The Seventh Station

Father Dowling #3

by Ralph McInerny

Father Dowling's week of retreat is quickly upset by troubled souls who interrupt his pious observance of the Stations of the Cross

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

212 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1977

About the author

Ralph Matthew McInerny was an American Catholic religious scholar and fiction writer, including mysteries and science fiction. Some of his fiction has appeared under the pseudonyms of Harry Austin, Matthew FitzRalph, Ernan Mackey, Edward Mackin, and Monica Quill. As a mystery writer he is best known as the creator of Father Dowling. He was Professor of Philosophy, Director of the Jacques Maritain Center, and Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies at the University of Notre Dame until his retirement in June 2009. He died of esophageal cancer on January 29, 2010.

Reviews

[EuroHackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Six men from Fox River set off on an impulsive religious retreat to an out-of-the-way location: Assisi House. These men are not friends, they are not religious, and they are being picked off one by one shortly after their arrival.

Luckily for them, Father Dowling has also chosen the Assisi House for his annual retreat. Unluckily for him, he doesn't actually get to do what he intends to do, which is retreat from the world into study and prayer. Instead, he finds a dead body at the seventh station on the Way of the Cross on his first morning there.

The Fox River police come in to investigate, led by Dowling's friend Captain Keegan. The six men are wary of the police and reluctant to reveal why they traveled together to such a place. Even when another of their group is found dead, their tongues aren't loosened. The only clues they have to go on are found in the first man's notes, and the fact that only Father Dowling has seen an ethereal priest calling himself Blaise. The other friars at Assisi House claim no knowledge of such a priest, and indeed, no one else seems to believe he even exists. Dowling knows he holds the key to the mystery, and unless they can find him, more people will continue to die.

This is part police procedural, part philosphy. Dowling definitely comes into his own here as the heir to Father Brown; quite a bit of the book is Dowling battling with himself about the place of theology and Catholicism in the modern world. I personally found this an interesting contrast to the obviously crazy murderer, but others might find it tedious. This is a short novel, however, so none of it is terribly drawn out. The killer is mentally unbalanced and suffering from religious delusions, which he actually gives away in his very first conversation with Dowling at the beginning of the book. I had to look up the reference to understand it, though it does become quite clear the further into the story you get. Its obvious the author is a philosopher, but the novel flows smoothly, the plot rarely wasteful or circuitous.

I'm looking forward to reading more of the Father Dowling novels!

[Eric]

This is the first Fr. Dowling mystery I've ever read. Quite different from the TV show of the same name. Fr. Dowling is not like Tom Bosley at all! Plus, the supporting cast (aside from the housekeeper) is different. Instead of a spunky religious sister, Fr. Dowling's foil is a former-seminarian police detective. Not the greatest mystery novel, per se, but the Thomist philosophical asides are quite a treat. I'll definitely read more in this series when/if I can find them.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second in the Fr. Dowling series. Murder during Fr. Dowling’s spiritual retreat. Sin, greed, lust, anger, loveless marriages, Dowling was a canon lawyer who spent years in the marriage tribunal before becoming a parish priest, struggles with post Vatican II modernity, while solving the murder at a Franciscan retreat center.

I enjoyed the mystery.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I noticed a pattern in the series the role of the bogus priest. Was this a philosophical statement or reflection of the crisis within Catholicism at the time? The setting is a Franciscan monastery which is suggestive.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Father Dowling goes for his annual weekly retreat at a Franciscan retreat home. While there one of the other retreatants is killed and left laying at the Seventh Station of the Way of the Cross. Father Dowling finds the body.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Father Dowling #2

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked up a handful of Father Dowling mysteries but barely made it through two. Just not my thing, I guess.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was good. I really didn't get sucked into the plot at first, but toward the middle I was finding excuses to go pick up the book. I will probably read more of his stuff.