At the start of Greeley's spirited 12th Nuala Anne McGrail novel (after 2008's Irish Tiger), his feisty heroine delivers a black belt kick to the unlikable new principal's stomach in a schoolyard brawl involving all four of her children. Solving the bullying problem at St. Joe's isn't the only challenge facing Irish-born Nuala and her adoring husband, Dermot Michael Coyne. They must also figure out who beat and threw Finnbar Burke, the nice fella with whom their shy, golden-haired nanny has fallen in love, into the Chicago River. Interspersed with the present-day action is the poignant story of an Irish girl who came to America after all her immediate family died in the famine of 1875. While some readers may feel Greeley dwells too much on Nuala and Dermot's joyous sex life and overdoes the Irish dialect, few can resist the charm of these colorful, warm characters and the author's sympathetic view of the Irish of Chicago. (Feb.)
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Greeley follows his well-established pattern in his latest Nuala Anne McGrail novel. Although the prescient Nuala Anne and her loving—if slightly bemused—husband, Dermot Michael Coyne, are busy attempting to prevent bullies from overtaking the local parish school, they still manage to find time to solve a mystery involving their nanny’s new love interest. When it appears someone is trying to kill young Finnbar Burke, Nuala Anne and Dermot, with the able assistance of Cardinal Blackie Ryan and a host of Wabash Avenue Irregulars, quietly tackle the case. As they wrestle with figurative and literal demons, their story is juxtaposed with the tale of a nineteenth-century Irish immigrant who became one of the first female physicians in the Chicago area and helped solved a perplexing medical mystery during a smallpox epidemic. Although Greeley does a nice job illuminating some little-known facts about Irish American history as he interweaves the past and the present, his penchant for stereotyping his characters detracts from the narrative flow. Still, dedicated Greeley fans will relish another cozy, feel-good visit with the zany McGrail-Coyne clan. --Margaret Flanagan