Reverend Randollph and the Splendid Samaritan

Fans of Chicago's clergyman-sleuth will echo the tributes in the book's foreword to his creator, the late author Charles Merrill Smith and to Smith's son Terrence Lore Smith. Terrence finished the sixth story his father was writing before he died and it's a dazzler. When a member of Randollph's flock is murdered, the minister helps his friend detective Casey to investigate. The victim, James Trent, was called the Splendid Samaritan because of his excess altruism. Randollph, however, had suspected the financier as a whited sepulchre. Casey looks for clues behind Trent's pietistic veneer but gets nowhere even with the minister's diligent cooperation. Then news of three people killed in the same way as Trent suggests a link, although these crimes occur in widely separated states. Randollph's keen perceptions solve the case and end the witty, cunningly plotted mystery. That Terrence Smith will continue the series will be good news to readers. (May)