A controversial Jewish census record from Roman times … a heroic Vatican official … a difficult moral decision that could potentially damage the papacy irreparably.

Those are some of the elements in "The Parchment" (Lindisfarne Books), an historical novel that appears at a time when papal transition is an increasingly discussed topic. It was written by former Loyola Law School dean Gerald McLaughlin, who calls it "an historical thriller" but admits that when history and the plot collide, he opts for plot. "I'm not writing for professional historians but for the average reader," he smiles.

The novel's hero is Cardinal Francesco Barbo, Vatican Secretary of State. Other characters include the savage Roman General Titus who destroys the holy city of Jerusalem, forcing a rabbi to bury the census record; the Avignon Pope, Clement V, who succumbs to pressure from the French King to suppress the legendary Knights of the Temple of Solomon who possess the document; the fictional Pope Benedict who abdicates in the face of his progressive Alzheimer's disease; and Benedict's urbane successor, Pope Paul VII, who may owe his election as Supreme Pontiff to the Mafia.

"The Parchment" also deals with papal abdication, the Crusades, the Mafia, ancient forgeries and contemporary blackmail. And, the intricacies of a papal election --- an election where a leading candidate is forced to withdraw because of his involvement in homicide and where a second candidate withdraws to help bring peace to the Middle East.

McLaughlin says he was inspired to write "The Parchment" after becoming interested, through a friend, in the Knights Templar. "I decided to write a thriller about them," he says. "But new characters kept getting added to the story."

Being a lawyer, he laughs, was the biggest obstacle he faced in writing the novel. "Lawyers are trained to write clearly --- there are three reasons for this or that," he explains. "You can't write a novel that way. Imagine Polonius telling his son Laertes not to lend or borrow money for three reasons. Writing like this would soon turn off the reader. In fiction, you must portray, not say."

Learning to write believable dialogue was also a challenge. "My first draft of the novel had my characters declaiming things to each other, usually in 20 lines of text," he says. "People don't talk that way --- at least not the people I know. I started to listen to how people really communicated with each other. It was a revelation. Capturing the rhythm and sound of how people talked was a great personal victory for me as a writer."

"The Parchment" is published by Lindisfarne Books, Great Barrington, Mass.; $24.95.