Romans Contemporains Le corps du crime

Can a crime novel open with the debate on spirituality and the Church? It was a challenge that Father Francis Aylies was quick to take on in this ambitious book that succeeds in linking the art of suspense with a reflection on spirituality. Marcia has just lost her boyfriend to drugs. Now, at age forty, in an attempt to shake off her melancholy and begin anew, she decides to take a trip along the Italian coast. Things start to go wrong in Genoa when a crime is committed inside a church. During her investigation, Marcia meets Father Stefano and his "band of brothers" teenagers for the most part, living on the outer edges of society, navigating between drugs, prostitution and any way to make some money. As Marcia integrates the group, she comes to face her own questions about the meaning of life and realizes that answers can be found in the scriptures. Jesus, like all men, was confronted with the tourments of existence. Through this intriguing novel, Father Aylies portrays the confrontation between the traditional church and the church inspired by Vatican II and asks the question: where is God's place in our world? Is there a meaning to violence, death and abandonment? Francis Aylies was born in 1962. After his studies he entered the seminary in a rather traditional community. He was ordained in Genoa, Italy and began his career in Tours. For the past eight years he has been working in Bordeaux at the Trinité au Grand Parc where his sermons attract large and very diverse crowds.