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Father Koesler #23
The Sacrifice
The famous former Anglican pastor shares his ultimately tragic story of conversion to Catholicism--an act that triggered ambition, jealousy, and intense hatred among his colleagues.
- GenresMystery
Hardcover
First published April 23, 2001
11 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
William X. Kienzle
28 books30 followersWilliam X. Kienzle was born in Detroit, Michigan. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1954 and spent twenty years as a Roman Catholic parish priest. Kienzle left the priesthood in 1974 because of his disagreement with its refusal to remarry divorcees. He became an editor of MPLS Magazine in Minneapolis, later moving to Texas where he was director of the Center for Contemplative Studies at the University of Dallas.
He was married to Javan Herman Andrews, a journalist from the Detroit Free Press, from 1974 until his sudden death from a heart attack on December 28, 2001.
Kienzle was the author of twenty-four crime fiction/mystery novels featuring Father Robert Koesler, a Catholic priest who doubles as a detective. One of his best known novels is his first, The Rosary Murders (1978), which was made into a 1987 movie starring Donald Sutherland as Father Koesler. Kienzle's books are set mostly in Detroit, Michigan.
His biography, Judged by Love, by Javan Kienzle, was published in 2003.
He was married to Javan Herman Andrews, a journalist from the Detroit Free Press, from 1974 until his sudden death from a heart attack on December 28, 2001.
Kienzle was the author of twenty-four crime fiction/mystery novels featuring Father Robert Koesler, a Catholic priest who doubles as a detective. One of his best known novels is his first, The Rosary Murders (1978), which was made into a 1987 movie starring Donald Sutherland as Father Koesler. Kienzle's books are set mostly in Detroit, Michigan.
His biography, Judged by Love, by Javan Kienzle, was published in 2003.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 16, 2019
More than one person is ready to kill to keep high-profile Episcopal priest George Wheatley from "tainting" the Catholic church. Father Wheatley's conversion to Catholicism includes bringing over his reforming inclinations and forcing Catholics to accept them. Then there is the effect on his friends and family to consider. Excellent characterization.
November 26, 2020
Not a terrible book. Fairly good story if you like mystery, but very predictable. All the religious aspects and the Catholicism were distracting and uninteresting to me, so I probably won’t read any more in the series.
November 1, 2009
This Father Koestler mystery has all the elements found in most of Kienzle's books...murder, the Catholic Church, Detroit and a Catholic aspect to the crime. Father Koestler is aging just as the author has, but the topics are as current as ever. This one involves a married Anglican priest who wants to become a Roman Catholic priest. Twenty years ago, this might have been facetious, but the Episcopal/Anglican church has so lost her bearings that many of the faithful are looking for a spiritual home that still has the form of the Episcopal church but without the wild and radical changes in the new "anything goes" Episcopal Church.
But, of course, there is a problem with the Roman Catholic church. An Anglican who wants to remain true to the tenets of the church as laid out in the "Thirty-nine Articles" almost has to look elsewhere and that would obviously be the Roman church, but there are very strong feelings about this. Obviously, the church can't expect the candidate to abandon his family, but the church is desperate for priests. If the authorities of the Roman Catholic church are ambivalent, many of the parishioners are not and that is the plot of this book.
There is a time bomb in the Sanctuary of the church set to explode just as the ordination should have started, but the procession is late and only one person is at the altar. The obvious intended victim is the Anglican convert, but there are other possibilities to be considered. The tale weaves round and round until we seem to have 3 different crimes with possibly more than one perpetrator. The books gets somewhat convoluted before it winds on to the conclusion, but is very interesting and satisfying.
But, of course, there is a problem with the Roman Catholic church. An Anglican who wants to remain true to the tenets of the church as laid out in the "Thirty-nine Articles" almost has to look elsewhere and that would obviously be the Roman church, but there are very strong feelings about this. Obviously, the church can't expect the candidate to abandon his family, but the church is desperate for priests. If the authorities of the Roman Catholic church are ambivalent, many of the parishioners are not and that is the plot of this book.
There is a time bomb in the Sanctuary of the church set to explode just as the ordination should have started, but the procession is late and only one person is at the altar. The obvious intended victim is the Anglican convert, but there are other possibilities to be considered. The tale weaves round and round until we seem to have 3 different crimes with possibly more than one perpetrator. The books gets somewhat convoluted before it winds on to the conclusion, but is very interesting and satisfying.
March 17, 2008
I am surprised to be the first to read this latest mystery by the very popular writer. I was first drawn to Kienzle's Father Koestler decades ago when the first one appeared. I had lived in the environs of Detroit in the late 1960s and early 1970s and so "knew" the mysteries' venue; Kienzle also threw in an theological angle to the resolution of the crime. This was the 23rd and penultimate Father Koestler mystery before Kienzle died suddenly in December of 2001.
Father George Wheatley, an immensely gifted and popular Episcopal priest in Detroit, shocked his family, friends and flock by deciding to convert to Roman Catholicism and eventually resume pastoral duties as a RC priest. At the very beginning of his ordination service, a bomb went off in the sanctuary where the ceremony was about to begin, killing one RC priest, an individual strongly opposed to the precedure. What was the intended victim? Father Wheatley, or this church's pastor, Father Tully, who was unpopular with an element of the congregation? Father Koestler, who by this time had retired, was a friend of Father Wheatley and was supposed to be part of the procession.
Kienzle dropped enough red herrings along the way to keep the police, Father Koestler, and the reader occupied.
I always admired Kienzle for his being able to reduce complex theological situations or problems into language understandable to a layperson. And if the reader is not interested in the theological subtleties, then they can be ignored with little, if anything, lost.
In the final analysis, not great literature, but definitely a good read - a good airport or beach book.
Father George Wheatley, an immensely gifted and popular Episcopal priest in Detroit, shocked his family, friends and flock by deciding to convert to Roman Catholicism and eventually resume pastoral duties as a RC priest. At the very beginning of his ordination service, a bomb went off in the sanctuary where the ceremony was about to begin, killing one RC priest, an individual strongly opposed to the precedure. What was the intended victim? Father Wheatley, or this church's pastor, Father Tully, who was unpopular with an element of the congregation? Father Koestler, who by this time had retired, was a friend of Father Wheatley and was supposed to be part of the procession.
Kienzle dropped enough red herrings along the way to keep the police, Father Koestler, and the reader occupied.
I always admired Kienzle for his being able to reduce complex theological situations or problems into language understandable to a layperson. And if the reader is not interested in the theological subtleties, then they can be ignored with little, if anything, lost.
In the final analysis, not great literature, but definitely a good read - a good airport or beach book.
April 12, 2009
Really 3.5 stars byt what the heck. Just for laughs and giggles, I began reading this Father Koesler mystery, written by Father William X. Kienzle. Not knowing what to expect, I was very pleasantly surprised to find a decent mystery along with a sensible elucidation of some of the myriad issues facing the Roman Catholic Church today.
This title explores the distinctions between the Anglican and Roman versions of religion. Father George Wheatley, a popular Anglican priest with several children has decided he wants to become consecrated in the Roman church.
This decision causes consternation among his family and friends not to mention the Anglican and Roman communities. It also provides a motive for murder. To name but a few: Wheatley's son, an Anglican priest with designs on a bishopric; his daughter deeply involved in a lesbian relationship; and a parishioner opposed to Vatican II changes to the liturgy. Unfortunately, the bomb that was intended for Father Wheatley during his re-ordination kills a visiting priest. Father Koesler and his friend Lieutenant Tully and former investigatory mate Inspector Walter Koznicki.
Kienzle provides several red herrings for the reader. As an atheist who finds religious myths and rituals fascinating, I enjoyed this book.
This title explores the distinctions between the Anglican and Roman versions of religion. Father George Wheatley, a popular Anglican priest with several children has decided he wants to become consecrated in the Roman church.
This decision causes consternation among his family and friends not to mention the Anglican and Roman communities. It also provides a motive for murder. To name but a few: Wheatley's son, an Anglican priest with designs on a bishopric; his daughter deeply involved in a lesbian relationship; and a parishioner opposed to Vatican II changes to the liturgy. Unfortunately, the bomb that was intended for Father Wheatley during his re-ordination kills a visiting priest. Father Koesler and his friend Lieutenant Tully and former investigatory mate Inspector Walter Koznicki.
Kienzle provides several red herrings for the reader. As an atheist who finds religious myths and rituals fascinating, I enjoyed this book.
October 3, 2025
Quick-look at the Book
When an Episcopalian priest wants to enter the Catholic Church, not everybody is happy for him. One of them is even mad enough to try to blast him into little pieces. Unfortunately for Koesler, there's no dearth of suspects.
Thoughts on this Series
This is a nice enough cozy mystery series. The central character is Father Koesler who by no actions of his own--mostly--keeps tripping over murdered people and getting roped into police investigations.
While the characterization and motivation behind each suspect are well-described, there can be often too many POVs or too many details that detract from the action.
That said, the author repeatedly hits you over the head with the same details about priesthood and religion. If you can bear with that, and are okay with the protagonist arriving at the euphoria! moment while in the bathtub or car or...you get what I mean...read on.
My advice? Space em out. Or, they start to become a blob (Lily & Marshal style).
Review of Book 22 here
When an Episcopalian priest wants to enter the Catholic Church, not everybody is happy for him. One of them is even mad enough to try to blast him into little pieces. Unfortunately for Koesler, there's no dearth of suspects.
Thoughts on this Series
This is a nice enough cozy mystery series. The central character is Father Koesler who by no actions of his own--mostly--keeps tripping over murdered people and getting roped into police investigations.
While the characterization and motivation behind each suspect are well-described, there can be often too many POVs or too many details that detract from the action.
That said, the author repeatedly hits you over the head with the same details about priesthood and religion. If you can bear with that, and are okay with the protagonist arriving at the euphoria! moment while in the bathtub or car or...you get what I mean...read on.
My advice? Space em out. Or, they start to become a blob (Lily & Marshal style).
Review of Book 22 here
February 7, 2016
#23 in the Father Koesler series.
Father Koesler mysteries - A prominent Anglican priest is converting to Catholicism and is being ordained at St. Joe's. When a bomb explodes, it is not clear if the Anglican was the target, or if it was Lt. Zoo Tully's brother Zachary, the new pastor.
Father Koesler mysteries - A prominent Anglican priest is converting to Catholicism and is being ordained at St. Joe's. When a bomb explodes, it is not clear if the Anglican was the target, or if it was Lt. Zoo Tully's brother Zachary, the new pastor.
January 9, 2014
he's got very pedantic in his old age-more an explanation on the catholic and anglican churches than a mystery. parts were good like he used to be but most,just not that interesting
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November 24, 2017One of the authors weaker books in an interesting series.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews