The discovery of the mangled body of Wallace Flanagan in one of his father's cement mixers sends Father Dowling on an investigation into the secret past of the victim, the heir to a lucrative concrete business, who supposedly had left town more than a decade earlier.

A collection of short stories featuring the incomparable Father Dowling. In a sleepy Midwestern town on the banks of the Fox River, he cares for the congregation of St. Hilary Church -- and also finds time to unravel the knottiest of mysteries.