The Only Good Priest [Hardcover]

Mark Richard Zubro (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1991

Father Sebastian, the only good priest everybody knows, is dead. Pastor of a parish outside Chicago, Father Sebastian was also involved in the gay community through his work with Faith, the gay Catholic organization the diocese is trying to drive out of the church.

High school teacher Tom mason, who has gained some local notoriety from his involvement in a couple of murder cases, is asked by friends to look into the priest's death; was it murder? Along with his lover Scott Carpenter, a professional baseball player, Tom plunges into ecclesiastical intrigues, the hidden underground of gay Chicago and the tragedies caused by a hypocritical church.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Schoolteacher and amateur sleuth Tom Mason and his lover, baseball player Scott Carpenter, are asked by friends to investigate the suspicious death of Father Sebastian, a priest involved with Chicago's gay community, in this latest mystery by Zubro ( A Simple Suburban Murder ). When Mason's nephew disappears after overhearing another priest, Father Clarence, talk about being implicated in Sebastian's death, the investigation takes on an added urgency. As the church hierarchy colludes with Chicago police in a cover-up, Mason and Carpenter question--and spy on--Sebastian's associates, including high-priced hustler Prentice Dowalski; Priscilla Kapustaglova, volatile leader of a radical lesbian group; powerful Bishop Smith, a friend of Sebastian's since seminary days; and Father Clarence, who takes his vow of celibacy lightly. While Zubro uses his authorial pulpit to lash out at Catholicism's intolerance of homosexuality to good effect, his supporting characters are stock figures, a lone red herring is old and smelly, and the solution to the mystery hinged weakly on a hunch.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Narrator Tom Mason, a gay-activist school teacher periodically involved in crime sleuthing ( A Simple Suburban Mur der , St. Martin's, 1990), reluctantly agrees to investigate the sudden death of a Catholic priest supportive of gays. Despite police and church coverup, arson, and the kidnaping of Mason's nephew, the plot has little or no urgency and minimal suspense. As Tom and his perfect baseball-star mate question assorted police, priests, and other suspects, heavy blame falls on the Lesbians for Freedom and Dignity (a misguided, vicious group of cold hearts) and on the Catholic Church. Zubro proffers a flat, unimaginative plot with no real characters, feeble transitions, no humor, and no fizz. No thanks.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (June 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312054866
• ISBN-13: 978-0312054861
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,356,202 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three cheers for Mr. Zubro, April 22, 2000

By 

Todd V. LEONE - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Only Good Priest (Tom and Scott Mystery) (Paperback)

I knew this book had to be good when I read the two reviews prior to mine on amazon.com. As a member of the gay community and a recovering Roman Catholic (who thoroughly enjoys the spiritually fulfilling practice of Catholicism I find in the Episcopal Church), not only was I not offended by anything in this book, I actually enjoyed it.

Like the movie "Priest," there are a number of Roman zealots of the "one true church" ilk who are out to write negative reviews of anything that tells it like it is where the Roman Church is concerned whether they've read it or not.

Mr. Zubro is to be congratulated for an engrossing mystery that will surprise its gay and lesbian readers in a positive way, a respectable entry in his "Tom and Scott" series of whodunits.

More power to him!

4.0 out of 5 stars More about Tom & Scott, August 6, 2007

By 

Neil S. Plakcy "Neil Plakcy" (Hollywood, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Only Good Priest (Tom and Scott Mystery) (Paperback)

Friends approach school teacher Tom Mason and ask him to investigate the death of Father Sebastian, who was involved in the gay Catholic organization Faith. It's another opportunity to see the interplay between Tom and his lover, baseball star Scott Carpenter, and the characters get deeper and more interesting in each outing. I love the way Tom and Scott are both macho guys, each in his own way, and yet they're both surprisingly vulnerable.

Neil Plakcy, author of Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery (An Alyson Mystery)

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars THOU SHALT NOT WRITE DRIVEL., September 29, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Only Good Priest (Tom and Scott Mystery) (Paperback)

I couldn't put this book down. I was riveted to each page. I am told by one who should know that my expression as I read grew humbled, awed. THE ONLY GOOD PRIEST is Mark Richard Zubro's WORST Tom and Scott mystery--and that's saying something.

Where to begin? The cast of unlikable stereotypes? Scratch that. The cast of insulting stereotypes, from the ugly femi-nazi dikes to the corrupt and lecherous priests? The gratuitous appearance of Zubro's other series star Paul Turner (and I thought Zubro couldn't create characters more flat and personality-less than Tom and Scott--how I underestimate the man)! The inexcusable lack of plausible motive--unless one does manage to swallow Zubro's nauseating cliches. Or how about the fact that heroic Tom is captured and beaten up by girls twice?

No, I think what really sets this mystery apart from the other Tom and Scott books is the sheer, ignorant bigotry. In quick succession assorted Zubro characters toss off the following unchallenged statements:
He was the first priest we'd met who didn't indulge in condescension and put-down games, two skills they must have classes in for the modern Catholic seminary.
We have ways of dealing with such issues (secretly married priests)...I'm sure you're not naive enough to think that Father Clarence is unique.
As the AIDS epidemic spread more and more priests had been dying of the disease.
You raise an unfortunate issue (priests who molest children). Yes we have priests with faults...alcoholics...thieves...

I was disappointed Zubro left out the pregnant nuns, infants buried under churches and black masses at midnight.Can this be the same man who wrote in 1995's THE FINE ART OF MURDER: "Today any sterotypical depiction is unwelcome in any author's writing, and when such a view is based on hate, prejudice, or deliberate ignorance, it can be easily seen as malicious or irresponsible."

Practice what you preach, Mark.