Library Journal
This new series by the author of the popular Father Dowling series introduces Egidio Manfredi, a detective in charge of special projects who is nearing retirement, and Noonan, his much younger partner. Based in Fort Elbow, OH, the two are called upon to reopen an unsolved missing persons case when they are contacted by Virginia, an attractive, thirtyish grad student working on papers left behind by the long-missing poet wife of an emeritus professor. In turn, the police eventually connect Virginia to a much more recent suspicious death. Clever repartee, hidden alliances both present and past, false claims of guilt, pointed observations on aging, and surprising marriage plans underscore the author's talents. This smooth-going book is a promising start; for McInerny fans and larger collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
When retired professor Basil Bauer, at the ripe age of 72, decides to remarry, his former colleagues and current co-inhabitants in the residential community are somewhat dismayed for two reasons: his choice of bride-Virginia, a graduate student a quarter-century younger-and the unresolved matter of his first wife's disappearance 30 years before. Egidio Manfredi, only one year away from retirement himself with the Fort Elbow, Ohio, police force, is called on to discover what happened to Lilian Bauer, a free-spirited poet, who decamped leaving only a noncommittal sentence or two for Basil. Bauer's squabbling adult children, Phyllis and Gregory, are more agitated about the incipient second wife than their mother's long-ago demise. Then Virginia, who had been angling to write the authorized biography of Lilian's life, disappears, and Manfredi and his assistant Noonan are further perplexed when two of Bauer's good friends confess separately to killing Lilian. When the cops check out Ambrose Hennessy's version, the body in the grave turns out to be not Lilian, but Virginia. Or is it? Manfredi sorts through the identity mishap, Bauer and Hennessy recall another young woman's death deep in their past, and an unlikely suspect pops up to account for at least part of the current troubles. An interesting concept-the endurance of personal responsibility-floundering in talk, talk, talk. New series sleuth Manfredi is more world-weary than the author's Father Dowling, less wry than his Andrew Broom, but McInerny fans will line up for him anyway.
Genre: Mystery
This new series by the author of the popular Father Dowling series introduces Egidio Manfredi, a detective in charge of special projects who is nearing retirement, and Noonan, his much younger partner. Based in Fort Elbow, OH, the two are called upon to reopen an unsolved missing persons case when they are contacted by Virginia, an attractive, thirtyish grad student working on papers left behind by the long-missing poet wife of an emeritus professor. In turn, the police eventually connect Virginia to a much more recent suspicious death. Clever repartee, hidden alliances both present and past, false claims of guilt, pointed observations on aging, and surprising marriage plans underscore the author's talents. This smooth-going book is a promising start; for McInerny fans and larger collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
When retired professor Basil Bauer, at the ripe age of 72, decides to remarry, his former colleagues and current co-inhabitants in the residential community are somewhat dismayed for two reasons: his choice of bride-Virginia, a graduate student a quarter-century younger-and the unresolved matter of his first wife's disappearance 30 years before. Egidio Manfredi, only one year away from retirement himself with the Fort Elbow, Ohio, police force, is called on to discover what happened to Lilian Bauer, a free-spirited poet, who decamped leaving only a noncommittal sentence or two for Basil. Bauer's squabbling adult children, Phyllis and Gregory, are more agitated about the incipient second wife than their mother's long-ago demise. Then Virginia, who had been angling to write the authorized biography of Lilian's life, disappears, and Manfredi and his assistant Noonan are further perplexed when two of Bauer's good friends confess separately to killing Lilian. When the cops check out Ambrose Hennessy's version, the body in the grave turns out to be not Lilian, but Virginia. Or is it? Manfredi sorts through the identity mishap, Bauer and Hennessy recall another young woman's death deep in their past, and an unlikely suspect pops up to account for at least part of the current troubles. An interesting concept-the endurance of personal responsibility-floundering in talk, talk, talk. New series sleuth Manfredi is more world-weary than the author's Father Dowling, less wry than his Andrew Broom, but McInerny fans will line up for him anyway.
Genre: Mystery
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