History Literature / TheFatherLukeWolfeTrilogy

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Teri—with one ''r'' and an ''i''.

* OffTheWagon: A variation with Senator Wainwright. As a potential governor/eventual presidential candidate, he avoids drinking for long periods of time. Until he does, and then [[UpToEleven he really does]]. And the next morning, he invariably can't remember what happened to him the previous night. When his wife Gina reveals her pregnancy, Gene assumes she cheated on him, because he [[ButLiquorIsQuicker can't remember having sex with her]] recently.

* {{Diary}}

* StunGuns: How Arthur was planning to [[spoiler:kill his father]].

The Father Luke Wolfe Trilogy ([[FanNickname or the Wolfe Pack]]) is a series of novels with Christian aesops, written by Jesuit priest John Becker, S.J. Father Becker was an English teacher at [[HighSchool Brophy College Preparatory]] in Phoenix, Arizona. His novels star Father Luke Wolfe, an English teacher at [[HighSchool Kino College Preparatory]] in Phoenix, Arizona.

* [[AFatherToHisMen A Father To His Students]]: Principal/Father Sloan.

* [[IKnowKarate I Know Tae Kwon Do]]: Teri Johnson.

* YouALLShareMyStory: Most characters are Kino students, Kino alumni or parents of a Kino student.

->''"Hey Father, what’s going on? Are you getting mixed up in another murder?”''
-->--'''Tony Santos''', ''Zero Tolerance''

However, don’t mistake this as a case of RealLifeWritesThePlot! These are no SliceOfLife stories, but murder mysteries. Someone, probably related to one of Father Wolfe’s students somehow, [[AlwaysMurder ends up dead]], and the old priest is [[MysteryMagnet inevitably entangled in its resolution]]. The motives behind the violence also relate somehow to a Christian belief, so [[AnAesop the characters and the audience can learn a little something]] on the way. The plot is also revealed to parallel that of a reading assignment Father Wolfe’s students are studying.

Father Becker’s first novel, ''Father, Forgive Them'' (2002), is concerned with abortion. A charismatic abortionist, Doctor Curtland, winds up dead, and the seeming murderer is his own son, Larry. However, despite Larry having fired at his father multiple times, no bullets are recovered; in fact, Dr. Curtland has no signs of trauma anywhere, yet he’s still dead. Father Wolfe must clear his student’s name by discovering the true cause of death—and despite his friendly manner, Dr. Curtland had managed to make a lot of enemies.

The sequel, ''Cold Comfort'' (2005), is about infidelity. When Kino’s Jesuits find Gina Wainwright’s pregnant corpse locked up their freezer, Father Wolfe must figure out how she got there, and who had killed the well-loved trophy wife of Senator Gene Wainwright. Did someone want her out of the picture to get to Gene? Or had Gina been a little too well-loved, by someone other than her husband?

''Zero Tolerance'' (2009), published posthumously, is a response to the sex scandals that have recently plagued the Catholic Church. In response to Bishop Klein’s successful campaign against the Family Freedom abortuary, young men begin to blame priests of having molested them when they were children. Due to the Vatican’s zero tolerance policy, which removes priests from active duty upon suspicion of sexual abuse, the Arizona diocese is quickly losing its practicing clerics. The only chance to crack open the plot is when one of the phony accusers is murdered right outside Kino’s campus…

* ArsonMurderandJaywalking: ''“What’s with all these abortion doctors? Don’t they stop at murder? Are they all lechers, too?”''

* ChekhovsGun: The [[spoiler:eight-ball and the motion-sensing frog]] in ''Father, Forgive Them''. The [[spoiler:triplets’ bullhorn and aluminum foil]] in ''Cold Comfort''. The Crowning Moment of Chekhov, however, is in ''Zero Tolerance'', when Chet [[spoiler:threatens to blame Father Wolfe of sexual harassment unless he receives a passing grade. The threat is recorded by Father Friedl, who had left a hole between their classrooms for electrical wiring in the previous novel.]]

* DepartmentofRedundancyDepartment: Amy Halloran: ''“Father, there are no bullet holes in the body. In the body of Larry’s father. Doctor Curtland’s body. No place. Not in his toes or his chest or his left ear. No place.”''

* DiedDuringProduction: Averted for Zero Tolerance by some fellow Jesuits getting it published after Father Becker’s death. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he was apparently beginning to work on a fourth, which will never be completed now.]]
* DisproportionateRetribution: When the bank robber realizes he’s taken Father Wolfe hostage, he gloats that he’ll get revenge for the F’s Father had given him as a student.
* DoesThisRemindYouofAnything?: Early mentions are made in ''Father, Forgive Them'' to the story of [[Literature/TheBible David and Bathsheba]] and, especially, to Theatre/{{Hamlet}}. By the end, we realize just how similar [[spoiler:Dr. Brandt’s actions are to those of David and Claudius]].

* EngineeredPublicConfession: Father Friedl’s plan to stop [[spoiler:Chet from accusing Father Wolfe of sexually attacking him]], utilizing a HiddenWire.
* EurekaMoment: Interestingly, it’s not directly related to solving the murder.

* GetTheeToANunnery: When the triplets overhear [[spoiler:Senator Wainwright]] talking about removing his horns, they [[ChildrenAreInnocent don’t unnastan]] what he was talking about. But Father Wolfe does.

* GoshdangItToHeck: Rather than using a word like “[[PrecisionFStrike shit]],” Father Wolfe asks his students to say “detritus,” “excrement,” “fecal matter,” “guano,” “refuse,” or “feces.”

* HannibalLecture: A weird, friendly example. When Father Wolfe is talking to Larry in prison, Larry uses his teacher’s own words to condone his attempted murder. Father Wolfe can’t think of an effective response.

* HeroicSacrifice: How Janey Peer died. [[spoiler:Except she didn’t.]]
* HollywoodHeartAttack: Subverted. When Father Friedl’s heart attack begins, he sits down with his hand on his chest and a pale face. He then asks Father Wolfe to call for paramedics. Father Becker was writing from firsthand experience here.

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Jimmy Stone, apparently thanks to his [[CursedWithAwesome Down’s Syndrome]].
* ImprovisedWeapon: Joey Fetter’s baseball.

* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: During Father Wolfe’s NightmareSequence.

* {{Meido}}: At Senator Wainwright’s mansion.

* OffTheWagon: A variation with Senator Wainwright. As a potential governor/eventual presidential candidate, he avoids drinking for long periods of time. Until he does, and then [[UpToEleven he really does]]. And the next morning, he invariably can’t remember what happened to him the previous night. When his wife Gina reveals her pregnancy, Gene assumes she cheated on him, because he [[ButLiquorIsQuicker can’t remember having sex with her]] recently.

* PosthumousCharacter: The murder victims, but also Janey Peer and “Chollie.” [[spoiler:Until Janey Peer shows up in ''Zero Tolerance''.]]

* PunnyName: Cyber Nettick, Randy Jokes, Lyda Lott, Burger Hamm, Hairy Rabbitt, Molly Fied (but that’s pronounced FEYE-yed), Hugh Nohs, Ben Dover, Dana Poynt, Harry Ahrmpitt, Amos Keetoh, Jimmy de Lokk, Cary Meebak, Titus Canbee, Adam Upp, Hans Sendfete, Al Kaline, Gus Zundhite, Otto Mattick, Joe Veeyul, Clay Feeht, Elmer Skloo, Gerry Attrick, Todd Lingh, Chester Rytesyze, Mike Rowfoan, Barry Pye.

* RunningGag: Father Wolfe’s students chastising him for being sarcastic with them: “Sarcasm, no sarcasm, Father.” Also, students showing up to say hello or print something just as Father opens the classroom in the morning.
** “Father, there’s a lady at the door.”

** In Cold Comfort, Joey Fetter saves the day by pitching a baseball into an assailant’s face. [[spoiler:Then he does it again. Then he does it AGAIN.]]
** [[{{Lampshading}} ''”Three bodies in how many weeks? Four? Five?”'']]
* SeriousBusiness: Joey’s signed baseball.

* SignatureStyle: Father Becker likes to include in his prose—or possibly they’re meant to be Father Wolfe’s thoughts—hyphenated interjections.
* SingleMindedTwins: Terry and Barry. ''“It was impossible to tell them apart: they seemed to be one person. And they too seemed to be aware of their oneness.”''

* TheVoiceless: Lyda Lott’s camerawoman.

* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: After Senator Wainwright threatens a priest, gets knocked out by a pitched baseball, and carried away by paramedics, all recorded for the evening news, it’s time for [[spoiler:a quiz on punctuation]].
* VerbalTic: Everyone except Father Wolfe says “unnastan” in lieu of “understand.”

* WorldOfPun: Given [[PungeonMaster Father Becker’s]] favorite kind of joke, this comes as no surprise.
* WriteWhoYouKnow: Father Wolfe is basically Fr. Becker (note that they’re both named after [[Literature/TheBible Gospel writers]]), and pretty much every character who isn’t involved in the mystery plot is a student or another teacher he knew at Brophy. In fact, Kino itself is a stand-in for Brophy.

* YouMakeMeSic: Father Wolfe writes letters to his dead friend “Chollie” containing intentional misspellings and slang phrases as a sort of practice for spotting them when grading essays.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Averted for Zero Tolerance by some fellow Jesuits getting it published after Father Becker’s death. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he was apparently beginning to work on a fourth, which will never be completed now.]]

* UnfortunateName: [[Franchise/HarryPotter Harry Plotter]], [[SantaClaus Chris Cringle]], Clark Clarke, [[Creator/WarnerBros the Warner twins]], Alfred Door (who sits next to the door), Katherine Serasera.

----
[[http://www.amazon.com/Father-Forgive-Them-John-Becker/dp/1403388881/ref=pd_sim_b_1 Reading]] [[http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Comfort-John-Becker/dp/1420836439/ref=pd_sim_b_1 these]] [[http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Tolerance-S-J-John-Becker/dp/1438940815/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279860509&sr=1-1 novels]] will leave you like a firefly in the rain: [[spoiler:[[IncrediblyLamePun de-lighted]]]]!

!!Works and authors referenced by this trilogy include:
* ''Theatre/{{Aida|Verdi}}''
* AlanPaton
* ''Literature/BridesheadRevisited''
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes''
* ''Literature/TheCanterburyTales''
* ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo''
* ''[[FictionalDocument Chiquita's Cheese]]''
* ''Theatre/DamnYankees''
* Creator/DamonRunyon
* ''Literature/FatherBrown''
* FrancisThompson
* Film/GungaDin
* Creator/JohnDonne
* ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''
* ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar''
* [[UsefulNotes/BattleOfLepanto Lepanto]]
* ''Literature/DonJuan''
* Literature/LordPeterWimsey
* Literature/NeroWolfe
* ''Film/OnTheWaterfront''
* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}''
* RichardBrinsleySheridan
* ''[[RobertBrowning My Last Duchess]]''
* ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''
* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes''
* ''[[Film/FieldOfDreams Shoeless Joe]]''
* ''Literature/TheABCMurders''
* ''Literature/TheBible''
* ''[[Creator/RobertLouisStevenson The Bottle Imp]]''
* ''[[Creator/GKChesterton The Blue Cross]]''
* ''[[AJCronin The Citadel]]''
* ''[[Creator/RobertWService The Cremation of Sam McGee]]''
* ''Literature/TheDiaryOfSamuelPepys''
* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies''
* ''Literature/ThePictureOfDorianGray''
* ''[[GrahamGreene The Power and the Glory]]''
* [[Myth/ClassicalMythology The Sword of Damocles]]
* UsefulNotes/ThomasMore
* ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird''
* ''Theatre/TwelveAngryMen''
* Myth/WilliamTell
----

-->''"Hey Father, what’s going on? Are you getting mixed up in another murder?”''
--->--'''Tony Santos''', ''Zero Tolerance''

* AnnoyingLaugh: Dr. Brandt and Allie Carpenter.

* Literature/TheBible ([[CaptainObvious duh]])

* DoesThisRemindYouofAnything?: Early mentions are made in ''Father, Forgive Them'' to the story of [[Literature/TheBible David and Bathsheba]] and, especially, to {{Hamlet}}. By the end, we realize just how similar [[spoiler:Dr. Brandt’s actions are to those of David and Claudius]].

* ''Theatre/{{Aida}}''

* ChekhovsGun: The [[spoiler:eight-ball and the motion-sensing frog]] in ''Father, Forgive Them''. The [[spoiler:triplets’ bullhorn and aluminum foil]] in ''Cold Comfort''. The [[CrowningMomentofAwesome Crowning Moment of Chekhov]], however, is in ''Zero Tolerance'', when Chet [[spoiler:threatens to blame Father Wolfe of sexual harassment unless he receives a passing grade. The threat is recorded by Father Friedl, who had left a hole between their classrooms for electrical wiring in the previous novel.]]

* UnfortunateName: [[Franchise/HarryPotter Harry Plotter]], [[SantaClaus Chris Cringle]], Clark Clarke, [[WarnerBros the Warner twins]], Alfred Door (who sits next to the door), Katherine Serasera.

* ''SherlockHolmes''
* ''[[FieldOfDreams Shoeless Joe]]''

* ''{{Aida}}''

* GungaDin

* ''TheABCMurders''

* ''TwelveAngryMen''

* ''OnTheWaterfront''

* ''[[RobertWService The Cremation of Sam McGee]]''

* [[ClassicalMythology The Sword of Damocles]]

* ''CalvinAndHobbes''

* WilliamTell