One morning, Fr. Brad Reynolds, SJ, noticed people in a glass elevator in Seattle and started thinking about how a criminal might murder someone in such a public location and get away with it. All of a sudden, a murder mystery, complete with characters, fell into place: Fr. Mark Townsend, SJ, is called into action when a lawyer is killed with an Eskimo knife in a shopping mall. Fr. Townsend, who had served in the Yup'ik village where the knife came from, has to go back there to solve the crime without ending up on ice himself.

That was enough to inspire Fr. Reynolds to do a little creative writing. On sabbatical, he started writing the mystery on a September 1st for four hours a day, five days a week. By Thanksgiving he finished it: 80,000 words! He attended a workshop on how to get a literary agent and then sent the manuscript to five agents, who all expressed interest. The one he hired sold his book to Avon.

Mystery writer Tony Hillerman reviewed Fr. Reynolds's The Story Knife, which just came out: "Father Reynolds gives us a fascinating mystery for the thinking person -- sharing his deep understanding of Eskimo culture. Don't miss it." Pull and Be Damned, the working title of the second Fr. Townsend mystery, comes out next year; a third book is in the works.

For Fr. Reynolds, formation director for the Oregon Province, murder mysteries are morality plays; mystery readers want to see good triumph over evil; they can get deeply involved with characters, such as Fr. Townsend, who try to do good things and struggle against evil.