Continued: C.J.: Dad gives Rob Hahn's new novel an A; from Mom, its language earns an F

Trudy Hahn raised her tormentor. He's her son.

Rob Hahn, publisher of Midwest Wine Connection and that little snapshot into his psyche named wineheads.com, has written his first mystery novel. "'The Funeral Home Murders,'" said Rob, "deals loosely with the 2002 murders at the O'Connell Funeral Home in Hudson, Wis. My mom, your good friend Trudy, was concerned about how I would portray the Catholic Church in the book. After reading the first and third chapters, she was more concerned about the frequent use of the F-word and various variations thereof."

Trudy got out of her sick bed to take my call and express her everlasting exasperation with Rob: "I thought we did everything the right way. I said, 'Rob, you know, your mom and dad sacrificed to send you to Notre Dame. We did NOT send you there to dwell on this kind of vocabulary. It really isn't necessary.' He doesn't have to do that. The story is good."

After getting his mom going really good over the naughty vocabulary, Rob told me: "I told her, 'Just wait until you get to the sex scenes with the priests!'"

When informed that Rob had also told me about that part of their exchange, Trudy said: "That's not in there. I haven't come across it."

And she won't. "Rest assured, there is NO such content, but it was fun to shock her a little," Rob said.

Trudy was equally concerned about how Rob's father, Bob Hahn, would take the book. "It is a soul-searching book in many parts," Trudy said. "His dad has not read it yet. I do not know if he's going to. What I have proposed is that [he read it] and don't say a word to me, don't say a word to Rob, while reading it."

On Election Day, "Bob Hahn, a.k.a. Rob Hahn's dad," sent me an e-mail saying he had gotten around to reading his son's book. Due to a trip the Hahns, of Winona and Lutsen, Minn., took to France, Bob said he delayed reading the book because he wanted to fully concentrate on it once he started. Bob said he devoted Sunday to reading the book, which he completed Monday morning. "It was really good (and, yes, that probably has a hint of fatherly bias in it, but I was impressed)," Bob said. No mention of the language.

I told Rob Hahn that his young sons are probably already devising ways to smite their dad the way he does their grandmother.

Admittedly, Bobby, 11, and Patrick, 8, have a tougher job, as their Triumph the Insult Dog-lovin' dad is not easily shocked.

By the way, I told Rob that he looks crazy in that photo of him at robhahnbooks.com. "I didn't want to smile for a murder book," he said.

A Newsweek item about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will leave you wondering what she'd have worn had she not been expecting guests.

One night during the GOP convention in St. Paul, "Steve Schmidt and Mark Salter went to her hotel room to brief her," reads the item. "After a minute, Palin sailed into the room wearing nothing but a towel, with another on her wet hair. She told them to chat with her laconic husband, Todd. 'I'll be just a minute,' she said."

Somewhere, Pat Buchanan is very jealous of Schmidt and Salter.

Fine Line Music Cafe manager David Mann left a voice mail with a suggestion for a wild art photo.

"I passed right near the Basilica; usually there are homeless people out there begging [with] signs that say they are 'HIV' or a 'Vietnam vet' or 'Homeless' or 'God Bless.' Usually I don't give money to people unless they have an interesting sign. Today I passed a fellow, and he had a sign; it's ingenious: 'Change is good,'" Mann said.

Count Mann among those moved by the election of Barack Obama as president. "I had tears in my eyes and for the first time in a long time I was very proud to be an American," said Mann, who would never be confused with Michelle Obama.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on FOX 9 Thursday mornings.