On This Rockne : A Notre Dame Mystery [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Ralph McInerny (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1997

When billionaire Marcus Bramble offers the school 10 million dollars to memorialize the great coach Knute Rockne, things get dangerously competitive. While debate rages over how to honor the coach, one trustee ends up dead. Now the fate of the football icon suddenly ends up in the hands of the Knight brothers: Philip, the private eye, and Roger, the brilliant Notre Dame philosophy professor. Together, these characters embark on the most clever and energetic McInerny series to date.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Everything's fine at Notre Dame--unless you're losing sleep over the fortunes of the current football program--until megabucks alumnus Marcus Bramble offers the university $10 million for a suitable memorial to legendary coach Knute Rockne. Will the money go to a new stadium, an on-campus mausoleum, or a remake of Knute Rockne, All-American? McInerny, working outside his usual Father Dowling territory (The Tears of Things, 1996, etc.), shows an effortlessly light touch with campus intrigue until trustee Madeline Rune gets herself murdered. Feeling threatened by her estranged husband Stanley, Madeline had asked New York p.i. Philip Knight and his brother, Huneker Professor of Catholic Studies Roger Knight, for help, and now Stanley is the number-one suspect, at least until he gets killed with the same weapon as his fearful ex. But the mystery runs aground in a thousand glittering shoals, as the brothers follow the trail of The Four Winners, a boys' football novel Rockne wrote but never published; The Four Losers, a fictionalized debunking of contemporary Notre Dame football by upstart English prof Henry Hadley; the twisted connections between Madeline's dynastic forebears and the illustrious Catholic university; and a dozen other subplots that have nothing to do with the oddly perfunctory mystery. Still, you've got to have a soft spot for a novel whose police chief describes the investigating officer as ``Purdue. But a good cop.'' -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A wonderful start to a new series." --Booklist

"[McInerny] shows an effortlessly light touch with campus intrigue." --Kirkus Reviews

"Give McInerny a few more entries, and he'll have readers comparing the Knight Brothers with the best detective duos in the genre." --Booklist

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

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: GuildAmerica Books (October 1, 1997)
• ISBN-10: 1568655231
• ISBN-13: 978-1568655239
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,205,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slightly Skewed Emphasis, September 27, 2004

By 

Mickster "hibernicvs" - See all my reviews

This review is from: On This Rockne: Notre Dame's Knight Brothers Are About To Tackle Football Fanatics, Scholarly Snobs, And A Killer With A Score To Settle... (Notre Dame Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I liked this book much better than the other reviewers did ... except for the fact that McInerny doesn't seem to want Notre Dame to win a football game! (I've read all of them in this series I can find, and the author features a game in each one ... and they're always ties! Forget that, and win one for the Gipper!) I found the "literary detection," however, more fascinating than the murder mystery -- so much so that I searched out Knute Rockne's only novel, THE FOUR WINNERS, which, much to my surprise, has recently been republished. It's better than this book makes it sound, and is a genuinely good "young adult" type story, given the overall sophistication of a mid-1920s audience. Nevertheless, I've spent some time in academic environments, and McInerny captures the sort of thing that goes on with a high degree of accuracy. I like the Knight brothers, although a little more effective action, both in their lives and on the football field would, I think, improve the books.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wake up the echoes.....but don't try so hard., November 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: On This Rockne: A Notre Dame Mystery (Notre Dame Mysteries) (Hardcover)

I must commend McInerny for putting himself at risk by attempting to intermingle a modern fictional work with the time-honored tradition that is Notre Dame. As an alum, myself, it was amusing to read about my old stomping grounds, but I found the references to the Notre Dame campus, buildings, tradition and environs to be distracting at times. McInerny seems to be forcing discussion of Notre Dame history through his characters, incorporating wording and phraseology that few would use in daily conversation. The plot seemed rushed, and I believe that those who have never seen the beauty of the campus would be hard pressed to understand where and why certain actions take place. Notre Dame tradition is deeply rooted and anyone writing about it can be assured to receive criticism or praise from fans and alumni alike. McInerny's brave attempt at bringing this tradition into a fictitional realm is only mediocre, and I hope that in future books of this series, his results are more entertaining and intriguin

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars On This Rockne, March 27, 2007

By 

Ricky N. "Ricky C. Nelson" (Commerce, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On This Rockne: Notre Dame's Knight Brothers Are About To Tackle Football Fanatics, Scholarly Snobs, And A Killer With A Score To Settle... (Notre Dame Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

"On This Rockne" is the first of the Notre Dame mysteries by Ralph McInerny who is best known for the Father Dowling mysteries. The main characters are the Knight brothers, Philip and Roger. Philip is a private investigator who has moved to South Bend from New York. Roger is a professor at Notre Dame. Marcus Bramble donated money to the school to build a memorial to legendary coach Knute Rockne. Madeline Rune, whose grandfather had helped Rockne write his novel "The Four Winners", is found murdered at her home. Philip and Roger team up to investigate. Who killed Madeline? Was it her estranged husband Stanley, Henry Hadley, a man obsessed with her, or someone else who had a grudge against her? It is Roger who actually solves the case. It was interesting to find out that Rockne did write this one novel. There is some football action for the college football fans. It took me a little while to get into the book, but when I did I really enjoyed it. It is a very good debut to this series and I recommend it.