Ash Wednesday (Father Dowling Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Ralph McInerny (Author)

Book Description

Series: Father Dowling Mysteries | Publication Date: July 22, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

McInerny tackles the euthanasia controversy in his latest Father Dowling mystery. When a former parishioner is paroled after serving 10 years in prison for removing his dying wife from life support, not everyone in St. Hilary’s parish is as supportive as Father Dowling, who believes that Nathanial Green may have confessed to a mercy crime he did not commit. As the good father reaches back into the past to investigate this resurrected case, he also ponders the true nature of sin, forgiveness, and redemption. The twenty-seventh installment in the Dowling chronicles will not disappoint fans of this thoughtfully wrought series of faith-based mysteries. --Margaret Flanagan

Review

Praise for Ralph McInerny’s Father Dowling Mysteries

“Mystery at its bloodless, cerebral best . . . Dowling is the perfect father confessor, dealing with moral dilemmas and the weakness of man with compassion and understanding.”
---The Chicago Tribune

“You don’t have to go to church to worship mystery lovers’ esteemed Father Dowling.”
---Entertainment Weekly

“Father Dowling is not the average priest. . . . He has been through the mill himself, is tough, yet has compassion.”
---The New York Times Book Review

“This series continues to deliver, with a fascinating protagonist, intelligent plotting, and dry humor.”
---Booklist on The Widow’s Mate

“Entertaining . . . McInerny keeps the story moving with several twists and turns, producing another solid parish mystery for Father Dowling to solve in his usual quiet and compassionate way.”
---Publishers Weekly on The Widow’s Mate

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312364563
• ISBN-13: 978-0312364564
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,588,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars thought provoking Father Dowling mystery, August 9, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ash Wednesday (Father Dowling Mysteries) (Hardcover)

On Ash Wednesday, just out of prison Nathaniel Green, who killed his wife ten years ago when he pulled the plug on the life support machine so she could go to heaven, asks the pastor of St. Hilary's if he will put ashes on his forehead though he is no longer a Catholic. He gave up on religion when his beloved Florence suffered from terminal cancer and kept alive by so called caring people when she just wanted to die.

Nathaniel and Florence belonged to St. Hilary before he committed euthanasia. Some people especially Florence's sister do not want to turn the other cheek and let him return to the flock. They condemn him for murdering his spouse quoting the bible and the Ten Commandments. On the other hand Father Dowling understands why a human would act mercifully to end the suffering of a loved one although he feels deeply that it is still is a sin. As the parish divides over the issue of mercy killing, Dowling begins to see some incongruence in what he hears happened a decade ago; as he quietly investigates he begins to wonder if Nathaniel actually pulled the plug or is covering for someone.

This is a thought provoking Father Dowling mystery; perhaps the best in years as everyday people struggle with the difficult and complex issue of euthanasia; the St. Hilary congregation is divided over the subject and the killer. The story line is fast-paced once the whisper campaign begins that Green is out of prison and home and never slows down as he is shunned while he reads Crime and Punishment seeking absolution, but for what asks Father Dowling?

Harriet Klausner

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Series has not grown over time, November 22, 2008

By 

R. Kelly Wagner "[e-mail]" (MD, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ash Wednesday (Father Dowling Mysteries) (Hardcover)

This installment in the Father Dowling series is not noticeably worse than the others - but it's not any better, either. The thing is, the series has always had slightly wooden dialog - characters who don't use contractions most of the time; characters who speak as though they are reading out of an instruction book - and that hasn't improved in all these years. In addition, the characters haven't really grown; although we see a few characters who have only been recently introduced, whom we find out a bit more about in each book, the older characters still think the same way, and have the same unresolved issues.

Plot-wise, the Father Dowling series has always had plots just interesting enough to keep me reading the next installment, though never quite interesting enough to be bouncing in my seat awaiting it. The earlier volumes have more theology, and following the theological discussions and theological elements of the characters' motivations has been interesting. This volume has almost no theology; the only discussions Father Dowling has about the ethics of turning off life support are with a character who seems to have been introduced solely so that McInerny could enjoy using the nickname "Willy Nilly" - the character certainly doesn't have any other depth to him.

The alleged murderer in this volume leaves all his money to a woman he hates - supposedly to spite her by his display of Christian charity. This seems so unlikely to me as to be unbelievable. The potential heirs fighting over money? That's believable. Sometimes it's hard to tell them apart, though - reading along, one tends to have to think, wait, which one was Madeline? Which one was Natalie? How are they related to each other again? How is Jason related to Nathaniel? The only relatives whose relationship are clearly explained are Peanuts Pianone's, whose cousin married the sister of Augie, Carmela's business partner. Another thing that seems unbelievable in the plot is that the private investigator doesn't find Eugene's background on the Internet - but an intrepid woman reporter does, easily - even though the PI is supposedly a good one.

Several side plots are left totally at loose ends: what happened to Eugene Schmidt? What happened to Tetzel, the alcoholic reporter? And speaking of questions, one big one I have is why the local medical society doesn't prosecute Jason for calling himself "the Foot Doctor."

If you've been following the series, then you'll probably want to go ahead and read this one, but it won't be a "couldn't put it down" experience. If you haven't been following the series, the behavior of the regular characters may seem inexplicable; this wouldn't be a good choice for the first book in the series to read.

In short: wooden dialog, some unlikely gaps, but just enough of an interesting plot to make it readable. Add it to your "to be read" pile - but don't bother moving it up to the top.