Irish Stew!

Nuala Anne McGrail #7

by Andrew M. Greeley

And what a stew it is. Here are some of the Our heroine, Nuala Anne McGrail, in her guise as international singing star, accompanied by her spear-carrying husband, Dermot Coyne, is off to a major music festival in Milan, where they meet Seamus Costelloe, a Chicago Irish macher, and his family. Seamus is no better than he should be, and in fact the suspicion is that he's very bad indeed, but softhearted Nuala sees the sign of death on him-she hasn't lost her ability to see into the future-and decides to do something about it. She also sees something good in him. Which leads to a few hair-raising conflicts with some of Chicago's more desperate characters.

Nuala and Dermot's new baby is premature, and dark clouds hover over their sublimely happy marriage. Meanwhile, Dermot is trying to solve the mystery of Chicago's Haymarket riot, which isn't easy since it happened over a hundred years ago.

Only bestselling author Andrew M. Greeley, with his knowledge of Ireland and Chicago's unsavory politics, plus his uncanny ability to combine two stories-one in the present and one in the past-and his talent for building mystery and suspense to an almost unbearable degree, could have written this truly tantalizing novel.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Romance, Irish Literature, Ireland, Historical, Mystery Thriller

303 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Andrew Greeley was a Roman Catholic priest, sociologist, journalist, and author of 50 best-selling novels and more than 100 works of nonfiction. For decades, Greeley entertained readers with such popular characters as the mystery-solving priest Blackie Ryan and the fey, amateur sleuth Nuala Anne McGrail. His books typically center on Irish-American Roman Catholics living or working in Chicago.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/andrew...

Reviews

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite series! I don't have that many mystery series I read and reread, but this is one of them. I love the history lessons that come with the mysteries.

[Geralyn Soles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of Irish humor and love mixed with a historical “who done it”. Corrupt cops and politicians and innocent men whose sacrifice should never be forgot.

[R.J. Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Greeley's 7th Nuala Anne McGrail novel. This time Nuala gives premature birth to their fourth child Socra Marie so much of the novel is set in the neonatal ICU, but that doesn't stop fey Nuala from sensing danger for Chicago lawyer Seamus Costelloe. She sends her husband Dermot to discover what is threatening Costelloe and figure out a way to stop it. Dermot is also investigating what really happened at the century-old Haymarket Riot. Past and present immigrant conditions are at the heart of this story. As always Greeley fills his story with humor and love. This is a good book.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've truly liked the books of this series I've read. There are some mystical elements that are a bit strange, but the characters are interesting and have mostly good morals. All in all, these are good mysteries. They are written well also although I was surprised at the level of eroticism considering the series is by a priest.
In each book,the couple solves at least one older often ancient mystery and a current-time mystery that are slightly connected as well as work through a crisis in their relationship or,in the later novels,family life.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Socra Marie, pre-mature, had a few troubles during her first few months. Her parents solve the mystery of who is try ing to kill Seamus Costelloe in the present and who threw the bomb at the Haymarket riot on May 4th 1886.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. I always like books that have mysteries in two different time frames. This one does, as do most in the series. Having the lead character be fae doesn't hurt either. The author is a catholic priest but the religion doesn't show up to effect the story.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is taking me a while to get through this one- I don't want to stop reading it- it's enjoyable and I like the characters, but I just can't get into it.. will keep plugging away..

Finally finished-again, great characters but hard to get through..and to me the ending was kind of anticlimactic.

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this series. They are fun, easy to read and give some history to boot! However, you have to start at the beginning and not just pick up in the middle. The characters are endearing, and the Irish banter is priceless. They are great mindless reading! Sometimes you just need that.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy the "Irish ____" stories. Great fun and interesting characters. The juxtaposition of 2 'mysteries' a hundred years apart is well done and serves to double the interest.

[Beth McGoldrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book with history and life intertwined.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A dear friend sent me money to purchase one of Andrew Greeley's early works for a milestone birthday. Thereafter, I read his work promptly after publication. A huge regret that I have is that I missed his lecture at the U of Texas when I was there because I neglected to read the Daily Texan on the particular day of his visit until it was too late. Since then, with other priorities, I have accumulated more of the Nuala Anne McGrail series and have been reading them when I occasionally have some time. I'm now not able to distinguish them and have little memory one to the next. It is my impression that they usually involve parallel plot lines in current times as well as in historical times when there was some tragedy in Ireland or Chicago. Few of the characters want for resources, having money and time to pursue investigations to solve the mysteries. What is charming the first or second time becomes repetitious upon retelling. None the less, I am always interested enough in 'what really happened' that I pursue a bit more reading on the historical event, which was probably Fathy Greeley's intention.

[Mardi D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping I'd like this better, it was just OK because it was a bit of a grind in some places and I found myself skipping over parts that were too much so. Also there were wrong words in some places, the kind that a real proofreader would catch, but a spell checker software would not (eg. "see billows" should have been "sea billows"). I like the characters enough that I will try one more of this series to see if it is better.

[Dale Kueter · Rating 3 out of 5]

It seems rather odd that Father Greeley, a progressive Jesuit, makes the protagonists of "Irish Stew" a fictional wealthy couple. This chic and moneyed pair have the time to solve two mysteries in the same book -- the real bomber in Chicago's real Haymarket massacre (riot) of the late 1800s and a contemporary yarn involving a supposed target of a hit man. I believe I am being generous in giving this story(ies) three stars.

[Pamela Aikman · Rating 1 out of 5]

First time to read this author. Unfortunately, this is the seventh book in the series and the author assumes you have knowledge of the side characters from previous books. Writing style is also not my favorite. One thing I did pick up is the lingo from an Irish immigrant to the US. I am visiting Ireland later this year and reading the lingo used by this character seems helpful.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can’t believe it was rated so high. I wanted to like it. I usually love all things Irish and fey. But instead I kept wanting to just stop reading it and read something else. In all fairness, I have been sick while reading this so maybe that has something to do with it. It’s probably closer to a 3 star but it isn’t a book I would ever recommend.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh...this one was a page-turner. And by that, I mean, I kept skipping pages to get past long passages of the historical narrative. Normally, I enjoy Nuala and Dermot's adventures but this one...not so much.

[Christy Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find Greeley's Fr. Blackie Ryan mysteries better than the Nuala Anne set, but this was still a decent read with some historical information woven in about the Chicago Haymarket incident that I was unfamiliar with. Overall, fair if predictable plot.

[Marianne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll not read any more of this series. Dead boring. Reading this book was a lot like a very dreary overcast rainy day where only rarely does the sun try to shine briefly. IMO it seems like the author was trying to “out-cute” himself, or should I say out Irish himself.

[Powersamurai · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two story lines that never meet. What's the point? I couldn't get into this, but persisted in the hope it would get better. From my rating you can tell it didn't do anything for me.

[Kathy Mertens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Found the jumping back and forth from present day and past confusing and the Irish words and accents hard to read. The historical part of the book and the authors notes were my favorite parts

[Echo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main characters are Dermot, an independently wealthy Irish-American author, and his wife, Nuala Anne, an Irish girl from County Galway who is a bit fey. In this book, Nuala sees the mark of death on a Chicago lawyer, and she and Dermot try to solve the mystery of who is trying to kill him before the murder happens. They are also out to solve the mystery of what happened at a riot more than a century ago.
All of the Nuala books have that sort of modern day/historical mystery going on, usually because of Nuala and her ability to see supernatural sort of things. This usually results in Dermot doing historical research and writing reports for her, which are in the book, so you end up with a lot of history lessons as well. That's one thing that might bore some people. But the characters are fun and the plots interesting.

[Keilani Ludlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love this series. The characters are wonderful, the Irish-isms are delightful, the little Catholicisms (even though I'm so not Catholic) are really fun, and the history he wraps into the story all come together for a delightful yarn every time.

I would rate it a 4 star but his use of swear words (apparently the F word is not that strong in Ireland?) are a little much for me as are the husband's descriptive delights in his wife and her body.
Surprises me every time that a Catholic priest writes these descriptions. Then again, maybe it shouldn't...

Despite the R rated stuff, it's not like hot and steamy harlequin romance R, this is a happily married and devoted couple - and there's something about that which is not so offensive, and he doesn't describe the sex, just the enjoyment of it so to speak - so I just keep reading them because I like the people in them.

[Mary Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually, this is another 3.5 from me.

I hadn't read Andrew Greeley in ages. Picked this one up at a libraby book sale.

Trying to solving 2 crimes - a century apart - was a delightful undertaking for the author. I enjoyed the storylines as well as the character development, being both Irish and Catholic!

[Cws]

F Gre

[Carroll Straus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some Chicago history

[Helen Dettore · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to follow

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting twist of murder attempt in two different centuries.

[Lois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the Irish stories.