From Publishers Weekly
The fifth Jimmy Flannery mystery ( The Junkyard Dog , Thinning the Turkey Herd , etc.) should delight old readers and win new ones. Narrator Jimmy, a sewer inspector and active believer in what's left of Chicago's Democratic machine, pays a condolence call on octogenarian Father Mulrooney, who regales Jimmy with a story of the sudden, mysterious death of the old church cat, Ignatius. Matters become more serious when the priest later discovers traces of a black Mass in St. Pat's. Mulrooney's housekeeper Mrs. Thimble says the old man is imagining things; she never saw anything untoward in the church. Jimmy's political mentor Chips Devlin asks Jimmy to see if he can prevent the conversion of St. Pat's cemetery into a gas station. Very soon Jimmy is embroiled in Church and city politics, with the ever-present possibilitythis is Chicagoof scandal. Jimmy's thumbnail history of Irish Catholic Chicago, told in his own deceptively folksy way ("I never met a honest cop I didn't like"), the colorful characters and smooth writing all make for a captivating read. If there isn't a major mystery here, readers won't mind.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Series protagonist Jimmy Flannery lands in a neighborhood dilemma when Father Mulrooney is found dead amidst evidence of an apparent Black Mass in a Catholic church in South Chicago. St. Ulric's boys' school next door, Mulrooney's recently deceased cat Ignatius, and the church cemetery (sold to an oil company for a gas station site) provide sources of conjecture, politics, and drama before Flannery finds out what really happened. A tidy little set piece, featuring a grammatically fractured but warm-hearted narrator, lively characterization, and just a smidgen of humor. REK
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
