Chameleon [Large Print] [Paperback]

William X. Kienzle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1992

A hooker dressed in a nun's habit is shot dead at the shrine of her sister's convent. No clues, no motive and scant leads present the police with a parish puzzler. Father Robert Koesler attends the woman's wake, and soon finds himself swept into a bizarre and chilling case of multiple murder that begins with a nun under the gun and ends with Koesler under a cardinal's cassock . . .

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Father Robert Koesler, Detroit priest and amateur sleuth, returns to solve multiple murders in this snappy Mystery Guild selection; author Kienzle has more than 2.6 million paperbacks in print.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

A hooker dressed in a nun's habit is shot dead at the shrine of her sister's convent. No clues, no motive and scant leads present the police with a parish puzzler. Father Robert Koesler attends the woman's wake, and soon finds himself swept into a bizarre and chilling case of multiple murder that begins with a nun under the gun and ends with Koesler under a cardinal's cassock . . . --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 484 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (April 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560549769
• ISBN-13: 978-1560549765
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,986,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, April 20, 2000

By 

Mike Schroeder - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chameleon (Mass Market Paperback)

This book contains the plot line common in many of Kienzle's books: the murderer has something against the clergy. The story was unique in that the killer goes after prostitutes. One would not expect that in a Catholic novel, but it's a great suspenseful story.

1.0 out of 5 stars nun plus, September 25, 2009

By 

Beverly Bell (San Marcos, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chameleon (Mass Market Paperback)

The problem with this book is one is either Catholic or not.
If one is, you know all these very very long arguments.
If one isn't,he could care less. Kienzle hides his motives
for updating the Church
under the guise of a mystery.

2.0 out of 5 stars Bad resolution, July 12, 2006

By 

Atticus (Royal Oak, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chameleon (Mass Market Paperback)

Don't worry, no real spoilers.

It's a fine line that mystery writers need to take. You want "mystery" -- meaning you don't want the reader to see where everything is heading too soon. So, the story takes various twists and turns. Red herrings are thrown in.

On the other hand, you don't want to be forced to have the killer be so much of a surprise that even very attentive readers could not have even had the person on the radar.

Finally, the resolution also needs to make some sense.

Examples from the movies. The Sixth Sense. The ending was a total surprise to some of us. But, after seeing it, your mind rewinds through what you viewed previously and it becomes a very satisfying experience. It ... makes ... sense. Foreseen or not. Another movie: The Usual Suspects. Not until the investigator understands what just happened to him do we understand. And, again, it ultimately makes sense.

Even the DaVinci Code and its predecessor Angels and Demons made a fair degree of sense. To an extent, the bad guy was on the radar but not clearly so. Still, the resolution was satisfying.

Then comes a novel like Chameleon. Rich in its details about the setting (Detroit area), the Catholic Church, and many of the characters. The bad guy isn't totally off the radar, so that's good -- and it wasn't that sure who-dun-it until the final pages. So that's good. But, ultimately, the crime, the motivation, etc., just didn't make enough sense. That's not satisfying, it's merely frustrating.

I liked the book in part because while there were a few lead suspects, you have some doubt about them being the true bad guy, but not enough to discount the possibility. And, you begin to see some other potential bad guys out there. It is not totally out of the blue, as in some Agatha Christie or Ellery Queen mysteries. But, really, it is so much more satisfying when the crime and criminal truly make sense. It didn't happen in Chameleon.