A woman is brutally murdered in a quiet rural subdivision. The killer is just leaving as Francis X. Lenihan, a dogged process server, pulls up. Francis has come to serve papers, but there's no one home -- just as the "caretaker" had told him. Francis leaves his card in the door, and two days later, in St. Louis, there are homicide detectives from two jurisdictions at his door. Francis helps the police all he can, but they need more. If only he could sort through his beer-soaked memory and recall the vanity plate on the killer's muscle car. Meanwhile, he has reluctantly accepted the assignment placed on him by Rose, the formidable young woman who hs tracked him down to his favorite bar: Find mom's killer and bring him to justice.
Cops and criminals, break-ins and brawls, a killer at large. The idiosyncratic Francis wades through a slew of dicey situations, peril at every turn, his process server wiles put to the test. He has no qualms about grabbing the bull by the horns, the question is: How badly will he be gored? Maybe he should just stay put in the cozy confines of Murphy's Bar, where the regulars ply him with drinks for the favor of singing their beloved Irish ballads. .
Assessment:
Plot: The closest this novel comes to having a plot—the murder of Elizabeth Schurzinger, the ensuing police investigation, and the fates of the criminals involved in it—is very diffuse and attenuated. It comes across as an afterthought, and is more of a convenient peg on which the author hangs his greater ambitions: that is his colorful, panoramic depiction of the Irish community of Dogtown through the escapades and encounters of process server Francis Lenihan.
Prose/Style: Stage’s prose style is clear and direct and it serves his characters well. He shows a particularly sure hand with the smart-alecky banter his characters dish on one another, be it Francis’s laconic descriptions of his job, the tough talk of the criminal heavies, and the equally tough talk of the proud Irish regulars at the local bars.
Originality: The originality of this novel is measured by the way its character studies and incidents combine to form a portrait of a particular time and place: the mostly Irish neighborhood of Dogtown in the 1980s. Stage’s personal affection for his characters and their environs shines through his story and makes it seem unique.
Character Development: The characters are the strong point of this novel. Francis is a likeable slacker type and Rose, the daughter of the murder victim, a no-nonsense independent who is nearly the match of the criminals she and Francis are pursuing. The large cast of villains and regular Dogtown residents are well developed, with colorful backstories whose lengthy elaboration, however, slows the pacing of the story considerably.
Date Submitted: August 14, 2019
" ... a Guinness-infused mix of Catholicism, pubs, rebel songs and a particular kind of masculinity, which combines sentimentality and mindless violence."
— Kate Vane
"Meet Francis Lenihan, who co-stars with the city of St. Louis in Wm. Stage's exciting and entertaining new mystery novel. Francis roams his beloved city wryly observing 'if it weren't for the heat and the crime, St. Louis would be the ideal place to live.' Stage has created a brilliant cast from evil criminals to dedicated cops. Lenihan is an endearing and complex character enjoying his community, his beer, and an occasional Irish tune in one of his favorite taverns." — Stuart Shiffman
Ken Bruen on St. Francis Of Dogtown: "wonderfully fresh, smart, artfully constructed, and one hell of a read."
"Trying to do his job, one man finds himself the focus of the police and the bad guys after he stumbles into a caper gone very bad. The city of St. Louis and a memorable cast of characters sets the stage for a tale of murder, mischief, and mayhem in this page-turning and entertaining story."
The crime novel St. Francis Of Dogtown should be available on Kindle around October 5, 2019. The paperback edition should be available around November 15, 2019.
The crime novel St. Francis Of Dogtown went on Kindle October 30, 2019 and should be available in paperback February, 2020, and not November 2019.
