No Greater Love - Hardcover

Kienzle's twenty-first Father Koesler novel is distinguished by a unique twist that will appeal to seasoned mystery fans tired of pre-fabricated formulas and timeworn plots. In a break with traditional whodunits, the epilogue precedes the main body of the story, inviting readers to speculate as to the identity of both the murderer and the victim; in fact, the more compelling mystery proves to be which of the many possible suspects will turn out to be the corpse. Lured out of retirement by his old friend Bishop Patrick McNiff, Father Koesler, the former pastor of an urban parish in the heart of downtown Detriot, moves into St. Joseph's Seminary on the pretext of counseling students and teaching a class or two. His actual assignment is to attempt to bridge the ever-widening gulf between conservative and liberal faculty members and students. An experienced veteran with a decidedly open mind, Koesler seems to be the ideal candidate for a difficult job until he gets sidetracked by a chilling chain of events that culminates in tragedy. —Booklist, 3/1/99, Margaret Flanagan

Publishers Weekly, 3/22/99

. . . Kienzle's grasp and detailing of church problems is impressive. Well conceived characters—such as Patty Donnelly, a young woman determined to be a priest; Andrea Zawalich, another woman confident she can become a priest in all but name; and Bill Cody, a zealot determined to make his only son a priest—add depth to the conflicts. And the structure of the book is unusual: in a prologue, Koesler is meditating by a coffin, and the rest of the novel consists of a long flashback leading to the body within. The plot thus plays itself out neither as whodunit or a whydunit, but as a tragedy and morality play that develops slowly and inevitably to a violent climax. —Publishers Weekly, 3/22/99