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Lupa Schwartz #1
Extreme Unction: A Lupa Schwartz Mystery
Cattleya Hoskin, journalist for Gamut Magazine, has come to Pittsburgh determined to get that interview with Lupa Schwartz, the grandson of the great detective her father once worked for as “leg man,” gumshoe, and chronicler. Now that Schwartz is carrying on the legacy and has built a reputation as a masterful sleuth in his own right, the idea that she should write a piece on him seems organic to her. Schwartz has never shied from the press before, so why is he being such a cold fish toward her? Nothing in Schwartz’s attitude changes when Cattleya arrives unannounced on the famous detective’s doorstep until a case he doesn’t want also arrives unbidden and unwelcome right behind her. Coerced into investigating the poisoning death of a local Catholic who passed just after receiving the sacrament of last rights from a well-known Catholic priest and euthanasia advocate, Schwartz and Cattleya team up to write the case study that will establish her career once-and-for-all
266 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
41 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
J. David Core
22 books11 followersWith a profound interest in religion, liberal politics and humor, Dave began writing in High School and has not given up on it since. His first professional writing jobs came while attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh when he was hired to create political cartoons for the Pitt News & to write humor pieces for Smile Magazine. Dave has worked in the newspaper industry as a photographer, in the online publishing industry as a weekly contributor to Streetmail.com, and was a contributing writer to the Buzz On series of informational books and to the Western online anthology, Elbow Creek. Dave’s science fiction novel, Synthetic Blood and Mixed Emotions, is available from writewordsinc.com. Dave currently resides in his childhood home in Toronto, OH with his beautiful girlfriend and his teenage daughter. He enjoys participating in local community events & visiting with his two adult children and his grandson. Join the Facebook fan-page at https://www.facebook.com/Lupaschwartz...
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 13, 2015
I enjoyed this book a lot. The mystery was a good one but the addition of an interestingly complex detective with a rather odd but warm home life won me over. I especially like Lupa Schwartz' reason for not owning a cell phone - sorry you will have to read the book to find out why! This is just one of a number of small details that make this detective so engaging.
February 28, 2019
Interesting characters, drawn-out plot
The killer was my main suspect long before the group unveiling, in a rented church hall, no less. This book is somewhat intellectual, with lots of cultural references. It helps to be a senior citizen to get them. The private detective is rich, highly intelligent, quirky and exasperating to the many other characters as well as to the reader. A dying patriarch is poisoned by holy anointing oil and his parish priest is the cheif suspect of the police. The PI is asked by the police to determine who is really the killer, though the priest is still a suspect. The story is told by a female journalist he hires to help him and to chronicle the investigation. He never tells her all his suspicions until after the final roundup of all the characters. Some little mistakes bothered me, though there weren't many. Common noun plurals don't have apostrophes. Gendarmes aren't jeans d'arme. Was that supposed to be a joke? Still better grammar and spelling than most.
The killer was my main suspect long before the group unveiling, in a rented church hall, no less. This book is somewhat intellectual, with lots of cultural references. It helps to be a senior citizen to get them. The private detective is rich, highly intelligent, quirky and exasperating to the many other characters as well as to the reader. A dying patriarch is poisoned by holy anointing oil and his parish priest is the cheif suspect of the police. The PI is asked by the police to determine who is really the killer, though the priest is still a suspect. The story is told by a female journalist he hires to help him and to chronicle the investigation. He never tells her all his suspicions until after the final roundup of all the characters. Some little mistakes bothered me, though there weren't many. Common noun plurals don't have apostrophes. Gendarmes aren't jeans d'arme. Was that supposed to be a joke? Still better grammar and spelling than most.
October 2, 2018
Solid crime mystery even if dated.
Engaging story of two an investor and a journalist whose forebears worked together. Rather a long drawn out story with a number of amusing quips. Thank goodness that Kindle has built in dictionaries in order to look up archaic terms. Surprise ending that was worth my sticking it out.
Engaging story of two an investor and a journalist whose forebears worked together. Rather a long drawn out story with a number of amusing quips. Thank goodness that Kindle has built in dictionaries in order to look up archaic terms. Surprise ending that was worth my sticking it out.
June 29, 2025
I do not devalue the writer but adoring one person who has everything and knows eveything is not my style. This eben spoils the story. I am certain that this mesmerises lots of readers, only nit me
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 9, 2015
I received this book as a gift; I had mentioned (or more accurately been complaining mightily) that I needed a decent mystery to read. Voila I received Extreme Unction by J. David Core to shut my complaining (maybe whining) mouth up. There shall be no spoilers in this review.
My biggest complaints about mysteries these days is that somewhere along the line the mystery takes a backseat to a romance/sex novel. I enjoy those too but darn it sometimes I want the mystery to be center stage and in this story while there is dating/hints at romance it is the mystery itself that is the driving force.
Synopsis: A Catholic priest, Father Coneely, who believes in euthanasia has a dyeing parishioner who wishes to end his life. The Church, despite the priest’s personal feelings, views this as a sin. And of course the law views assisted suicide as murder. Enter a murdered parishioner, a family divided on the issue and an accused priest.
I must point out that this is the first in a series. Yea. I love a series when I like the characters and like the characters, or at least most of them, I did. Shoot even the characters I didn’t like were well written they just would have annoyed me in real life; so in a way that is a testament to the writing as well.
Without giving anything away, the series is billed as A Lupa Schwartz Mystery. I assumed that the story would be from Lupa’s perspective and that Lupa would be female. Don’t aske me why, but in my head Lupa just seemed like a feminine name to me. The one thing I enjoy more than a mystery series is a female lead mystery series. So I was extremely excited with the prospects. However, by the bottom of the first page one knows that the narrator is not Lupa but Cattleya and by the middle of page two the reader knows that Lupa is a male. Turns out I’m still happy as all get out with the story. Cattleya is not only the narrator she plays an active role in the plot so I get my female mystery series lead (although not billed that way).
I enjoy the way that Lupa and Cattelya and the rest of the “cast” interact with each other (fyi most of the main cast are also female). The conversations, body language, exasperations made the characters well-developed. There were times when I literally interrupted and/or joined their conversations that is how life-like the story felt.
There were plot twists but not so many I felt like screaming at the author. For me there were just enough to realistically make you wonder who the culprit was. In the end I did figure out who did it although to be fair I didn’t read straight through like I normally would have. My two year old kept getting in the way so I’d have to stop reading and thus leave the lovely little mystery world and deal with life; and during that time I was able to think and reflect more often than I would have had I just read straight through. Part of me likes to think I would have solved it had I not taken breaks, I guess I’ll have to read the next one to find out.
My biggest complaints about mysteries these days is that somewhere along the line the mystery takes a backseat to a romance/sex novel. I enjoy those too but darn it sometimes I want the mystery to be center stage and in this story while there is dating/hints at romance it is the mystery itself that is the driving force.
Synopsis: A Catholic priest, Father Coneely, who believes in euthanasia has a dyeing parishioner who wishes to end his life. The Church, despite the priest’s personal feelings, views this as a sin. And of course the law views assisted suicide as murder. Enter a murdered parishioner, a family divided on the issue and an accused priest.
I must point out that this is the first in a series. Yea. I love a series when I like the characters and like the characters, or at least most of them, I did. Shoot even the characters I didn’t like were well written they just would have annoyed me in real life; so in a way that is a testament to the writing as well.
Without giving anything away, the series is billed as A Lupa Schwartz Mystery. I assumed that the story would be from Lupa’s perspective and that Lupa would be female. Don’t aske me why, but in my head Lupa just seemed like a feminine name to me. The one thing I enjoy more than a mystery series is a female lead mystery series. So I was extremely excited with the prospects. However, by the bottom of the first page one knows that the narrator is not Lupa but Cattleya and by the middle of page two the reader knows that Lupa is a male. Turns out I’m still happy as all get out with the story. Cattleya is not only the narrator she plays an active role in the plot so I get my female mystery series lead (although not billed that way).
I enjoy the way that Lupa and Cattelya and the rest of the “cast” interact with each other (fyi most of the main cast are also female). The conversations, body language, exasperations made the characters well-developed. There were times when I literally interrupted and/or joined their conversations that is how life-like the story felt.
There were plot twists but not so many I felt like screaming at the author. For me there were just enough to realistically make you wonder who the culprit was. In the end I did figure out who did it although to be fair I didn’t read straight through like I normally would have. My two year old kept getting in the way so I’d have to stop reading and thus leave the lovely little mystery world and deal with life; and during that time I was able to think and reflect more often than I would have had I just read straight through. Part of me likes to think I would have solved it had I not taken breaks, I guess I’ll have to read the next one to find out.
June 19, 2013
unc·tion [uhngk-shuhn] noun. An act of anointing, especially as a medical treatment or religious rite.
ex·treme [ik-streem] noun. An extreme act, measure, condition, etc
Either one of these are nothing terribly interesting alone. Throw them together and you get one crazy story.
Father Coneely is relatively new to his parish but is not favored by many of the elder clergy due to his controversial view on mercy killings and assisted suicide for folks in the last stages of life who are in severe pain and desire to end it all.
When a conversation with a grieving family over the looming death of their father goes awry, the pastor is ultimately accused of murder when the man is found dead hours after Coneely performed extreme unction on the dying man.
Enter Cat Hoskin and Lupa Schwartz. The latter is an eccentric old investigator with a garage full of classic cars, enough to give even Leno a run for his money. The former is a magazine journalist sent from Cleveland to Pittsburgh to write an article on the man. She soon finds herself knee-deep in the investigation Schwartz has taken on for the city, which would like him to prove Father Coneely was indeed the culprit.
Follow Cat as she herself follows Schwartz in the hopes of gaining the story of a lifetime. As Schwartz has his own reasons for taking on the murder case, she also has her own additional reasons for taking on this endeavor, reasons that lie just beyond the story. As she digs for more information on this investigator and his ties to her, she finds herself as deep in the mystery as the man himself.
On the surface it appears to be nothing more than a greedy family hiding an attempt of insurance fraud, but is that all there is to it, or is that even the case? A killer is in house. Can you decipher who did it before the big reveal at the end? Was it Father Coneely or someone else who poisoned the holy oil used during the last rites, someone whose ideas are more sinister than assisted suicide? I figured it out, but I won’t ruin it for you.
Extreme Unction is a wild romp following Hoskin and Schwartz, and it includes a colorful cast of characters, which include many classic—some exotic— cars. The only thing I found the story lacking was colorful foldouts of the cars. I found myself looking up the various cars mentioned as I read just so I could keep up.
ex·treme [ik-streem] noun. An extreme act, measure, condition, etc
Either one of these are nothing terribly interesting alone. Throw them together and you get one crazy story.
Father Coneely is relatively new to his parish but is not favored by many of the elder clergy due to his controversial view on mercy killings and assisted suicide for folks in the last stages of life who are in severe pain and desire to end it all.
When a conversation with a grieving family over the looming death of their father goes awry, the pastor is ultimately accused of murder when the man is found dead hours after Coneely performed extreme unction on the dying man.
Enter Cat Hoskin and Lupa Schwartz. The latter is an eccentric old investigator with a garage full of classic cars, enough to give even Leno a run for his money. The former is a magazine journalist sent from Cleveland to Pittsburgh to write an article on the man. She soon finds herself knee-deep in the investigation Schwartz has taken on for the city, which would like him to prove Father Coneely was indeed the culprit.
Follow Cat as she herself follows Schwartz in the hopes of gaining the story of a lifetime. As Schwartz has his own reasons for taking on the murder case, she also has her own additional reasons for taking on this endeavor, reasons that lie just beyond the story. As she digs for more information on this investigator and his ties to her, she finds herself as deep in the mystery as the man himself.
On the surface it appears to be nothing more than a greedy family hiding an attempt of insurance fraud, but is that all there is to it, or is that even the case? A killer is in house. Can you decipher who did it before the big reveal at the end? Was it Father Coneely or someone else who poisoned the holy oil used during the last rites, someone whose ideas are more sinister than assisted suicide? I figured it out, but I won’t ruin it for you.
Extreme Unction is a wild romp following Hoskin and Schwartz, and it includes a colorful cast of characters, which include many classic—some exotic— cars. The only thing I found the story lacking was colorful foldouts of the cars. I found myself looking up the various cars mentioned as I read just so I could keep up.
June 19, 2013
unc·tion [uhngk-shuhn] noun. An act of anointing, especially as a medical treatment or religious rite.
ex·treme [ik-streem] noun. An extreme act, measure, condition, etc
Either one of these are nothing terribly interesting alone. Throw them together and you get one crazy story.
Father Coneely is relatively new to his parish but is not favored by many of the elder clergy due to his controversial view on mercy killings and assisted suicide for folks in the last stages of life who are in severe pain and desire to end it all.
When a conversation with a grieving family over the looming death of their father goes awry, the pastor is ultimately accused of murder when the man is found dead hours after Coneely performed extreme unction on the dying man.
Enter Cat Hoskin and Lupa Schwartz. The latter is an eccentric old investigator with a garage full of classic cars, enough to give even Leno a run for his money. The former is a magazine journalist sent from Cleveland to Pittsburgh to write an article on the man. She soon finds herself knee-deep in the investigation Schwartz has taken on for the city, which would like him to prove Father Coneely was indeed the culprit.
Follow Cat as she herself follows Schwartz in the hopes of gaining the story of a lifetime. As Schwartz has his own reasons for taking on the murder case, she also has her own additional reasons for taking on this endeavor, reasons that lie just beyond the story. As she digs for more information on this investigator and his ties to her, she finds herself as deep in the mystery as the man himself.
On the surface it appears to be nothing more than a greedy family hiding an attempt of insurance fraud, but is that all there is to it, or is that even the case? A killer is in house. Can you decipher who did it before the big reveal at the end? Was it Father Coneely or someone else who poisoned the holy oil used during the last rites, someone whose ideas are more sinister than assisted suicide? I figured it out, but I won’t ruin it for you.
Extreme Unction is a wild romp following Hoskin and Schwartz, and it includes a colorful cast of characters, which include many classic—some exotic— cars. The only thing I found the story lacking was colorful foldouts of the cars. I found myself looking up the various cars mentioned as I read just so I could keep up.
ex·treme [ik-streem] noun. An extreme act, measure, condition, etc
Either one of these are nothing terribly interesting alone. Throw them together and you get one crazy story.
Father Coneely is relatively new to his parish but is not favored by many of the elder clergy due to his controversial view on mercy killings and assisted suicide for folks in the last stages of life who are in severe pain and desire to end it all.
When a conversation with a grieving family over the looming death of their father goes awry, the pastor is ultimately accused of murder when the man is found dead hours after Coneely performed extreme unction on the dying man.
Enter Cat Hoskin and Lupa Schwartz. The latter is an eccentric old investigator with a garage full of classic cars, enough to give even Leno a run for his money. The former is a magazine journalist sent from Cleveland to Pittsburgh to write an article on the man. She soon finds herself knee-deep in the investigation Schwartz has taken on for the city, which would like him to prove Father Coneely was indeed the culprit.
Follow Cat as she herself follows Schwartz in the hopes of gaining the story of a lifetime. As Schwartz has his own reasons for taking on the murder case, she also has her own additional reasons for taking on this endeavor, reasons that lie just beyond the story. As she digs for more information on this investigator and his ties to her, she finds herself as deep in the mystery as the man himself.
On the surface it appears to be nothing more than a greedy family hiding an attempt of insurance fraud, but is that all there is to it, or is that even the case? A killer is in house. Can you decipher who did it before the big reveal at the end? Was it Father Coneely or someone else who poisoned the holy oil used during the last rites, someone whose ideas are more sinister than assisted suicide? I figured it out, but I won’t ruin it for you.
Extreme Unction is a wild romp following Hoskin and Schwartz, and it includes a colorful cast of characters, which include many classic—some exotic— cars. The only thing I found the story lacking was colorful foldouts of the cars. I found myself looking up the various cars mentioned as I read just so I could keep up.
August 4, 2016
The title seems a little odd unless you know the meaning. According to Dictionary dot com, extreme unction is a Roman Catholic Church term for anointing of the sick. Which when you read the synopsis and the story fits perfectly.
This is a Private Detective Mystery.
Cattleya Hoskin went to Lupa Schwartz's home to get a story about their mutual past. What she got instead was the mystery of the tainted anointing oil and an introduction to how Lupa Schwartz investigates.
I thought the first person view point worked well. To me, it felt like I was part of the investigation, seeing the clues alongside Cattleya but not having the same deductive reasoning as Lupa Schwartz was treated to the final reveal along with the other characters.
Warning: This is for Mature Audiences due to Violence, Adult Language, and Sexual Situations.
This is a Private Detective Mystery.
Cattleya Hoskin went to Lupa Schwartz's home to get a story about their mutual past. What she got instead was the mystery of the tainted anointing oil and an introduction to how Lupa Schwartz investigates.
I thought the first person view point worked well. To me, it felt like I was part of the investigation, seeing the clues alongside Cattleya but not having the same deductive reasoning as Lupa Schwartz was treated to the final reveal along with the other characters.
Warning: This is for Mature Audiences due to Violence, Adult Language, and Sexual Situations.
June 18, 2013
Reviewed by Karen Shell
Welcome to J. David Core’s imagination: cool cars, great recipes, Victorian houses, and a murder mystery that keeps you guessing up to the last minute. All populated with characters you could swear you’ve met somewhere before. Extreme Unction is a jaunty tale that gives the rebellious reader a smug satisfaction as authority figures are countermanded and manipulated through his well-designed and witty plot. This is a fun read
Welcome to J. David Core’s imagination: cool cars, great recipes, Victorian houses, and a murder mystery that keeps you guessing up to the last minute. All populated with characters you could swear you’ve met somewhere before. Extreme Unction is a jaunty tale that gives the rebellious reader a smug satisfaction as authority figures are countermanded and manipulated through his well-designed and witty plot. This is a fun read
October 17, 2016
When a death is blamed on a clergyman, Lupa Schwartz is brought in to figure out how and why. Cattleya Hoskin, a reporter. known as Cat, also joins the team. When they find a poison was used and that the priest is known to be in favor of euthanasia to help those suffering with chronic illness, it looks like the case may be closed. It isn't as simple as that and the author takes the reader on a journey into mystery.
October 31, 2016
This is a great who done it. Keeps you guessing!
I totally e joyed this book. I felt like I was back in south western Pennsylvania. I'd love to spend an afternoon in the strip district. I especially injoyed the authors ability to describe the action in a way that made me feel part of the story. hope others find it as enjoyable as I did.
I totally e joyed this book. I felt like I was back in south western Pennsylvania. I'd love to spend an afternoon in the strip district. I especially injoyed the authors ability to describe the action in a way that made me feel part of the story. hope others find it as enjoyable as I did.
July 10, 2016
If you like Sherlock, you'll like this
A fun read that kept me wondering if I knew who did it. Good character development and the story flowed well from start to finish. I look forward to reading more about Lupa and hope that I can determine who did it next time.
A fun read that kept me wondering if I knew who did it. Good character development and the story flowed well from start to finish. I look forward to reading more about Lupa and hope that I can determine who did it next time.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews