Product Description

Nuala Anne McGrail is almost more than any poor mortal man can handle without losing his sanity: her beauty causes shortness of breath in men of all ages, she's strong, she's smart, she's witty, she sings like an angel, and--to top it all off--she's psychic, or fey as they say in the Old Country.

But our man Dermot Michael Coyne, "accidental millionaire," part-time writer, and full-time worshiper of Nuala, seems to be bearing up pretty well in as much as Herself has consented to marry him.

Before that blissful day arrives, another one of Nuala's "spells" sends the pair on a hunt to find out what really happened to Al Capone's famous rival, Jimmy "Sweet Rolls" Sullivan. And as they've found in previous adventures, historic mysteries can often be too current for safety, and the dead should be left buried--wherever they are.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #215944 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 384 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780812577709
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Library Journal
Nuala Anne McGrail and Dermot Michael Coyne return in the third in this "Irish" series (Irish Gold, LJ 11/1/94; Irish Lace, LJ 11/1/96). When fey Nuala and her betrothed, Dermot, visit the graves of his grandparents, she senses an empty coffin. The coffin belongs to Jimmy "Sweet Rolls" Sullivan, who was a rival of Al Capone. So where is Jimmy? Witnesses swear they saw him gunned down by Capone's men during the celebration of his wife's birthday, where his blood stained the cake red. Nuala and Dermot must reach into the past to discover why Jimmy is not in his coffin. In the meantime, this handsome couple is nearing their wedding and desperately trying to keep their hands off each other until their blessed night. To further complicate the search for Jimmy, Dermot is defending himself against a grand jury indictment for alleged commodity exchange fraud. Typically entertaining Greeley fare; recommended for most public libraries with strong popular fiction collections.
-?Georgia Panos, Johnson Cty. Lib. System, Leawood, Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Greeley continues to crank out entertaining yarns at an amazingly rapid rate. The third installment in the Nuala Anne McGrail series follows the pattern initially established in Irish Gold (1994) and refined in Irish Lace (1996). While native Chicagoan Dermot Coyne proceeds to court fetching Irish beauty Nuala McGrail, both are drawn into a tantalizing mystery that stretches back in time, involving several generations of the Coyne family. Using her inexplicable psychic gift, Nuala is determined to discover why the grave of Prohibition-era gangster Jimmy "Sweet Rolls" Sullivan has lain empty for nearly 70 years. As Dermot and Nuala begin to investigate, they sense their inquisitive foray into the past may have serious consequences threatening their future together. Father Greeley's signature combination of Irish mysticism, Roman Catholic ritual, and Irish American romance will delight his host of faithful fans. Margaret Flanagan

From Kirkus Reviews
This third helping of Oirish whimsy does everything it can to prevent Dermot Coyne and Nuala Anne McGrail (Irish Lace, 1996, etc.) from reaching the hymeneal altar. Nuala Anne is seeing visions again. This time it's a gangster who's buried next to the Coyne family plot--or rather isn't buried there, insists Nuala Anne, who claims legendary Jimmy (Sweet Rolls) Sullivan has been AWOL ever since he was plugged and planted back in 1926. Always obliging, Dermot begins to look into Sweet Rolls's history with the Capone gang, but he doesn't have much time, because his nuptials are approaching rapidly--though none too rapidly for the lustfully virginal couple--and there's an unwelcome last-minute wrinkle: The bride's insufferable older brother Laurence, convinced that Dermot's family and finances are equally disreputable, demands that the wedding be called off. Ordinarily Laurence would be no match for fiery Nuala Anne or her wealthy swain, but just as he's issuing his most high-handed demands, a vengeful old school chum and a careerist US attorney join forces to get Dermot indicted on charges of fraud, citing the $3 million accident that allowed him to quit the Chicago commodities exchange and become the bestselling author of Irish Love. It's this last complication, in fact, that ends up running away with the story. Though fans of Dermot and Nuala Anne's overplotted pair of historical/courtship romances may complain that the story of how Dermot beats the Feds is much less ambitious than the others--Greeley adds about as much mystery to the brew as the lovers do water to their Jameson's--the smiling fairy-tale intrigue of Dermot's troubles perfectly suits the blandishments of his narrative, whose blarney is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw (as non-Irish readers may yearn to do). Accomplished lightweight suspense, though in honest truth there's less suspense about what became of Sweet Rolls's corpse than about what Nuala Anne will be wearing under her wedding gown. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

The luck of the Irish remains safe and secure!
Having been a huge fan of Father Greeley for many years now, I was pleased to see how well he can still spin a yarn. "Irish Whiskey", third in a series surrounding a firery Irish lass named Nuala McGrail, continued to be entertaining as well as insightful. Greeley creates characters that are so alive and real that I find myself hearing them speak in Irish in my head! "Go long wid you now!" Having been raised in the Catholic Church, I find Greeley truly refreshing and insightful with his thoughts about how all of us truly feel regarding the matters of love and sex, and yet we have been programmed to feel guilty about those thoughts! While many think it is shocking that a Catholic priest should write such racy material, I find it refreshing that Father Greeley writes about the things that are beautiful and wholesome, such as the love between a man and a woman. The love story that is the basis of these series of novels, reveals a much more imp! ortant message. It attempts to explains how relationships and marriage can become deeper and more meaningful all within the eyes of God. Greeley and his Nuala McGrail series is a well thought out homily of how he sees men and womem fulfilling their committments to God through their committment to loving one another. Whether you are Catholic or not, you'll love the mystery and if you read carefully enough you will find the wonderful hidden message of how love can conquer all.

A continuation of a wonderful series
Hasn't it been a brilliant ride through the "Irish" series? Won't it be better for you to begin with "Irish Gold" then follow it with "Irish Lace" before arriving here at "Irish Whiskey"? In Gold you will become enamored with Dermot and Nuala Anne. In Lace you will hope for their relationship to develop and succeed. In Whiskey . . . well, wouldn't that be telling now? I eagerly await "Irish Mists" arriving in stores next year. Write quickly Father Greeley.

Masterful Storytelling Saves a Lame Story
I've liked Greeley's work ever since a friend handed me _God Game_ almost two decades ago. Now, however, I'm formally and officially in awe of the man's craftsmanship. I read the book in a headlong, two-days-and-one-night rush, all the while thinking: "This story *shouldn't* be working . . . but it is." It works because Greeley's storytelling abilities salvage a plot that would, in the hands of a lesser writer, have ended in the literary equivalent of a train wreck.

Like the two earlier volumes in the series, _Irish Whiskey_ sets Dermot and Nuala both a historical mystery to unravel. This time, however, the mystery takes more exposition than usual to set up and--once set up--pays off in an unsurprising solution that Dermot and Nuala don't so much reason out as stumble over. Resolution comes in the form of still *more* exposition. Yawn.

Also like the two earlier volumes in the series, _Irish Whiskey_ gives Dermot and Nuala personal obstacles to overcome. Up until now, the problems have been mutual--two lovers working out the tempo and texture of their relationship. This time, however, the problems are separate and external, taking the focus off the Dermot-Nuala relationship at a crucial time in their lives (just prior to their wedding). It doesn't help that the characters responsible for their problems (Nuala's obnoxious brother, Dermot's slimy ex-school-chum, and a politically ambitious prosecutor) are two-dimensional caricatures in a book whose main characters act like living, breathing human beings. Greeley, who can motivate characters with the best of them, barely bothers here. The "bad guys" are rotten to the heroes because . . . well, because *somebody* has to be for the plot to work. The lawyer is particularly ill-served by this. Throughout the last third of the book she repeatedly does boneheaded things for no other reason than to keep the plot moving and set up a big courtroom showdown.

And yet . . . (as herself might put it), doesn't the good Father Greeley make it a fine read altogether? Nuala and Dermot are still two of the *nicest* fictional characters this side of Spider Robinson's "Callahan's Bar" stories, and their dialogue is still delightful for its unfamiliar rhythms (unfamiliar to Yankee ears, anyhow), its humor, and its affectionate verbal jousting. The courtroom scene is riveting, and it's a pleasure to see Dermot's sister (the lawyer in the family) come into her own as a character. I finished the book the way I finished the first two: Smiling broadly, and wishing I could wangle an invitation to dinner with Dermot, Nuala, and their extended families. Ah, now wouldn't that be a time?