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The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood: A Bishop Blackie Ryan Novel
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Product Description
The church in question is St. Lucy’s, a humble edifice at the heart of a venerable Chicago neighborhood now suffering the throes of gentrification. St. Lucy’s has long stood as a bulwark against evil and change, which some in the community have often seen as much the same thing.
Now three dead bodies have been left in the sanctuary, stripped, mutilated, and shot through the head, execution-style. A warning to those who would remake the neighborhood---or to St. Lucy’s charismatic monsignor, who has made a few enemies of his own?
Dispatched by his cardinal to investigate, Bishop “Blackie” Ryan fears that the atrocious murders are only the beginning of a campaign of terror directed at this particular church. But to solve the mystery, and to banish the evil gathering over the community, Blackie will need an unexpected assist from his own long-dead father, as well as the help of Declan O’Donnell, a savvy young cop with a touch of the second sight, and of Camilla Datilo, a radiant assistant state’s attorney of Sicilian origins.
The Bishop in the Old Neighborhood is another charming and compelling page-turner by bestselling author Andrew M. Greeley.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #81687 in Books
- Published on: 2006-11-28
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Mass Market Paperback
- 304 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The first half of Greeley's fifth Bishop Blackie Ryan book (after 2003's The Bishop Goes to the University) drags a bit, but the pace picks up when Blackie starts digging into the past of Father Mikal Wolodyjowski, the charismatic priest at St. Lucy's, a Chicago church where three corpses have turned up in the sanctuary. Blackie discovers that Wolodyjowski was peripherally involved with the odd deaths of six college kids 60 years earlier, a mystery that proves to be more engaging than the initial deaths at St. Lucy's. Unfortunately, the novel's other main subplot—the blossoming romance between a cop and a lawyer—borders on the far-fetched. The pace, melodrama and gravitas with which young love blooms will strike any reader under 40 as laughable. And Greeley spends too much time musing on the tensions that separate Polish, Irish and Italian Catholics from one another. Still, Blackie, with his quick wit and his fondness for Bushmill's, is his usual delightful self, and his many fans will enjoy this sojourn in the old neighborhood.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
The indefatigable Greeley never runs out of mysteries for the perspicacious Bishop Blackie Ryan to solve. As both the author and Bishop Blackie age gracefully, more and more of the puzzles seem to be rooted in an idealized version of the tight-knit Irish American neighborhoods that characterized midcentury Chicago. This time around, Blackie races against the clock to expose the psychopath who is threatening the literal and figurative contemporary resurrection and gentrification of St. Lucy's Parish by charismatic Monsignor Mikal Wolodyjowski. What connects the three mutilated bodies discovered in St. Lucy's sanctuary to six teenagers killed in a tragic automobile accident 60 years earlier? It's up to Bishop Blackie, with the able assistance of assorted Wabash Street Irregulars and his own long-dead father, to connect the dots between then and now. Of course, it wouldn't be a Greeley novel without a little romance thrown in for good measure; this one features a hopelessly idealistic South Side Irish cop and a gorgeous Sicilian district attorney. Greeley conjures up equal portions of fun and suspense with typical effortless aplomb. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
“Greeley interweaves both spiritual and educational topics into another supremely entertaining adventure.”--Booklist on The Bishop Goes to The University
“Blackie once again proves to be a loyal friend, a formidable foe, and a gifted spiritual advisor. An entertaining romp through the West Wing.”--Booklist on The Bishop in the West Wing
“Will delight Greeley fans because it follows his near-perfect formula of adventure and amusement, mystery and mastery of the English language. Enjoy this one--The Bishop in the West Wing is a winner”--Star Newspapers
“Fun is the word for bestseller Greeley’s latest, lively Bishop Blackie Ryan thriller....[Readers] will appreciate the well-drawn characters, swift action, and logical resolution.”--Publishers Weekly on The Bishop in the West Wing
“It’s an especially enjoyable tale for a mystery fan on a hot day when murder is just too heavy to deal with and a poltergeist’s antics can be just the thing.”--Abilene Reporter-News on The Bishop in the West Wing
Customer Reviews
heavenly who-done-it
In Chicago the residents, especially the Irish Catholics, are horrified that three naked, mutilated corpses were found in the sanctuary of St. Lucy's Church. The media turns the homicidal desecration into a circus while the police struggle with the case. Meanwhile Cardinal Sean Cronin assigns his sleuthing Bishop Blackwood "Blackie" Ryan to investigate who caused the desecration of the church and why.
Blackie begins his search for the truth by looking into the controversial parish priest Father Mikal Wolodyjowski. He soon learns that Father Mikal was involved in the strange unsolved deaths of six college students six decades ago though no direct link to him ever surfaced. Still he wonders if this is vengeance for those deaths or is someone warning the church that anything goes to prevent gentrification?
In his fifth tale, Bishop Blackie is as erasable as ever as he tries to solve homicides sixty years apart in between a Bushmill or two; most readers will find the historical murders are more intriguing than the present day killings. Father Mikal is a fascinating figure as Bishop Blackie tries to ascertain whether he was the ultimate target. Though he pontificates a bit too much on various sidebars that take away from the who-done-its, fans of the series will appreciate the latest appearance of this priestly Colombo.
Harriet Klausner
Same formula, but same satisfactions...
Andrew Greeley always uses recurring characters, and combines a modern day crime mystery with one from the past, and strongly features a subplot of two yuppie Catholics falling in love despite fears or obstacles. Somehow, us romantics and mystery fans don't mind this, especially those of us with an odd affection for the Catholic Church in spite of having left it long ago. It helps to have an affinity for the Irish and for Chicago, even if one lacks enough Irish blood to brag about and has only been at the Chicago airport. This latest entry in the "Blackie Ryan" series is one of the best, with all the virtues of his other novels and all the flaws as well. If you are already a fan, you will like this one very much. If new to Greeley, it is still a good read, but I'd prefer that you get the list of the first four Ryan mysteries and read them in order. The lives of the repeating characters will make more sense if you do, and create a richer experience. Greeley's books seldom deserve a second reading, but only rarely disappoint a first one. This is nice, quick entertainment for a windy or rainy spring day.
Should Auld Acquaintance ...
Father Andrew Greeley's Bishop John Blackwood ("Blackie") Ryan is off to boss Sean Cardinal Cronin's old neighborhood to solve 3 "locked church" murder mysteries whilst the Cardinal is off to Rome to "see to it" that Blackie will never have to venture forth into the vast wilderness West of Chicagoland ever ever at all at all.
`Tis a grand reunion for Father Greeley's readers with the combined casts of the "Blackie" and Nuala Ann mysteries and intermixed stories. Added to this Irish-American Catholic mix are a Polish prince priest, a Sicilian-American Catholic Assistant Cook County State's Attorney, and the inscrutible Charlie Chan-ish "Dragon Lady," who almost grates into fatal-for-the-book-for-this-reader CindaSue* bad stereotype, but is saved by the "I'm only kidding" clause.
In all, `tis another grand reunion with old friends and an introduction to new. /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer
* Beware! She's back. In all her bad Hillbilly backwoods *Deliverance* un-glory in "Irish Crystal." :-(
