This is the first Blackie Ryan novel I've read. The other I listened to and it seemed more interesting. I like the idea of a priest detective though and while I don't know how real he is, I do take it that Andrew Greeley pictures Catholics and Catholicism in a way that I can understand them. This one was pretty slow though. ( )

This book explores the question of what does Jesus mean when he says "Happy are the pure of heart, for they shall see God." The character who is the focus of the story is a young woman who is too good to be true. Meaning she has a fabulous singing voice, a lovely face and body, a kind and sweet spirit and seemingly everything else. She also has somehow earned the hatred of many who are envious of her talent and goodness. As she lays in the hospital, struggling to survive, Father Blackie must discover who perpetrated the crime.

I don't have the proper words in my head to describe what the author did, but it seems he hates dialog. So the characters each had long monologues answering questions from the interrogator that the reader never got to see, by repeating the question during their monologue. I tired of it very quickly. I was mildly interested in some of the theological questions put forth. Some of the characters such as the priest's family were interesting, but Blackie himself did not come clear to the reader since he never really interacted with the other characters. We only heard his inner monologue for the most part. The "murder" victim was too good to be true, and the supposed hatred the other characters had towards her because of it seemed a bit excessive. Also, I suppose the author wanted to make a point of what "pure of heart" really means (his idea is that it means one does not try to fool oneself about one's character), but he went overboard to the point of tedium with sex focus to prove his point IMO.

I ended up skimming a lot to finish the book and by the end I decided that this author isn't for me. ( )