A Ritual Death (Father Mark Townsend Mystery)

Rating:
Summary: Improbable Plot, Believable Background
Review: A Jesuit priest visitiing a Northwest Indian Reservation? The opportunites for an interesting and compelling background to this novel are clear: a cultural diversity, a mysterious Indian clan and its death and adulhood rituals, the economic tenuousness of a commercial fishing reservation, and the prejudices and distances of the inhabitants of smalltown America.No matter how exotic the background, the plot of the novel contains some comfortingly familiar techniques: murder, greed and economic pillage, drugs, smuggling, hidden treasure, a precocious child, mistaken identity, and successful unravelling of the mystery through common sense and deductive reasoning.It all combines in an interesting way to spend your mystery-reading time: A Ritual Death is well written and set in a fascinating place and culture. With all of that going for it, this novel does just fine, even without any new plot angles.

Rating:
Summary: Priest faces crime, racism, & family problems
Review: Too often, a "Christian" mystery isn't Christian at all. It may include a clergyman sleuth or a church setting, but the Christian faith has no bearing on anyone's conduct. Happily, that is not true here.

A new 'tec for me is Fr. Mark Townsend, the creation of Jesuit priest Brad Reynolds. In A RITUAL DEATH, he has taken some vacation time to visit his grandparents in LaConner, Washington. LaConner is a beautiful retirement community on land rented from the Swinomish Indians.

The Swinomishes' long-standing resentment of their more prosperous white tenants appears to have boiled over into murder. The victim is Fr. Mark's grandfather's best friend. The prime suspect is the husband of Grandmother Townsend's cleaning woman. The family and the races are divided over the guilt of Greg Patsy, a salmon fisherman and Swinomish activist. The Patsy family, especially daughter Jesse, engage Fr. Mark's sympathies, particularly since he senses the motives for this murder are more complex than a dispute between two fishermen.

Against his father's wishes (and those of his his associate pastor holding the fort back home), Fr. Mark and his new-found Swinomish allies discover the smuggling history of the Skagit Valley continues with new forms of contraband.

Guided by the words of St. Ignatius and his own heart, Fr. Mark believably fumbles his way to a surprising solution. The supporting characters are vivid, as is the setting. I welcome Fr. Reynolds to the band of authors whose new titles I eagerly anticipate.

We may never face murder, but this Christian "detective" can teach us how to apply our faith in situations of stress and fear. Not bad for "light" reading!

Kathleen T. Choi HAWAII CATHOLIC HERALD

Rating:
Summary: Priest faces crime, racism, & family problems
Review: Too often, a "Christian" mystery isn't Christian at all. It may include a clergyman sleuth or a church setting, but the Christian faith has no bearing on anyone's conduct. Happily, that is not true here.

A new 'tec for me is Fr. Mark Townsend, the creation of Jesuit priest Brad Reynolds. In A RITUAL DEATH, he has taken some vacation time to visit his grandparents in LaConner, Washington. LaConner is a beautiful retirement community on land rented from the Swinomish Indians.

The Swinomishes' long-standing resentment of their more prosperous white tenants appears to have boiled over into murder. The victim is Fr. Mark's grandfather's best friend. The prime suspect is the husband of Grandmother Townsend's cleaning woman. The family and the races are divided over the guilt of Greg Patsy, a salmon fisherman and Swinomish activist. The Patsy family, especially daughter Jesse, engage Fr. Mark's sympathies, particularly since he senses the motives for this murder are more complex than a dispute between two fishermen.

Against his father's wishes (and those of his his associate pastor holding the fort back home), Fr. Mark and his new-found Swinomish allies discover the smuggling history of the Skagit Valley continues with new forms of contraband.

Guided by the words of St. Ignatius and his own heart, Fr. Mark believably fumbles his way to a surprising solution. The supporting characters are vivid, as is the setting. I welcome Fr. Reynolds to the band of authors whose new titles I eagerly anticipate.

We may never face murder, but this Christian "detective" can teach us how to apply our faith in situations of stress and fear. Not bad for "light" reading!

Kathleen T. Choi HAWAII CATHOLIC HERALD