Father Dowling Books in Order

A frightened widow seeks Father Dowling's help, then turns up dead. Suspicions involving her greedy children and other possible culprits extend to the priest himself, prompting him to investigate with both compassion and a personal stake.

A killing at Father Dowling's rectory is followed by the kidnapping of Bishop Rooney. As the priest and Captain Keegan investigate, the apparent connection between the crimes raises disturbing questions about why the rectory was targeted.

Father Dowling hopes his annual retreat at Assisi House will provide peace and quiet. When a companion is murdered, Captain Keegan needs his assistance, turning spiritual respite into an investigation that may put the priest in danger.

A wealthy political hopeful is shot while golfing in Father Dowling's parish, drawing the priest and Captain Keegan into the investigation. Numerous suspects and competing interests complicate the case as Dowling tries to protect a vulnerable young woman.

Collectors and scholars descend on Fox River to exploit a deceased local author's papers and reputation. When a body appears amid the competition, Father Dowling must untangle literary ambition, disputed claims, and the possibility of murder.

A stranger is found shot in a truck parked outside Father Dowling's rectory. Working with police captain Phil Keegan, the priest investigates the unsettling death as further violence complicates the search for the killer in Fox River.

Four unexplained deaths leave Captain Keegan unsure whether he is investigating suicides or murders. Father Dowling becomes involved through his parish duties and friendship with the policeman, trying to identify the pattern beneath the ambiguous circumstances.

A woman hiding from her disc-jockey husband is found dead after confiding in Father Dowling. Doubting the apparent suicide, the priest investigates as another killing suggests connections among the town's motel residents, entertainers, and troubled relationships.

Howard Downs is acquitted of murdering his wife, leaving Captain Keegan and Father Dowling facing unresolved questions. The investigation shifts toward people connected with the dead woman as additional bodies turn a seemingly closed case into renewed danger.

Father Dowling's quiet Illinois community becomes entangled in Latin American politics, terrorism, cocaine, and religious controversy. The priest must make sense of competing interests as violence intrudes on Fox River and complicates the search for truth.

A mother leaves her infant in Father Dowling's church and asks him to conceal the child temporarily. His reluctant agreement draws him into a chain of family disputes and violence that culminates in a murder investigation.

An inscribed ring used during a parish magic show catches Father Dowling's attention. The object becomes a crucial clue when a parishioner's brutal murder and a wealthy man's missing wife draw him into another investigation.

Four stories bring Father Dowling into mysteries involving unexpected bodies and troubling discoveries. A corpse at the parish school and an unusual exhumation are among the cases that draw the compassionate priest into investigating secrets behind ordinary requests.

An ex-priest asks Father Dowling to counsel his daughter, who wants to enter a convent despite her parents' public promotion of hedonism. When she is murdered, the request becomes an investigation into secrets surrounding the family.

Former showgirl Stacey Wilson receives a life sentence for her husband's murder but insists she is innocent and withholds her alibi. Uncomfortable with the verdict, Father Dowling pursues the truth after the police consider the case closed.

A wealthy parishioner's death leaves her heirs disputing an estate that includes valuable paintings. Further suspicious deaths draw Father Dowling into an investigation involving family history, competing claims to artwork and the secrets preserved in a young heiress's inheritance.

A man seeking an annulment is murdered after he and his wife separately consult Father Dowling. Conflicting accusations and a son's confession complicate the priest's investigation as he also prepares for a Church meeting about marriage and family.

A retired financial adviser is murdered before giving a lecture at Father Dowling's parish. Suspicion falls on a man expelled from an orphanage years earlier, drawing Dowling into a case entangled with old relationships, revenge and concealed family history.

Attempts to disturb a recently buried mobster's grave lead police to an empty coffin. Father Dowling investigates the missing body and the gangster's death, following connections to an Italian poet's manuscript and a complicated romantic rivalry.

Father Dowling becomes involved in a rivalry between two older men over a woman's affection. When one becomes a suspect in a lawyer's murder, the priest helps Fox River police untangle relationships complicated by further deaths.

Father Dowling travels to an Indiana religious retreat seeking rest, only to encounter a man killed with an axe. A dispute over the order's valuable land complicates his efforts to understand the murder and the competing interests behind it.

Eleanor Wygant asks Father Dowling to discourage her niece from writing a revealing family novel. The request draws him into troubled relationships and buried history, where personal resentments and old scandals conceal a murder that demands investigation.

Father Dowling hears a confidence about a troubled marriage before a hit-and-run kills someone involved. Suspecting murder while police call it an accident, he must seek the truth without betraying the private information entrusted to him.

Martha Lynch's search for her birth parents unsettles her adoptive family and prompts a request for Father Dowling's help. When her birth father is murdered, the priest and a lawyer investigate while trying to protect the families drawn into the case.

A former priest seeks Father Dowling's advice after a woman accuses him of exploiting her years earlier. When a body washes up on Lake Michigan and the man becomes a murder suspect, Dowling must disentangle old relationships and present motives.

A businessman thought to have abandoned his wife years ago is found dead in a family cement mixer. Father Dowling investigates his unexpected return as old friends and enemies converge on Fox River, each carrying a connection to the disappearance.

A man convicted of ending his dying wife's life returns to Fox River and divides Father Dowling's parishioners. Revisiting the case, the priest questions whether the apparent crime and the judgment against it tell the whole story.

Father Dowling fights plans to close St. Hilary's while murders strike people linked to wealthy parish benefactors. Family secrets and church politics complicate his efforts to protect the congregation and determine who is turning the crisis into an opportunity.

These short mysteries follow Father Dowling as he investigates murder, betrayal and crimes long concealed in Fox River. His parish housekeeper and police contacts join cases in which understanding human motives matters as much as identifying the culprit.

In this collection of short mysteries, Father Dowling balances his care for St. Hilary's congregation with investigations in a Midwestern river town. The priest brings compassion and curiosity to puzzles that arise among the people around him.