The Storks Of La Caridad [Paperback]

Florence Byham Weinberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2005

Father Ignaz (Ygnacio) Pfefferkorn, a missionary from the Sonora Desert region of northern Mexico, is caught in the Expulsion of all Jesuits in 1767. After enduring eight years of prison and abuse, he is incarcerated in Caridad Monastery where the abbot recruits him to help solve two murders. In the course of his investigations, Father Ignaz finds his own life in peril.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a rollicking mystery full of plot twists based on real events, interesting characters modeled after historical figures and more --Steve Bennett, Book Editor for the San Antonio Express-News.

Brilliantly written and thoroughly researched... --Joyce Handzo, In the Library Reviews.

...a wealth of historical detail and a plot that just gets twistier with each page. --Annette Gisby, Twisted Tales.

About the Author

Born in the high desert country of New Mexico, Florence loved exploring the wilderness on foot and horseback. Those grandiose landscapes formed her sensibility. Hidden pockets of unexpected greenery tucked away near springs in folds of barren mountainsides spoke to her of gentleness and beauty in an otherwise harsh world. She published her first poem in a children's magazine shortly after she learned to read at age four; wrote her first 'novel' at age six, entitled Ywain, King of All Cats. She illustrated the 'book' herself. Before settling in San Antonio, Texas, she traveled extensively as an army brat during World War II. With her husband the brilliant scholar and teacher, Kurt Weinberg, she worked and traveled in Canada, Germany, France, and Spain. After earning her PhD, she taught for twenty- two years at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, NY, and for ten at Trinity University in San Antonio. She published four scholarly books, many articles and book reviews, doing research in the U.S. and abroad. When, after retiring in 1999, she was freed from academe to devote herself to writing fiction, she produced eight novels, ranging from fantasy to historical romance and mystery.

Product Details

• Paperback: 234 pages
• Publisher: Twilight Times Books (June 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193335321X
• ISBN-13: 978-1933353210
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,371,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh, Brother!, July 8, 2005

By 

Alain Falasse (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Storks Of La Caridad (Paperback)

We are used to amateur detectives who, between a cup o' tea at Scotland Yard and a glass of sherry on the Orient Express, find out that the butler did it in the pantry with a bronze statue. These detectives are classic, borderline conservative, without life of their own and, heaven forbid! sexuality. Enter Ignaz Pfefferkorn, a man bearing a name easier to sneeze than pronounce, who, prisoner of his story and History, solves a mystery in a Spanish monastery of the late 18th century. By the way, he is a (good looking) priest and a Jesuit. So, sexuality? Well, do not hold your breath but our man has feelings. On top of this, he really existed and most characters and events in the book are historical. Florence Weinberg respectfully has filled the voids to let Pfefferkorn live for us, guide us and interest us in the meanders of that era. You may still not solve the mystery of faith after reading this book, but you certainly will have faith in mystery.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Before all the technology and forensics there was..., July 9, 2005

By 

N. Frank "Joggernot" (Carlsbad, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Storks Of La Caridad (Paperback)

thinking. Jesuit Ignaz Pfefferkorn wants to life the life he has chosen, but he is good at solving murders. Without even fingerprinting Pfefferkorn must look at the evidence, talk with people, and come to an understanding of what really happened. The evidence is trampled and overlooked. People don't tell the whole truth. Yet Pfefferkorn is able, through much effort to learn the motives and solve the murder. Twists and turns and a final twist make this well worth reading. Ignaz Pfefferkorn really existed and really was rounded up by the Church and placed in prison. This makes the story more believable and complete. There are two other Pfefferkorn mysteries by Florence Weinberg that are set in northern Mexico rather than in Spain.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must -read!, August 11, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Storks Of La Caridad (Paperback)

"The Storks of La Caridad" is Professor Emerita Florence Weinberg's third historical mystery featuring Father Ygnacio Pfefferkorn, a detective priest character based on an actual historical Jesuit missionary who was forcibly removed from his Sonora Desert mission around 1767 to be imprisoned for 6 years near Cadiz, Spain before being sent to La Caridad and the Norbertines for two years. Weinberg's painstaking research and rich historical detail of an obscure but bloody epoch in church and secular Spanish American history provide a flawless framework for this intriguing tale of bloody survival and a martyr's forgiveness. All notes ring true in the world of Father Ygnacio, but how do they lead to the solution of two murders and the supposed theft of an ancient charter to the monastery in time to preserve Ygnacio's threatened mortal existence? The storks of L Caridad are the natural historians and observers of the intrigues of the abbey. Can Father Ygnacio possibly follow their example and find his way through the maze of danger, before his limited venue as endangered holy sleuth literally expires? "The Storks of La Caridad" is beautifully written, as well as meticulously researched. It will grip its readers, shock them, and confound them. Along the way, much valuable and accurate history will be painlessly assimilated. Perhaps this is the art of historical mystery writing at its best. "The Storks of La Caridad" is a must -read!