THE BOOK OF KILLS by Ralph McInerny
St. Martin's Minotaur September 2000
Kidnapping the chancellor of the University of Notre Dame and breaking up a wedding in the name of Indian rights were bad enough. When a protester actually disrupts a Notre Dame football game, the University knows it must act. It brings in brothers Philip and Roger Knight to find who is at the bottom of these unseemly pranks.
It doesn't take the Knights long to discover Orion Plant, recently dismissed perenial graduate student, is behind the Native American protests. His research convinces him that Notre Dame is partially responsible for the terrible treatment suffered by Native Americans who formerly lived in the area. When Plant shows up dead, Notre Dame and the brothers Knight must wade through the abundance of suspects to determine the real killer.
Philip and Roger Knight are well developed and interesting characters and in THE BOOK OF KILLS, as in the earlier IRISH TENURE (see our review) Ralph McInerny (see more BooksForABuck.com reviews of novels by McInerny) brings his deep understanding of Notre Dame and university politics to center stage. The result is a light and intriguing mystery.
Three Star
Purchase THE BOOK OF KILLS from Amazon.com (available in hardback).