Requiem for a Realtor: A Father Dowling Mystery (Father Dowling Mysteries) [Hardcover]

Ralph McInerny (Author)

Book Description

Series: Father Dowling Mysteries | Publication Date: July 1, 2004

Father Dowling, respected by all, is well-known for being willing to lend a helping hand whenever he can. So it's no surprise when Stanley Collins shows up at the St. Hilary rectory to confide in Father Dowling about the troubled marriage of one of the church's parishioners. Dowling promises to do his best to find a way to help, but it soon becomes too late. One of the parties involved is viciously killed in a hit and run car accident.

Is it murder? Dowling knows there is good reason to suspect it might be, but when his friend, Detective Phil Keegan, labels it an accident, Dowling 's hands are tied. It's a question of ethics. Unable to break Collins's confidence, he can only keep tabs on the investigation from afar. While searching for the truth, Dowling must protect the secrets of his parishioners at all costs.

In Requiem for a Realtor, the charming Father Dowling returns once again, tangled in a web of deceit that will intrigue and delight his dedicated fans in a complex, satisfying mystery from Ralph McInerny.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In this satisfying entry in the Father Dowling mystery series, Stanley Collins is Fox River's most notorious philandering realtor. His wife, Phyllis, wants to divorce him but is afraid to lose her claim on an impending inheritance. She is stringing along her dentist, love-struck Dave Jameson, who's also a devout Catholic. Jameson is a prominent member of St. Hilary's parish and, as an emissary for Phyllis Collins, asks Father Dowling's advice regarding a divorce and her standing in the church. Circumstances change when Stanley Collins is run down by his own car a couple of blocks from the apartment of a local nightclub torch singer, with whom he is having an affair. Dowling closely watches as the investigation--directed by his closest friend, Phil Keegan, of the Fox River PD--unfolds. McInerny, a much-deserved winner of the Bouchercon Lifetime Achievement Award, presents a panoply of complex characters, most of whom are potential suspects. McInerny adds a moral catch-22 for Dowling as he struggles to choose between helping solve a murder and betraying the sanctity of a parishioner's confidences. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Mystery at its bloodless, cerebral best."
-- Chicago Tribune (Chicago Tribune ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312324170
• ISBN-13: 978-0312324179
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,245,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fine Father Dowling entry, July 28, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: Requiem for a Realtor: A Father Dowling Mystery (Father Dowling Mysteries) (Hardcover)

Although Stanley Collins is not a parishioner of St. Hilary's, Father Roger Dowling is more than willing to listen to the man's problem. His wife wants to divorce him and marry her dentist Dr. David Jameson. Father Dowling is willing to talk to his wife Phyllis but when she arrives at the rectory she claims it is her husband who wants a divorce to marry the torch singer Wanda who works at the Rendezvous hotel. Dr. Jameson, a deeply religious man talks to Father Dowling about becoming an ordained deacon.

While Father Dowling ponders the lives of these people, someone runs over Stanley and it turns out to be murder because he was run over by his very own car. At first, suspicion falls on Phyllis who knew her husband was going to come into a fortune when he was fifty and she was afraid he would divorce her before she could claim part of the inheritance. Ironically, it is Dr. Jameson who produces an alibi for her and the investigation turns to other suspects who had a motive to see Stanley dead. When they finally arrest a suspect, Father Dowling believes the police have the wrong person in custody and makes inquiries of his own in hopes of finding the real killer.

Ralph McInerny has written one of the most believable mysteries of his career. The suspects are ordinary people, none of whom seem likely to be a murderer which is why REQUIEM FOR A REALTOR is such an excellent who done it. Father Dowling is an observer for much of the book as well as a confidante for many of the suspect. These roles make him the perfect person to discover who the killer is.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is Really Lame, November 26, 2004

By 

J Scott Morrison (Middlebury VT, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Requiem for a Realtor: A Father Dowling Mystery (Father Dowling Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I picked this mystery up because I remembered the TV series starring Tom Bosley as Father Dowling and thought it was amusing. This is the first book I've ever read from this series and it will be my last. I can only assume that the script writers for the TV series were better writers than Ralph McInerny. The plot is mildly intriguing, but the characters are cardboard, the dialog is embarrassingly wooden, the humor forced, and the action scenes awkward. I gave it two stars rather than one because, as I said, the plot was reasonably interesting, if a bit clunky.

Not recommended.

Scott Morrison