Fixed in His Folly: A Malachy Foley Mystery

This uneven first novel introduces Chicago PI Malachy Foley, a former lawyer, who hires on to find the son whom Harriet Mallory, a rich and influential attorney, gave up at birth 31 years earlier. Foley discovers that the son is a missing priest whose adoptive mother, a former doctor, is now in prison. While trying to find the priest, Foley is threatened, another priest is shot and a woman, who might be the missing priest's girlfriend, is found dead in a boat. As Foley's loyalties veer toward the priest and his imprisoned adoptive mother, his client, whose husband is a sleaze, reveals powerful political ambitions. The very gabby Foley also acts as factotum to a well-connected woman who lives in Evanston and plays jazz piano in a bar. The plot, hinging on a number of hidden and/or previous identities, is complex, but Walker, a former priest who now practices law, doesn't imbue his debut with a strong sense of place or offer a hero with a commanding personality.(May)