Nicely complex, if nothing really new or surprising. The tangled Armstrong family and their various feuds and hatreds makes for interesting reading, and there are even some hints towards some larger issues, as a small challenge to the local mob family of Fox River is issued and one of the minor characters ends up pregnant. It will be interesting to me to read the next book to see if either of those storylines are followed up. The world of Father Dowling is now complicated enough to warrant its own Who's Who, as I often wonder when coming across a minor character, if it is one that I've run across before.

The puzzle (puzzles?) are well put together and the ending is left slightly ambiguous, which is a nice touch. It would be interesting to see what happens to the family in a later book. ( )