Puala Messina Reviews: A Gentle Murderer by Dorothy Salisbury Davis

 

Please welcome back Paula Messina to the blog today…

 

  

A Gentle Murderer 

By Paula Messina

 

 

The title of Dorothy Salisbury Davis’ novel, A Gentle Murderer, is not an oxymoron. It is ironic. The story begins in the confessional at nine o’clock on a Saturday night. Father Duffy waits “for perhaps one tardy penitent” seeking absolution. The priest is startled by a voice, “having heard no sound near him, nor noticed any light as the curtain parted.” In the dark confessional, Father Duffy sees the outline of a face, and he is reminded of St. Francis.

The man with the saintly visage says he wanted to be a priest. He proceeds to confess to murder. His weapon of choice is a hammer, the only present his mother ever gave him. He mentions one other gift, a prayer book given to him by Father McGohey.

Father Duffy can only provide “conditional absolution,” and attempts to persuade the confessor to turn himself in to the police.

The gentle murderer disappears into the night.

Bound by the seal of confession, Father Duffy cannot share the murder’s confession with anyone, not his bishop, not another priest, not the police. The cleric is left “in darkness. And he had never known a darkness more profound.”

Murderer is not a whodunit. Davis exposes the killer, Tim Brandon, in the third chapter. Brandon is small, insignificant, a would-be poet who cannot keep a job. A boarder in Mrs. Galli’s home, he hasn’t paid the rent. Mrs. Galli’s daughter, Katie, is smitten with the deadbeat. And so is the lonely, passionate widow, Mrs. Galli.

Norah Flaherty, a maid, cleans her way to the bedroom of the sleeping Miss Gerbhardt, a woman of questionable repute. Mrs. Flaherty’s “knees betrayed her in the instant she realizes that she had seen all there was left of Miss Gebhardt’s face….It was not until she reached the foyer that she found her legs and her voice. Then she ran screaming into the hall.”

Detective Sergeant Ben Goldsmith arrives at the murder scene and becomes relentless in his pursuit of the murderer. So too is Father Duffy. After he reads the newspaper report that Miss Gerbhardt was beaten to death with a hammer, he concludes his only clue to the murderer’s identity is the priest who gifted the gentle murderer with a prayer book. He sets off to track down Father McGohey. Thus begins parallel investigations, Sergeant Goldsmith’s pursuit of the killer and Father Duffy’s search for the man he could not grant absolution.

Father Duffy traces Brandon’s earlier life from when he was a child, his time in a seminary, and eventual arrival in New York. He learns Brandon’s father was an abusive alcoholic. The mother smothered her son, but her sins are never spelled out. It also becomes clear that Miss Gerbhardt is not Brandon’s first murder victim. It is likely he will kill again.

Goldsmith understands Father Duffy is somehow involved when the detective learns the priest had questioned Mrs. Flaherty. The visit with Mrs. Flaherty is suspicious. Goldsmith traces Father Duffy’s steps and learn everything the priest uncovers.

Over and over in the novel, Brandon is described as gentle. A number of women in his life protected him, gave him a roof over his head, and acted as a surrogate mother. That was Miss Gebhardt’s failing. She befriended Brandon, only to be rewarded with blows to her head with the hammer Brandon’s mother gave him.

Brandon is like so many real killers. He’s a dreamer. How else would you describe a man who wants to be a poet but barely works at it? He most likely lacks even a modicum of talent. He’s a nonentity who can claim no accomplishments. And yet women fall for him. They want to protect him, salve his wounds, revel in his dreams and empty statements. They repeatedly fail to see that Brandon is a wolf in sheep’s clothing as he struggles to suppress the anger surging under that harmless, benign appearance.

Brandon, a murderous, gentle soul, a misfit, is far from the only sinner in the book. Mrs. Galli lusts after Tim at the same time she attempts to protect her daughter Katie from him. Because of her love for Tim, Katie deceives her mother. Miss Gerbhardt acted like a mother to Tim Brandon, but she was a sinner, a woman of the night. Father Duffy must bear the burden of his moral dilemma alone.

Davis keeps her readers turning the pages because of Father Duffy and Sergeant Goldsmith. The priest and sergeant are not perfect. Then who is? Unlike Tim Brandon, they have a purpose and are committed to completing the mission. They seemingly have different goals. Father Duffy wants to absolve Tim Brandon of his sins. Sergeant Goldsmith wants to bring Brandon to justice. Ultimately, they have the same objective even if the emphasis is different. In one case, it’s to save a soul. In the other, it’s to restore equilibrium to society.

There is a reading group guide at the end of the book. The first question is “who should get credit for cracking the case here—Father Duffy or Ben Goldsmith?” I won’t attempt to answer that question. However, I will suggest that their pursuit is two sides of the same coin. When a person confesses his sins, he is given a penance. Absolution is dependent on completing that penance. Justice without punishment is meaningless, and it leaves the criminal free to violate the laws of man again and again.

Davis keeps the tension throughout the novel. Brandon has run out of options, and the pressure of Mrs. Galli’s lust and Katie’s love is unbearable. The possibility of failure weights heavily on the priest and police sergeant in the dash to stop Tim Brandon from killing again.

 

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Paula Messina ©2025

 

Paula Messina lives within spitting distance of the Atlantic. She writes historical, contemporary, and humorous fiction.