The Third Monk

Once more Father Columba takes up his pen to record another of his adventures-although he sometimes thinks of them as misadventures. Once again he feuds with God, meets wonderfully colorful characters, and bumbles his way to the solution of a riddle. This time he has been ordered by his Father Superior to answer a request from Melk Abbey near Vienna Austria to help the Abbot there locate one of his monks, who has mysteriously disappeared. Father Columba, who has been compared to G. K. Chesterton’s Father Brown, does not consider himself a sleuth, but he does abide by his Vow of Obedience and heads off to the Center of European Music to do what he can to help his fellow Benedictines. There he delves into the disappearance of the Monastic Brother and uncovers a love story unlike any he has ever encountered. On the other hand, on a free day he visits the tragic, romantic hunting lodge of Mayerling, and he realizes that the story he is pursuing is neither new nor unique. You are in for a real treat as you read this memoir by a monk who thought at the age of 65 he was retiring only to be called to a new Holy Vocation: solving mysteries involving his fellow Catholics great and small. Columba titles this story The Third Monk in reference to the famous novel and film The Third Man, which was set in Vienna just after the Second World War. His title may not be original, but Father Columba himself certainly is. If you fall in love with this elderly Sherlock Holmes and are intrigued by his Viennese adventure, you will want to read his other adventures: set in Oxford Mississippi, Seoul South Korea, the Isle of Iona, The Eternal City of Rome, and the Capital of Country Music Nashville Tennessee.