The Saints of God Murders

Rating:
Summary: DEATH BY THE HYMNAL
Review: Someone in Rev. Lucas Holt's rundown, Austin, Texas parish has chosen to ensure God's vengeance by dispensing his own Brand of Justice--don't groan: this book is filled with titillating puns.
But this serial killer has selected his victims based on the words of a Hymn--daring the police to catch him, for he leaves garish clues at each crimescene. Holt, an attractive middle-aged Episcopalian priest, was assigned to the down-in-the-chalice church of St. Margaret's; his sadistic bishop relishes the church's demise and that of its unconventional shepherd as well. Does the Bishop also realize that Holt exudes sex appeal to a variety of women: his church secretary, hookers, an aspiring female politician and not the least, a lady from his own past--tough police Lieutenant Granger.

But if Holt lacks divine guidance in this series of vicious murders, he is aided and abetted in his unorthodox investigation by the God Sqad--so dubbed by the exasperated and disgusted APD. This former

prison chaplain has earned the devotion of loyal excons, who naturally gravitate to Austin as soon as they are Out. Their street contacts and special "skills" prove invaluable to the Rev, while infuriating the official constabulary. Struggling to adapt to a high tech world, Holt has no problems in the Charm department, though he remains aloof from long-term commitment.
He devotes all his mental energies to save his parish, even though he originallh accepted the position with reluctance. He and his church both deserve a second chance.

Meyer's style involves switching scenes to present readers with unnamed characters, whom we sometimes misidentify. He must smrik at our justifiable confusion; not content with exploiting our ignorance by leading us on false trails, he falsifies the right ones. True, most of his victims are no loss to decent Society, but when did God delegate one person to act as his personal executioner? The denouement itself provides a twist in style; unlike the typical mystery where the clever detective assembles all the suspects in one room, to dazzle them with his deduction, concluding with a stunning revelation of the killer, Meyer has his murderer gather all the detectives together, to explain his rationale--proving who is in control all along, until the explosive ending. Himself a priest, the author has endowed his long-suffering but oversexed protagonist with great intuitive sleuthing abilities. One wonders if Holt the Hunk is his literary alter ego.