Irish Coffee

October 6, 2003
In McInerny's seventh pleasant page-turner set at the University of Notre Dame (after 2002's Celt and Pepper
) featuring professor Roger Knight and his PI brother Philip, Fred Neville, assistant sports information director, yearns for a career in literature. (He even writes poetry when no one is looking.) When Fred dies mysteriously in bed, it comes out at his funeral service that he had another, more interesting, life: he was secretly engaged to at least two women, to the surprise and consternation of each. Suicide is initially suspected, but the coroner's discovery of strychnine in a cup containing the remains of coffee and bourbon points to murder. After one of the fiancées turns up dead in Fred's apartment, having drunk another poisoned Irish coffee, things start to get complicated. Snappy dialogue touched with humor propels the plot. Readers are unlikely to solve the puzzle, but will have a lot of fun trying. (Nov. 10)

FYI:
McInerny is also the author of the Father Dowling and Andrew Broom mystery series.

October 1, 2003
When a member of Notre Dame's athletic department is murdered, Professor Roger Knight and his PI brother Phil investigate (Celt and Pepper). At first they find no suspects, but then, at the victim's funeral, two fianc es show up, creating instant motivation. From a master hand and author of the Father Dowling series.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2003
Everybody likes Fred Neville, who works in Notre Dame's sports information office. Everybody but one person--the person who killed him. A different side of unassuming Fred surfaces when two women arrive at his funeral, each claiming Fred as their fiance. Because South Bend, home of Notre Dame, is always deferential to the university, the locals have no objection when the Knight brothers become unofficial consultants on the case. Phillip Knight is a streetwise PI, and his immensely rotund brother, Roger, is an amateur sleuth and a revered professor of Catholic studies. Their investigation, set against the backdrop of academia and an exciting women's basketball season, explores the often contradictory concepts of moral responsibility, legal guilt, and justice. McInerny, author of the Father Downing mysteries, has taught at Notre Dame for 40 years. His Knight brothers are a modern Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin who manage to poke gentle fun at the insularity of the university while solving the crime. A fine effort by a deservedly respected genre veteran.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)