All about Women

Stereotypes and negative women abound in Father Greeley's ( The Cardinal Sins ) distasteful collection of 23 stories, 16 of which were previously published. Shrewd Cindasoo, who thwarts the theft of securities valued at a half-million dollars, is more the exception than the rule. Sinister types dominate here; for example, a priest visiting a haunted rectory resists a ghost who appears as both ``threatening'' seductress and ``overpowering'' mother. Paula is the volume's resident feminist, a ``no nonsense'' nun and lawyer impatient with her firm's receptionist (inept, true, but her smile ``brightens the day'' of many a male client). Terry overcomes his shanty-Irish background and recovers from a nervous breakdown, but when Julie leaves him at the altar he drinks himself to death; lest the guilty party be in doubt, Greeley supplies a ``white-haired and frail'' mother to screech, ``It was that redheaded bitch who did it to him.'' These flimsy works are strictly for those eager to read all about misogyny. (Jan.)