WILL UNWOUND #195: “Will’s Mystery Project – ‘Celt and Pepper’ by Ralph McInerny
August 7, 2010The year was 1968. I was a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame. I went to confession for a variety of sins. After confessing all my sins, it was time to get my penance and then receive absolution. Father Reginald, the rector in my residence hall, asked me if I was truly sorry for my sins. I told him I was. He then asked if I had a football background. I told him I did. He then surprised me by offering me the opportunity to work my penance out as a live tackling dummy at the Fighting Irish football practices. He didn’t exactly put it that way. What he said was that due to a series of injuries to the “scout” team the coaches were recruiting walk on players to be practice fodder for the scholarship players. “Father,” I said, “it may be walk on but it’s limp off. My sins aren’t that bad, are they? Do you have anything more conventional to offer in the way of penance?”
That was the Notre Dame of 1968. It was still an all male school, and while the winds of change were beginning to blow through the campus, the school’s traditional roots of religion and football were tightly intertwined below the surface of a beautiful campus, a rigorous academic program, and a very competitive all male environment. It was a unique place, and I’m glad I got to experience the “old” Notre Dame before the winds of change brought reform and modernization to a school that in many ways was still somewhat medieval in outlook.
The man who shaped me more than anyone else was Ralph McInerny, a professor of philosophy. In those days he taught the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas, the genius of medieval philosophy. McInerny was probably the foremost Thomistic scholar in the world. His publications on the subject were profound and numerous. Bottom line is that McInerny taught us all how to think by stripping away all our logical fallacies and starting at the rock bed of “being and essence.” McInerny was rigorous and demanding but very kind.
Years later, maybe a decade, I was working the reference desk at a slow time of the day and was browsing through the new books cart when I came across a murder mystery with a parish priest named Father Dowling as the super sleuth. Not being a mystery fan, I glossed over it quickly and put it down, but not without noticing the picture of my old professor, Ralph McInerny, on the dust jacket. Why I wondered was this intellectual giant writing mystery books? To say the least, I was surprised.
Then I thought…okay Sherlock, maybe McInerny wanted to go from writing books that no one reads…philosophy…to books that everyone wants to read…mysteries.
So McInerny went on to write many mysteries featuring Father Dowling and then he wrote a number of books featuring a nun as super sleuth…Mary Teresa Dempsey. I tried to read through these books, but quite frankly they really weren’t that good. I gave up on him.
But then as I got into this mystery project I delved deeper into what McInerny was up to, and as it turned out he ventured into yet a third direction into his mysteries…the Notre Dame series. Here I could connect with him.
Any good mystery writer has to provide a setting in which murders could occur. McInerny found a perfect place …the university where the petty politics and jealousies could materialize into something fairly violent like murder. So this past week I read Celt and Pepper where a visiting Irish poet gets the axe. Now that’s a novelty.
Was it okay? Not really. But the background about Notre Dame was interesting . You probably won’t like it, but it brought back memories to me.
How many stars do I give it? Two.
Will, I don’t care for McInerny’s books under the Monica Quill pseudonym, either. I didn’t know he had a third series – I’ll have to try and find that title in my library.
BTW, whatever happened to the Ngaio Marsh title you read?
Location is often an important element in mysteries. I have enjoyed the Fr Dowling series because they are set northwest of Chicago in the Fox River valley. He mentions places I know. As good a reason as any to read. I bet his income from mysteries is a nice supplement to his retirement from Notre Dame.
Just so you know, Andrew Greeley (or at least Blackie Ryan) is fairly scathing about Domers and their “our black Baptists can beat your black Baptists” mentality.
Will,
Some sad news from a sad city.
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/new_jersey/camden-closing-library-system-20100806-apx
Oh, that is very sad. I wonder if the Camden city residents will be able to use the county library or maybe Pennsauken or another neighboring city library? I believe at one time Camden was the poorest city in the nation.
I, too, probably would not have read any of Prof. McInerny’s books had I not had a Notre Dame connection. I heard him in an interview say that the reason he turned to mystery writing was that he couldn’t afford to put his five children through college on a professor’s salary. I think he more than did okay in that department.
BTW, your story about ND reminds of an old joke. How many ND alumni does it take to change a light bulb? Seven – One to change the bulb and six to sit around and reminisce about how good the old one was. Mamie Anthoine Ney SMC ’75, ND’78
The late Robert B. Parker was a professor of mine in 1968. He bored us to tears, so, when I later read his first novel, I was pleasantly surprised! He he was a much better writer than teacher.
I don’t think my comment made it the first time around. Anyway…….
I, too, probably not have read Prof. McInerny’s mysteries had I not had a connection to ND. I remember in an interview that the good don said that he turned to mystery writing because he knew that he couldn’t put his 5 children through college on a professor’s salary. Well, I think he did better than that.
Your remembrances of ND remind me of an old joke. How many ND alumni does it take to change a light bulb? Seven – one to change it and six to sit around and reminisce about how good the old one was. – Mamie Anthoine Ney SMC’75, ND’78
I read at least one McInerny–BODY AND SOIL, I think–years ago. We did a reading series called Murder in the Library and we wanted to bring an author as a speaker. South Bend is within a half day’s driving distance, so we used one of his books to close the series. No one was terribly enthused about it, but it was pleasant and he was an interesting and enjoyable speaker.
I’m reminded of a novel I did original cataloging for, many years ago — original cataloging because it was from a vanity press. I never got around to reading it, but was interested, and may yet check it out and read it, because it was a story about grad students set in my (first) alma mater, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Having a personal connection with the setting is a perfectly good reason to read and enjoy a book.