Resolved that I was in the right atmosphere for the task at hand, I tipped my glass allowing just a taste to cross the threshold of my lips before it eased across my tongue and down my throat, giving me a Kentucky hug that warmed the cockles of my own barren heart.

According to reports, Catholic churches are growing faster than Protestant churches in America these days. No doubt there are theological forces at play here (though I’m a Lutheran, and many of my fellow Lutherans consider themselves not Protestants at all, but “true Catholics”). But one field in which (it seems to me) the Catholics are certainly leading us by a mile is in producing good literature. A consciously Catholic novel will, in my experience, almost always be better than a Protestant novel. And that includes mysteries like Christopher Walsh’s The Great Meadows.

Our hero and narrator is Levi Motley, a talented young journalist with no fixed address. He hops from job to job, not because he can’t hold a position, but because he’s afraid to put down roots anywhere.

But now he’s headed back to Bardstown, Kentucky, bourbon country, the place where he grew up. As he nears the town, he sees a young, dark-skinned man hitchhiking, holding a sign that says “Gethsemani.” Impulsively, Levi picks him up. He learns that the young man’s name is Moussa Diab, and the Gethsemani of the sign refers to a Catholic seminary near Bardstown, where he’s headed to pray about becoming a priest. He calls Levi an angel, sent by God to help him in his quest.

Arriving in town, Levi soon gets a newspaper job (this book is set around 1997, so newspapers were still a force in the world) with an old friend’s help. Shortly after, he learns that Moussa has been murdered, found dead near a river. Levi is curious – what was Moussa doing in that spot, and why did he have a shovel with him?

The murder story becomes Levi’s big investigative project. It will take him to the intersection of organized crime and local government – and also into a confrontation with the demons of his own past.

The Great Meadows isn’t flawless. There were occasional infelicities in the prose, and at least one politically self-conscious moment. Still, I found it a fascinating, engaging, and inspiring read. I recommend it.

I also hope I write this well myself, even if I am a Protestant.