Frazer - Ex Libris by Kate Gallison - A Clerical Error by Michael Jecks - Through a Glass, Darkly by Kate Charles - The Knight's Confession by P. C. Doherty - The Shorn Lamb by Ralph McInerny

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158182260X
• ISBN13: 9781581822601
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderfully insightful anthology

You will enjoy this book if you enjoy suspense, intrigue and reading some of the great authors in, shall we say, 'excerpt' form; although each is a complete and interesting if not enthralling story. I enjoyed and liked the fact that I could take it with me and read a story to conclusion in a short time and even though I would not recommend that the feint of heart do this...I read it as my 'bedtime story'. It lead me to read other works by the authors presented here and to compare the styles of each of those in the anthology. A good solid read.

An Attractive Anthology

Ralph McInerny's brief but thoughtful introduction indicates that the contributors were "asked to write stories with a religious motif or background" and notes that many of the authors set their stories in the past. (Expect a few anachronisms, such as "kilometres", in these.) McInerny himself contributes a Father Dowling story, set in the present, as well as a novella under his pseudonym Monica Quill. While any anthology is inevitably a mixed bag, most readers will enjoy most of the stories in this volume, and will want to find more stories by some of the authors. The term "Catholic" in the title, incidentally, includes "Anglican" and "Episcopal". If you are attracted by the title, you are apt to enjoy the book.