REV. RANDOLLPH AND THE WAGES OF SIN

The cavalier Rev. Smith (remember When the Saints Go Marching Out, The Pearly Gates Syndicate, etc.) collars another genre (much more successfully than Johnson's Code Name Sebastian series) even if the mystery counts for less than the assorted nonsense about C.P. Randollph who comes to the Church of the Good Shepherd in Chicago with a transient congregation -- including the mobile nun-whore Marianne Reedman who is killed. C.P.'s first official act is to take down his predecessor's favorite -- a ""marceled Christ"" -- before dilatorily investigating the death of Marianne and defection of her husband. . . . Take this to your bosom, episcopal or otherwise, and enjoy the heresies, derelictions, holy and hot water.