Wages of Sin

by Andrew M. Greeley

It happened so long ago--the summer of 1954--when Flynn discovered the mysteries of love . . . and death. Today he still dreams about Maura, his first love: Why did she she abandon him after the tragic fire that claimed the lives of her family? Now, years later, Maura's son is engaged to Flynn's daughter, and Maura is coming back into his life. And Flynn vows to uncover the truth.

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Mystery

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 3, 1992

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

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of twists and turns but, too many characters, and I kept getting confused about who was who.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a lot of characters. Almost too many especially since Henry was also called Hank and Maura was also Moire. Maura's name change was irrelevant to the story. It just caused confusion for no reason. I liked the story once I got past the hallway point. Characters were real and well thought out.

[Frodo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay novel for bed-time reading. Maybe if I had read it straight through instead of in brief installments prior to bed, I would have enjoyed it more.

[Sandy Granato · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay read. However the settings in the story kept shifting from one place to another. I was getting confused. However, towards the end that seemed to settle. Lorcan Flynn (main character) struggles with his demons while he is accused of a crime he didn't commit.

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2472576.html

This is the last of seven books by Greeley set in and around Irish Chicago in the late twentieth century; the only other one I had read was the first in the series, Virgin and Martyr, which I thoroughly enjoyed many years ago. This was also thoroughly enjoyable, the story of Lorcan Flynn, a mostly respectable businessman who becomes motivated to dig into mysterious events of his youth - how he lost his first love, and the death of her relatives in an unsolved explosion thirty-five years earlier -and starts to uncover answers that are difficult to live with. As was usually the case with Greeley, his protagonists are flawed but have their own kind of integrity (apart from a couple of cartoony villains), and underpinning a lot of is lies an optimistic view of an imperfect church. Not deep literature but a fun read.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago, I found Wages of Sin in the discard pile at the beautiful Paxton IL library built with funds from Andrew Carnegy in 1903. Stranded for a weekend away from my own stash of books, I dug it out. I didn't stop reading, except to sleep.
Being Irish Catholic from the southside of Chicago, I really enjoyed all the connections to the Irish, to Catholics, and to Chicago's southside. Maybe all Greeley's books are like this, but I haven't read him before. Now I may be hooked.
This is a good, twisting mystery surrounded by rich details. It filled my lonely weekend very well.

[Donna Jo Atwood · Rating 1 out of 5]

This just seemed like a very bad soap opera. We're expected to believe that Lorcan is a war hero, a sculptor, a poet, a huge business tycoon, and general all-around nice guy--oh, but there's a possibility that 30 years ago he blew up his girl friend's house and killed her parents, so now he's got these recurring nightmares about striped beach towels.
So now I know why I don't read Andrew Greeley.

[Cws]

F Gre

[Clifford Wollum · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great story of action and love. Puts one into the story. This novel was a fast read and so realistic.

[Rebekah · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took a few chapters to settle into it, but now towards the end I am really starting to like this Lorcan guy. Like his family and the sassy Maeve.

[Kerwin Jn · Rating 4 out of 5]

summer time fun , i loved the character so comples, lorcan that is

[Peggy]

#13, good

[Crip · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get into it. Boring and just unlikable

[Judi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I once again love this book ..