The Popsicle Man

Wednesday, January 1, 1958, Reverend Charles E. Coughlin delivered Mass to 3,000 worshippers at the Shrine of the Little Flower in Royal Oak, Michigan. He titled his homily "The Red Menace"—the communists he lived to revile. The louder Coughlin shrieked, the more agitated the crowd became, and by the time the priest roared to a finish, his jugulars bulged, his saliva spewed, and the faithful were flocked up and ready to fly. When the sanctus bells clanged, many were startled, especially the kid who jumped up and hollered, "The Popsicle Man."

The child was Harlee von Eisenberg, who becomes a detective with the Royal Oak Police Department. He and a Detroit Free Press crime reporter, E.F. O’Dane, tell the story of a murder that takes place the day Coughlin died, October 27, 1979. As von Eisenberg and O’Dane solve the crime, SSgt. Marion Gallery, who works in intelligence at the Pentagon, accesses formerly classified documents that reveal the ugly truth about Coughlin.

All characters in this novel are fictitious, except Father Coughlin, who was all too real. His sinister influence made the murder plausible.

-- Charlotte Vale