The murder in St. Francis of Dogtown takes place within the first 30 pages of the book. Readers know exactly who did it, when, and where, but Wm. Stage’s novel is just getting started. Francis X. Lenihan is a process server. By day, he springs summonses, subpoenas, and orders of protection on St. Louisans, earning $35 a job from area lawyers. After the work’s done, he drinks at Murphy’s Bar in Dogtown and sings Irish ballads for the cast of characters who frequent the neighborhood watering hole. One day, after a few beers, Francis rides out to Jefferson County to serve Elizabeth Schurzinger, but as he pulls up to her home, a suspicious man stops him. Elizabeth isn’t there; she’s gone on vacation, he tells Francis. Francis knocks on her door, and no one answers. He leaves his card. When the police show up at his house days later, saying that Elizabeth was found dead in her home, he must try to remember details about the encounter—namely, the vanity plate on the suspect’s blue Dodge Charger. And when Elizabeth’s daughter, Rose, approaches Francis with a request to track down her mother’s killer, the officer of the court finds himself working outside the law. His job requires Francis to deftly deliver bad news and then slip away before the unhappy party can shoot the messenger. Will those skills be of use now? St. Francis of Dogtown is an ode to the titular neighborhood, and reading scenes of daily life in the Irish enclave in the late 1980s feels like a simple pleasure. But what’s most intriguing about the novel is the other mystery—this one personal—its narrator solves alongside Elizabeth’s case.
