The Bishop and The Missing L Train (A Father Blackie Ryan Mystery) - Hardcover

Greeley, Andrew M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312868758 ISBN 13: 9780312868758

Publisher: Forge Books, 2000

Synopsis

The Vatican assigns the incompetent auxiliary Bishop Gus Quill to the Archdiocese of Chicago, over the protests of Sean Cardinal Cronin, Archbishop of Chicago, and Bishop Blackie Ryan, but Quill mysteriously vanishes, Blackie Ryan is forced to turn sleuth to find a churchman that everyone would like to see stay missing. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

The Bishop and the Missing L Train is the ninth entry in Andrew Greeley's deservedly popular Father Blackie Ryan series. Auxiliary Bishop Augustus Quill, recently posted to the Chicago Archdiocese, could not be described as a loved man. His nickname, bestowed upon him by fellow seminarians, is "Idiot." Despite his relatively high position, one that implies significant intelligence, wit, piety, and compassion, the man seems lacking in all departments save piety. In fact, so disliked is Quill that someone is willing to stop at nothing--at least nothing short of absconding with an entire subway car, bishop included--to keep him from his appointed rounds.

Sean Cardinal Cronin, the Archbishop of Chicago, is no more a fan of Quill's than anyone. Still, the act of losing a bishop (or, more precisely, not retrieving an absconded-with bishop) would not be smiled upon by Rome. Fortunately for Cronin (and fans of humorous, clever, well-written amateur-sleuth mysteries everywhere), Bishop Blackie Ryan is on his side.

"We cannot permit this, Blackwood!"

"Indeed."

"Auxiliary bishops do not slip into the fourth dimension, not in this archdiocese."

"Patently."

"Especially they do not disappear on L trains that also disappear, right?"

"Right!"

"You yourself have said that we will be the prime suspects, have you not? Don't we have powerful reasons for wanting to get rid of him?"

"Arguably," I sighed. "However, as you well know, in the best traditions of the Sacred College we would have dispatched Idiot with poison."

As with any amateur sleuth worth the paper he's written on, Ryan has a cadre of variously talented (and oft-related) professionals--cops, psychologists, reporters, etc.--at his beck and call. And good thing, too, for there are that many and more likely suspects--about the same number, arguably, as there are reasons to devour the entire Ryan series. The Bishop and the Missing L Train is another ecclesiastical lulu. --Michael Hudson

About the Author

A native of Chicago, Reverend Andrew M. Greeley, is a priest, distinguished sociologist and bestselling author. He is professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, as well as Research Associate at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His current sociological research focuses on current issues facing the Catholic Church-including celibacy of priests, ordination of women, religious imagination, and sexual behavior of Catholics.

Father Greeley received the S.T.L. in 1954 from St. Mary of Lake Seminary. His graduate work was done at the University of Chicago, where he received the M.A. Degree in 1961 and the Ph.D. in 1962.

Father Greeley has written scores of books and hundreds of popular and scholarly articles on a variety of issues in sociology, education and religion. His column on political, church and social issues is carried by the carried by the Chicago Sun Times and may other newspapers. He stimulates discussion of neglected issues and often anticipates sociological trends. He is the author of more than thirty bestselling novels and an autobiography, Furthermore!: Confessions of a Parish Priest.

About this edition

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0312868758
• ISBN 13: 9780312868758
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288