McInerny, Ralph 1929–
McINERNY, Ralph 1929–
(Harry Austin, Matthew Fitzralph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, Ralph Matthew McInerny, Monica Quill)
PERSONAL:
Born February 24, 1929, in Minneapolis, MN; son of Austin Clifford (a mechanical engineer) and Vivian McInerny; married Constance Terrill Kunert, January 3, 1953 (deceased, May 18 2002); children: Cathleen Brownell, Mary Hosford, Anne Policinski, David, Elizabeth Hark, Daniel. Education: St. Paul Seminary, B.A., 1951; University of Minnesota, M.A., 1952; Laval University, Ph.L., 1953, Ph.D. (summa cum laude), 1954. Politics: Independent. Religion: Roman Catholic.
ADDRESSES:
Home—Notre Dame, IN. Office—Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame, 714 Hesburgh Library, Notre Dame, IN 46556. E-mail—Ralph.M.McInerny.1@nd.edu.
CAREER:
Writer, novelist, and educator. Creighton University, Omaha, NE, instructor in philosophy, 1954-55; University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, instructor, 1955-57, assistant professor, 1957-63, associate professor, 1963-69, professor of philosophy, 1969—Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies, director of Medieval Institute, and director of Jacques Maritain Center. Visiting professor at Catholic University, 1971; St. Anselm's College, 1971; St. Mary's College, 1976; Katholieke Universitet, Belgium, 1982; Louvain, 1983, 1995; Cornell University, 1988; Truman State University, 1999; Glasgow University, 1999-2000, and Fu Jen University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2002. Wethersfield Institute, director, 1989-92; Homeland Foundation, executive director, 1991-92; Catholic Campaign for America, national committee, 1992—; member of Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs; Catholic Educational Television, president. Crisis: Journal of Lay Catholic Opinion, cofounder and publisher, 1982—; served on various boards of advisors and as an editor and on the editorial boards of publications. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps, 1946-47.
MEMBER:
American Catholic Philosophical Association (council, 1966—; president, 1971, 1980-81), International Society for the Study of Medieval Philosophy, Medieval Academy, American Philosophical Association, Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas (fellow), American Maritain Society (board of directors, 1980-81), Conseil scientifique of Maritain Institut (member of international board of directors, 1982), International Maritain House of Study (member of board of directors, 1982), Søren Kierkegård Society, Catholic Center for Renewal (member of board of directors, 1982), Institute on Christianity and Contemporary Thought (member of board of directors, 1982), Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (member of board of directors, 1983-86; president, 1991-93), Societas Internationalis Ethicae (member of board, 1989—), Fellowship of Catholic Scholars (president, 1992-95), Metaphysical Society of America (president, 1992-93), Society for Christian Philosophy, Authors Guild, Authors League of America, Mystery Writers of America, Writers Guild, Center for Christianity and Common Good (University of Dallas; member of steering committee, 1991—).
AWARDS, HONORS:
Fulbright research fellow, Belgium, 1959-60; National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, 1977-78; National Endowment for the Arts fellow, 1983, Fulbright scholar, 1986, 87; Pontifical Roman Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas fellow, 1987; Outstanding Philosophical scholar, Delta Epsilon Sigma, 1990; Thomas Aquinas medals, University of Dallas, 1990, Thomas Aquinas College, 1991, and American Catholic Philosophical Association, 1993; Hammet Prize, International Association of Crime Writers, 1992; Lifetime Achievement Award, Mystery Writers of America, 1993; Maritain Medal, American Maritain Association, 1994; P.G. Wodehouse Award, Crisis (magazine), 1995; Comolic Scholars fellow; Cardinal Wright Award, Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, 1996; appointed to President George W. Bush's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, 2001; Premio Roncesvalles de Filosofia, Anuario Filosofico, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, 2002; Crisis magazine Twentieth Anniversary Award, 2002; Gerhart Niemeyer Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, International student Institute, 2003; Ingersoll prizes in literature and the humanities. Recipient of honorary degrees from Benedictine College, St. Benedict College, University of Steubenville, St. Francis College, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, and St. John Fisher College.
WRITINGS:
novels
Jolly Rogerson, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1967.
A Narrow Time, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1969.
The Priest, Harper (New York, NY), 1973.
Gate of Heaven, Harper (New York, NY), 1975.
Rogerson at Bay, Harper (New York, NY), 1976.
Spinnaker, Gateway-Regnery (South Bend, IN), 1977.
Quick as a Dodo, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1978.
Abecedary, Juniper Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1979.
Connolly's Life, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1983.
The Noonday Devil, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1985.
Leave of Absence, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1986.
The Red Hat, Ignatius Press (San Francisco, CA), 1998.
mystery novels
The Nominative Case, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1990, under pseudonym Edward Mackin, Walker (New York, NY), 1991.
The Search Committee, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1990.
Easeful Death, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1991.
Infra Dig, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1992.
The Case of the Dead Winner, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.
The Case of the Constant Caller, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1995.
Still Life ("Egidio Manfredi" series), Five Star (Unity, ME), 2000.
Sub Rosa ("Egidio Manfredi" series), Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2001.
As Good as Dead, Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2002.
The Ablative Case, Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2003.
Slattery: A Soft-Boiled Detective, Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2004.
The Prudence of Flesh, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2006.
"father dowling" mystery novels
Her Death of Cold, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1977.
The Seventh Station, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1977.
Romanesque, Harper (New York, NY), 1977.
Bishop as Pawn, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1978.
Lying Three, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1979.
Second Vespers, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1980.
Thicker than Water, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1981.
A Loss of Patients, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1982.
The Grass Widow, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1983.
Getting a Way with Murder, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1984.
Rest in Pieces, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1985.
The Basket Case, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1988.
Four on the Floor: A Father Dowling Mystery Quartet, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1989.
Abracadaver, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1989, published as Sleight of Body, Macmillan (London, England), 1989.
Judas Priest, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.
Desert Sinner, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1992.
Seed of Doubt, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.
A Cardinal Offense, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1994.
The Tears of Things, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1996.
Grave Undertakings, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.
Triple Pursuit, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.
Prodigal Father, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.
Last Things, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.
Requiem for a Realtor, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2004.
Blood Ties, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2005.
"andrew broom" mystery novels
Cause and Effect, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1987.
Body and Soil, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1989.
Frigor Mortis, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1989.
Savings and Loam, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1990.
Body and Soil, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1993.
Mom and Dead, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1994.
Law and Ardor, Scribner (New York, NY), 1995.
Heirs and Parents, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.
"sister mary teresa" mystery novels; under pseudonym monica quill
Not a Blessed Thing!, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1981.
Let Us Prey, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1982.
And Then There Was Nun, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1984.
Nun of the Above, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1985.
Sine Qua Nun, Vanguard Press (New York, NY), 1986.
The Veil of Ignorance, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1988.
Sister Hood, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1991.
Nun Plussed, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1993.
Half Past Nun, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.
Death Takes the Veil and Other Stories, Five Star (Waterville, ME), 2001.
"university of notre dame" mystery novels
On This Rockne, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1997.
Lack of the Irish, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.
Irish Tenure, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.
The Book of Kills, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.
Emerald Aisle, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.
Celt and Pepper, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2002.
Irish Coffee, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2003.
Green Thumb, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2004.
Irish Gilt, St. Martin's Minotaur (New York, NY), 2005.
other
The Logic of Analogy: An Interpretation of St. Thomas, Nijhoff (The Hague, Netherlands), 1961.
History of Western Philosophy, Volume 1: From the Beginnings of Philosophy to Plotinus, Regnery (Chicago, IL), 1963, Volume 2: Philosophy from Augustine to Ockham, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1970.
Thomism in an Age of Renewal, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1966.
(Translator, with Leo Turcotte) Sören Kierkegård, The Difficulty of Being Christian, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1968.
Studies in Analogy, Nijhoff (The Hague, Netherlands), 1968.
(Editor) New Themes in Christian Philosophy, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1968.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1977.
Rhyme and Reason: St. Thomas and Modes of Discourse, Marquette University Press (Milwaukee, WI), 1981.
The Frozen Maid of Calpurnia, Juniper Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1982.
Ethica Thomistica: The Moral Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC), 1982, revised edition, 1997.
(Translator, with wife, Constance McInerny) Angelo Paredi, A History of the Ambrosiana, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1983.
(Under pseudonym Harry Austin) The Chinese Pendant, and Other Plays, S. French (New York, NY), 1983.
(Under pseudonym Harry Austin) The Little Lights of Kimberley and Other Plays, S. French (New York, NY), 1985.
Being and Predication: Thomistic Interpretations, Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC), 1986.
Miracles: A Catholic View, Our Sunday Visitor (Huntington, IN), 1986.
Art and Prudence: Studies in the Thought of Jacques Maritain, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1988.
A First Glance at St. Thomas Aquinas: A Handbook for Peeping Thomists, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1989.
Boethius and Aquinas, Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC), 1990.
Aquinas on Human Action, Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC), 1992.
The Question of Christian Ethics, Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC), 1993.
Aquinas against the Averroists, Purdue University Press (West Lafayette, IN), 1993.
(Editor) Thomas's Commentary on De Anima, Dumb Ox Books (Notre Dame, IN), 1994.
The God of Philosophers, Westminster-McMurrin Lectures (Salt Lake City, UT), 1994.
(Editor) The Collected Works of Jacques Maritain, Volume 3: The Degrees of Knowledge, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1995.
Aquinas and Analogy, 1996.
What Went Wrong with Vatican II: The Catholic Crisis Explained, Sophia Institute Press (Manchester, NH), 1998.
(Editor and translator) Thomas Aquinas, Selected Writings, Penguin (New York, NY), 1998.
A Student's Guide to Philosophy, ISI Books (Wilmington, DE), 1999.
The Defamation of Pius XII, St. Augustine's Press (South Bend, IN), 2000.
Characters in Search of Their Author ("Gifford Lectures" series), University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2000.
(Editor, with Martin H. Greenberg) Murder Most Divine: Ecclesiastical Tales of Unholy Crimes, Cumberland House (Nashville, TN), 2000.
Shakespearean Variations, St. Augustine's Press (South Bend, IN), 2000.
(Translator) Florent Gaboriau, The Conversion of Edith Stein, St. Augustine's Press (South Bend, IN), 2001.
(Editor) Murder Most Catholic: Divine Tales of Profane Crimes, Cumberland House (Nashville, TN), 2002.
The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Life, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2003.
(Translator and author of introduction) John of St. Thomas, Introduction to the Summa theologiae of Thomas Aquinas: The Isagogue of John of St. Thomas, St. Augustine's Press (South Bend, IN), 2004.
Acquinas, Polity Press (Cambridge, England), 2004.
The Soul of Wit, St. Augustine's Press (South Bend, IN), 2005.
I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You: My Life and Pastimes (autobiography), University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2006.
Praembula Fidei: Thomism and the God of the Philosophers, Catholic University of America Press (Washington, DC), 2006.
Some Catholic Writers, St. Augustine's Press (South Bend, IN), 2006.
Also author of novel La Cavalcade Romaine, 1979. Author of instructional writing courses, Let's Write Short Stories, Let's Write a Mystery, Let's Write a Novel, and Let's Read Latin. Contributor of scholarly articles to professional journals and symposia, including Crisis and Catholic Dossier. Contributor, sometimes under pseudonyms, of short fiction to magazines. Author of columns for Quodlibets, South Bend Tribune, Beliefnet (online magazine), and National Catholic Register. Member of editorial board, Sensus Communis: An International Quarterly for Studies and Research on Alethic Logic.
ADAPTATIONS:
McInerny's "Father Dowling" mysteries were the basis for the NBC television movie Fatal Confession and subsequent series The Father Dowling Mysteries, which aired as a mid-season replacement in 1989 and moved to ABC in 1990.
SIDELIGHTS:
Ralph McInerny is a noted Thomas Aquinas scholar and teacher who has written a long list of books focusing on philosophy and Catholicism. Seemingly out of character, he is also the author of dozens of popular novels and mysteries noted for their humorous characters and engaging plots. Several of his mystery series are named after their main sleuths, among them "Father Dowling," "Andrew Broom," "Sister Mary Teresa"—written under the pseudonym Monica Quill—and "Egidio Manfredi," while in the "University of Notre Dame" series, the Knight brothers do the detecting. A prolific writer, McInerny has also written instructional texts, student guides, and a crime anthology, and has penned plays, articles, and novels under several pseudonyms.
With his fictional character Father Roger Dowling, McInerny creates "a priest detective whose secular interest in crime is merely a mask for his deeper concern for the spiritual welfare of the victims and criminals involved," according to James R. McCahery in the St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers. The first book in the Father Dowling series, Her Death of Cold, "operates on two levels," explained Newgate Callendar in the New York Times Book Review, who noted that on the one hand, the novel "explores the attitudes of an intelligent priest faced with problems of man that nobody has yet answered. On the other level, the book is a well-wrought mystery novel, carefully plotted."
Several critics observed that while McInerny's "Father Dowling" novels address spiritual issues, they do so in an unobtrusive way. Callendar remarked that in contrast to other series featuring religious sleuths, "what is nice about this series is its avoidance of dogma. Father Dowling is devout but inclined toward liberalism; he accepts people for what they are." As Phil Vettel explained in the Chicago Tribune Books, it is the priest's subtle approach that makes him such an "appealing sleuth." "Dowling," said Vettel, "is the perfect father confessor, dealing with moral dilemmas … with compassion and understanding. People confide in him as they never would confide in the police."
Father Dowling returns in Grave Undertakings, where readers find him granting absolution to a dying crime figure, whose body disappears from its grave. Along with the body is missing a rare manuscript belonging to mob boss and collector Sal Pianone, whose daughter Angela then disappears. Several murders are committed and, a Publishers Weekly contributor stated, McInerny "keeps the reader on edge as his intrepid sleuth-priest solves the crimes in question." Booklist reviewer George Needham found that with the exception of the private investigator, the characters "are underdeveloped or clichéd." "The pace is relaxed, but the intrigue never falters," wrote Linda A. Vretos in the School Library Journal.
In Prodigal Father, Dowling heads to a religious retreat with the Athanasians in what Booklist reviewer Margaret Flanagan called "another compelling mystery with a spiritual twist." The Athanasians are a dwindling order of priests whose membership numbers a total of seven. Despite their near-extinction, the Athanasians remain well-funded, particularly with their sprawling estate of Marygrove, a spread of hundreds of acres of prime real estate in the Chicago suburbs, left to the order in perpetuity by businessman Maurice Corbett. The order regularly fends off scam artists and others seeking to lay hands on the estate, but when Richard Krause appears, the brothers recognize him as a strayed disciple, once Father Nathaniel, who left the order to marry and work in the secular world. Father Dowling thinks that Krause is up to no good. Things get more complicated at the arrival of Maurice's grandson, Leo Corbett, who is bitter because he thinks the Athanasians are sitting on his rightful inheritance. Soon enough, two murders demand the attention of Father Dowling as the Athanasians come up against forces determined to relieve them of their bequest. A Kirkus Reviews critic commented that the novel is "not as sharp as McInerny's best, or as plodding as his worst, but comfortably enough in the middle to keep the Dowling faithful from bolting the flock."
Father Dowling becomes involved with the prominent Chicago-area Bernardo family when he is asked to stop the family's daughter from writing a tell-all book in Last Things Patriarch Fulvio Bernardo, dying of prostate cancer, also worries about his other children: Raymond, an ordained priest who ultimately ran off with a nun and the nun's order's car and credit card; and younger son Andrew, a middling English professor at St. Edmund's, enduring the troubles caused at work by the appearance of Horst Cassirer, a brilliant English scholar and Ph.D. who has recently joined the faculty but who demands instant tenure. The faculty, however, find him to be inefficient as a teacher and deny his request, causing him to turn against the Bernardo family in great anger. When Cassirer's body is discovered in the street, badly beaten and disfigured, suspects are plentiful, and Father Dowling must involve himself and solve a murder based in family history and academic pursuits. A Publishers Weekly critic observed that "the plot moves crisply on the wings of believable dialogue among the multitude of well-drawn college-town characters."
A young woman's unwanted pregnancy has long-term moral and personal consequences in Blood Ties, the twenty-fourth Father Dowling mystery. Martha Lynch is a vibrant young professional woman intent on learning her birth mother's identity before she becomes engaged. Adopted years earlier by Sheila and George Lynch, Martha is actually the daughter of Madeline, a Northwestern student whose irresolute boyfriend, Nathaniel Fleck, abandoned her and their unborn baby. Without warning, Fleck has returned, seeking to find out what happened to his child, disrupting Martha's carefully established life and causing turmoil in Madeline's marriage. But Fleck is run down by a hit-and-run driver. Before his death, however, he had sought the advice of lawyer Amos Cadbury, and he and Father Dowling find that they must solve Fleck's apparent murder and also keep recent events from destroying both Martha's and Madeline's lives. McInerny "spins a tale of decent people whose lives are roiled by secrets they never knew or thought were long buried," commented a Kirkus Reviews contributor. McInerny's "nimble characterizations and subtle soundings of the moral issues make this a strong entry in the long-running series," remarked a Publishers Weekly reviewer.
The "Father Dowling" series "has aged like vintage wine," McCahery maintained, and McInerny "manages to retain his original freshness and vigor in characters and plot situations, with varied and subtle characterizations, down-to-earth psychology, and darn good stories well told." Callendar praised the series as consistently "well-written, serious, and handsomely plotted." Similar qualities characterize McInerny's "Sister Mary Teresa" mysteries, each installment of which features a characteristically witty title. Featuring the three remaining nuns of a defunct order, the series follows the venerable Sister "Emtee" as she directs her younger associates in solving crimes. Like the Father Dowling books, in Not a Blessed Thing! the author "sticks close to the essentials of a mystery novel, with realistic dialogue, skillful plotting, and a good deal of suspense," wrote Callendar. In a review of And Then There Was Nun, The critic concluded that, "thanks to Mr. McInerny's skill, Sister Mary Teresa emerges as a real human, nun or no."
"Like an earlier generation of eminent academics, Ralph McInerny has a talent for the ingenuity of the detective story," Michael Malone wrote in the New York Times Book Review. In the author's popular mystery series, the critic thought that "commitments to faith tangle constantly with commitments to crime, or to preventing it." McCahery added that "both Father Dowling and Sister Mary Teresa are religious first, and detectives only unwittingly, and that only in service to their vocations."
Several critics have noted that McInerny effectively recreates the social world of the Catholic Church, and that is one of the most appealing aspects of his novels. A critic for Publishers Weekly, writing about The Tears of Things, said that McInerny "keeps readers engaged by expertly creating the insular world of the parish and leading widows, businessmen, priests, even the rectory janitor, through a circuitous plot with deadpan humor." McCahery concluded that "McInerny's greatest contribution to the genre, besides sheer entertainment, is the enthralling background use of the Catholic Church in contemporary society and the effects of the modern upheaval in the Church on its members."
McInerny focuses on the Catholic environment he knows best in his "University of Notre Dame" mystery series. The novels feature brothers Roger Knight, an academic heavyweight who holds a chair in Catholic studies, and Philip, a private detective. In Lack of the Irish, Hazel Nootin, who works at the school's convention office, is murdered as the university prepares for a football game with Baylor and a conference with the Baptist school's theology department. Booklist reviewer Wes Lukowsky said that McInerny "has struck gold" with this novel.
The next book in the "University of Notre Dame" series is Irish Tenure, wherein Amanda Pick, one of two young philosophy professors vying for the only tenured opening in the department, is found dead in a campus lake. The suspect is Sean Pottery, a G.K. Chesterton expert who was obsessed with Amanda, and a second murder complicates the investigation. A Publishers Weekly contributor found that "McInerny does score points for the acerbic wit often present in his portrayal of academic life."
In The Book of Kills, a number of incidents at the university, including the kidnapping of the chancellor, seem to be related to the claim by a group of Native Americans that the land on which Notre Dame was built had been stolen from them. Graduate history student Orion Plant, who had been doing related research, might have been able to substantiate this claim but is killed before he can reveal his findings. A Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote that McInerny "has fashioned another deft and mordantly witty excursion into the rarefied atmosphere of Notre Dame." Emerald Aisle continues the Notre Dame saga, as Roger and Philip find themselves on the trail of a missing book and enmeshed in a fight over a wedding date reservation in a mystery "freighted with humor and wisdom," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor.
Irish Coffee, the seventh Notre Dame mystery, finds the Knight brothers investigating the death of Fred Neville, the university's unassuming and well-liked assistant sports information director. When two women show up at his funeral, a different side of the amiable Fred Neville becomes apparent, as both claim to be his fiance. Neville's death is confirmed as a murder when the coroner discovers poison in a cup of Irish coffee the man had consumed. The situation becomes even more dire when one of the battling fiances dies of poisoning after also drinking a laced Irish coffee. Booklist reviewer Wes Lukowsky called the novel "a fine effort by a deservedly respected genre veteran," while a reviewer in Publishers Weekly. observed that "readers are unlikely to solve the puzzle, but will have a lot of fun trying."
In Irish Gilt, the ninth Notre Dame mystery, Roger and Philip Knight are on the trail of the missing diaries of famed Notre Dame scholar Father John Zahn. The diary was stolen from college alum Boris Henry, who had hoped to recoup some of his significant gambling losses by selling the university a significant collection of Zahn's writings. When a local Zahn scholar and researcher, Xavier Kittock, is found dead on campus, the Knight brothers realize their investigation now includes murder as well as an important missing manuscript. McInerny's work "entertainingly combines elements of the Nero Wolfe mysteries with the modern police procedural," noted Wes Lukowsky in Booklist. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the novel "droll and charming, with more romantic shenanigans than a French farce."
McInerny has written novels in several smaller series as well. Heirs and Parents is an "Andrew Broom" mystery, The story was called an "American take on the British village mystery," by Stuart Miller in Booklist. Lawyer Andrew Broom's intern, college student Helga Bjornsen, is murdered, and Andrew discovers that she had been involved in a pornography scam. The main suspect is Will Foley, the cemetery groundskeeper who had hired Helga the previous summer. When Andrew represents a widow who is contesting the will of her philanthropist husband, he learns that the deceased man was actually Helga's father and that Helga would have been an heir to his fortune. Miller called the book "a well-plotted and fast-paced entry in a charming series." A Publishers Weekly reviewer believed that McInerny "spins an enjoyable yarn." In reviewing the mystery for Crescent Blues online, Dawn Goldsmith stated that McInerny "tells an interesting tale of family, genealogy, greed, and death. He uses dark humor to pick at the human foibles and relationships found in small town Middle America. No grisly descriptions, no lurid details, just small town murder with a large helping of colorful characters."
Still Life is the first installment in a mystery series featuring Captain Egidio Manfredi of the Fort Elbow, Ohio, police force. A Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote that 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." The policeman is about to take mandatory retirement when he and his young partner are ordered to reopen the thirty-year-old case of the disappearance of Lilian Bauer, the poet wife of retired professor Basil Bauer. Bauer has recently married Virginia, a younger graduate student who had hoped to write an authorized biography of Lilian. Virginia disappears, two of the professor's friends confess separately to killing Lilian, and when Lilian's grave is discovered and opened, there is a question as to whose body has actually been found. Booklist reviewer Budd Arthur said that "as usual, McInerny delivers an entertaining mystery." Still Life was followed by Sub Rosa, which focuses on a murderous novelist whose latest kidnapping puts Manfredi on her tail. "Readers who prefer nonviolent, slightly satirical puzzlers with snap this one up," maintained Booklist contributor Wes Lukowsky.
In addition to mysteries, McInerny has authored a number of stand-alone novels that take place within the Church. The Red Hat is set in the year 2004, as liberal clergy await the death of Pope John Paul II, hopeful that with the end of his reign they can further reforms, including priesthood for women and an end to the celibacy requirement. Archbishop Thomas Lannan of Washington, DC, wants to be appointed cardinal and aids the appointment of his friend, author James Morrow, as U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican in order that Morrow can lobby for him. The pope appoints Lannan, but dies before the process is completed. Another conservative, Pope Benedetto, is chosen, then dies in a plane crash. His successor is Tanzanian Pope Timothy, who sees the future of the Church growing with devout Africans and Asians, rather than in the affluent and sinful West. A group of American clergymen then breaks off and elects a progressive Italian as Pius XIII, but their schism fails.
"McInerny's artistic focus is the priest as agonized academic," wrote John Christie in Commonweal. "The results are a series of beautiful, troubling interior monologues on the part of Lannan, his secretary, Father Wales, Pope Benedetto, even Pius XIII, men fearful and alone on what Yukio Mishima once termed the battlefield of the spirit, on the edge of disbelief. But The Red Hat 's American heavies are another matter. They personify Pius X's definition of modernism as the summation of all heresies, trail clouds of what Paul VI called the smoke of Satan." Christie wrote that the modernists "impose an astounding New Order with homosexuals of both genders in the hierarchy, euthanasia defined as a sacrament, and the Feast of the Holy Innocents celebrating the courage of women who abort their children rather than subject them to life in an overpopulated, underfed, patriarchal world." A Publishers Weekly reviewer said that "there's plenty of incident in McInerny's new thriller."
As Good as Dead is another standalone McInerny mystery. Diagnosed with terminal cancer, Lucy Flood is determined to give up her ghost on her own terms. She hires hit man Philip Crow to end her life for her, quickly and painlessly. By hiring Crowe, however, Lucy sparks a series of unexpected happenings. Serious misunderstandings lead her husband and friends to believe that they may be Crowe's intended targets. Crowe himself has to deal with an enthusiastic apprentice, Larry, who is short on intellect but highly determined to impress the older killer. Attracted to Larry's girlfriend Madeline, the steely Crowe "proceeds with his plans through foulups, crosses, and doublecrosses," noted Booklist reviewer Sue O'Brien, who also commented that the novel's plot twists are "enough to keep readers engaged." A Kirkus Reviews critic labeled the novel a "fine thriller with a new twist 'round every dark corner."
Even as he continues writing fiction, McInerny also pursues his scholarly interests. In Aquinas McInerny offers a detailed introductory study to the life and thought of noted Catholic philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas. The book's three sections "deal respectively with Aquinas's biography, his philosophical thought, and finally with the history and present state of Thomism," reported Carl N. Still in the Canadian Journal of History. Another nonfiction work, The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Life, is an "intellectual biography" of the French Catholic philosopher, noted Aidan Nichols in the Journal of Ecclesiastical History. If the book's "aim is to reawaken interest in this now excessively neglected figure, it succeeds admirably," observed Nichols. As the biography progresses, "at each stage we find a man of rich interior life, prayer, and meditation," revealing "the admirable spiritual and intellectual character of Jacques Maritain," commented reviewer John Hittinger in the Catholic Historical Review.
BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:
books
Hibbs, Thomas, and John O'Callaghan, editors, Recovering Nature: Essays in Natural Philosophy, Ethics, and Metaphysics in Honor of Ralph McInerny, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 1999.
McInerny, Ralph, I Alone Have Escaped to Tell You: My Life and Pastimes (autobiography), University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2006.
St. James Guide to Crime and Mystery Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.
periodicals
Booklist, October 15, 1997, review of On This Rockne, p. 392; May 1, 1998, review of The Red Hat, p. 1503; November 1, 1998, Wes Lukowsky, review of Lack of the Irish, p. 477; December 15, 1999, George Needham, review of Grave Undertakings, p. 760; May 1, 2000, Stuart Miller, review of Heirs and Parents, p. 1622; November 1, 2000, Budd Arthur, review of Still Life, p. 521; April 1, 2001, Margaret Flanagan, review of Triple Pursuit, p. 1450; September 15, 2001, Stuart Miller, review of Emerald Aisle, p. 200; October 1, 2001, Ray Olson, review of The Conversion of Edith Stein, p. 284; October 15, 2001, W. Lukowsky, review of Sub Rosa, p. 386; July, 2002, Sue O'Brien, review of As Good as Dead, p. 1826, and Margaret Flanagan, review of Prodigal Father, p. 1827; November 1, 2002, Sue O'Brien, review of Celt and Pepper, p. 477; May 1, 2003, Jenny McLarin, review of The Ablative Case, p. 1549; June 1, 2003, Sue O'Brien, review of Irish Coffee, p. 1749; October 1, 2003, Wes Lukowsky, review of Irish Coffee, p. 304; August, 2004, Wes Lukowsky, review of Requiem for a Realtor, p. 1906; November 15, 2004, Sue O'Brien, review of Green Thumb, p. 565; May 1, 2005, David Pitt, review of Blood Ties, p. 1528; October 1, 2005, Wes Lukowsky, review of Irish Gilt, p. 39.
Canadian Journal of History, April, 2005, Carl N. Still, "The Search for the Real Aquinas," review of Aquinas, p. 67.
Catholic Historical Review, July, 2004, John Hittinger, review of The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain: A Spiritual Life, p. 568.
Commonweal, August 14, 1998, John Christie, review of The Red Hat, p. 24.
Journal of Ecclesiastical History, April, 2005, Aidan Nichols, review of The Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain, p. 412.
Kirkus Reviews, September 15, 1997, review of On This Rockne, p. 1419; February 1, 1998, review of The Red Hat, p. 140; August 15, 1998, review of Lack of the Irish, p. 1157; November 15, 1999, review of Grave Undertakings, p. 1779; December 1, 1999, review of Irish Tenure, p. 1849; September 15, 2000, review of Still Life, p. 1319; May 1, 2002, review of As Good as Dead, p. 620; May 15, 2002, review of Prodigal Father, p. 709; June 1, 2005, review of Blood Ties, p. 614; August 1, 2005, review of Irish Gilt, p. 819.
Library Journal, April 1, 1998, Melissa Hudak, review of The Red Hat, p. 75; November 1, 2002, Rex E. Klett, review of Celt and Pepper, p. 133.
New York Times Book Review, December 7, 1980, Newgate Callendar, review of Second Vespers, p. 44; July 26, 1981; January 31, 1982, Negate Callendar, review of Thicker than Water, p. 22; November 6, 1983, Newgate Callendar, review of The Grass Widow, p. 53; April 1, 1984, Newgate Callendar, review of And Then There Was Nun, p. 21; March 31, 1985, Andrew M. Greeley, review of The Noonday Devil, p. 19; September 28, 1986, Michael Malone, review of Leave of Absence, p. 11; December 6, 1987, Newgate Callendar, review of Cause and Effect, p. 79.
Publishers Weekly, September 29, 1997, review of On This Rockne, p. 70; February 2, 1998, review of The Red Hat, p. 82; August 24, 1998, review of Lack of the Irish, p. 53; September 14, 1998, review of What Went Wrong with Vatican II: The Catholic Crisis Explained, p. 66; October 4, 1999, review of Irish Tenure, p. 67; January 10, 2000, review of Grave Undertakings, p. 48; April 17, 2000, review of Heirs and Parents, p. 53; August 7, 2000, review of The Book of Kills, p. 79; February 26, 2001, review of Triple Pursuit, p. 61; September 24, 2001, review of Emerald Aisle, p. 70; April 14, 2003, review of The Ablative Case, p. 53; June 23, 2003, review of Last Things, p. 50; October 6, 2003, review of Irish Coffee, p. 65; June 20, 2005, review of Blood Ties, p. 62; August 22, 2005, review of Irish Gilt, p. 40.
School Library Journal, May, 1997, review of The Tears of Things, p. 164; July, 2000, Linda A. Vretos, review of Grave Undertakings, p. 128.
Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), November 29, 1987, review of The Basket Case, p. 6; April 30, 1989, review of Body and Soil, p. 6.
U.S. Catholic, November, 2000, review of The Red Hat, p. 43.
Virginia Quarterly Review, spring, 1997, review of The Tears of Things, p. 58.
online
Beliefnet,http://www.beliefnet.com/ (May 1, 2006), biography of Ralph McInerny.
BookBrowser,http://www.bookbrowser.com/ (May 1, 2006), Harriet Klausner, review of Heirs and Parents.
Crescent Blues,http://www.crescentblues.com/ (May 1, 2006), Dawn Goldsmith, review of Heirs and Parents.
Notre Dame University Web site,http://www2.nd.edu/ (May 1, 2006), curriculum vitae of Ralph McInerny.