“The Body Cooled, There Was No Brain-wave Activity, the Creature Was Dead. Now It Is Not Dead.”

WE have little doubt that Father Brown wouldn't have objected to taking a rocket into space if it meant saving a soul and/or solving a crime. In today's tale, another priest rather similar to Chesterton's doughty cleric does that very thing, just in time for him to solve . . .

"The Lazarus Murder."

By Michael A. Stackpole (born 1957; Wikipedia HERE; the ISFDB HERE; and the SFE HERE).

First appearance: Amazing Stories, Summer 2000.

Purgatory Station Number 1 (ISFDB HERE).

Reprints page (ISFDB HERE).

Illustrated by Rob Day (Wikipedia HERE and the ISFDB HERE).

Short story (10 pages).

Online at Archive.org (HERE).

   “Greed—one of the Seven Deadly Sins,” said Flynn.

   Meresin glanced at the priest. "One of the Nine Minor Pleasures, you mean."

   Flynn smiled. “Either way, I'm thinking it's the core of this situation."

HOW often, we wonder, does getting to the bottom of a crime on Earth require a deep dive into a victim's reproductive cycle? Because that's what it will take for a smart Irish priest to solve a murder in space that almost everybody else is inclined to believe didn't actually happen . . .

Main characters:

~ Father Flynn, Clipp, Jok Harrison, Meresin, Doctor Kirong Keey, Laiurish Dayanne of Norp and Gylan, and Auran Ashke.

References:

- "the Last Rites" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Lazarus?" (HERE; Wikipedia); "look what they did to the one who managed that" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "As they say, 'Out of the mouths of babes...'” (HERE; Wiktionary).

- "God made Heaven and Earth in six days" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Every faith that believes in reincarnation" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "the Seven Deadly Sins" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "Being the devil’s advocate?" (HERE; Wikipedia).

- "The coroner’s court inquiry" (HERE and HERE; Wikipedia).

Resources:

- Our story is part of Michael A. Stackpole's Purgatory Station series:

  "The Lazarus Murder" (2000) (above)

  "Keeping Score" (2000)

  "Least of My Brethren" (2002)

  "Serpent on the Station" (2004)

  "According to Their Need" (2004).

The bottom line:

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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