Father Robert Koesler has retired from St. Joseph's parish-"old St. Joe's downtown" as it was familiarly known-where Father Zachary Tully has become his successor. Upon his return from vacation, Father Koesler finds a message from an old friend, Patrick McNiff, now a bishop and rector of St. Joseph's Seminary. McNiff asks Koesler to reside in the seminary, concelebrate the liturgies, possibly teach a class, and-most important-help McNiff smooth out the factionalism of the faculty and its possible effects on the seminarians. In his new residence, Father Koesler learns much about the problems dividing the contemporary seminary as well as dividing his old home parish under the leadership of Father Tully. Although he realizes that many inner lives are in turmoil, he is ill-prepared for the fact that such turmoil may lead to murder. As Father Koesler prepares for the Mass following a tragic murder, he wonders if he should have anticipated it through the clues laid out along the way. This is the twenty-first in the series of William X. Kienzle mysteries, which star Father Robert Koesler as the priest-sleuth solving murders in real locations in Detroit.