Irish Mist – A Nuala Anne McGrail Novel
Andrew M. Greeley
Thorndike Press (large print edition), 1999, 513 pp.
Click here to see the rest of this review...
ISBN: 0-7862-3085-1
Dermot Coyne and Nula Anne have been married for a year when this, the fourth novel in the series opens. Nula Ann's plan to have three children before she is twenty-six appears to be a little behind schedule as she is not yet pregnant at the start of the novel. But, just as one of the themes in "Irish Lace" was their pending engagement and in "Irish Whiskey" their pending marriage, and both taking the entire novel to complete, the hoped for pregnancy is announced in the early pages but not verified until the very end of the book.
The novel opens with Nula Anne having one of her fey visions as she and Dermot are airborne heading for Ireland where Nula Anne is scheduled to do a charity concert. Nula Anne has just completed her second hit CD singing Irish tunes and has become famous as a singer in both America and Ireland. But some Irish singers and their fans are upset by the prospect of competing with an American in the market for Irish music.
Nula Anne's vision involves the death of Kevin O'Higgins during the Irish Civil War in the 1920s. In a note at the end, Greeley claims that O'Higgins and his murder were real but mystery surrounds his death. Greeley then uses this to develop an exciting story in which Nula Anne and Dermot solve. In addition to solving the mystery O'Higgins murder in 1927, the two have to deal with some surviving elements who do not want the mystery solved, the envy and jealousy of a competing local singer and the ongoing struggle to conceive a baby.
As in the previous novels, the action starts out early, keeps going at a fast pace and everything is tied up in the final pages. If you liked Greeley's skillful blend of fact and fiction, past and present in the previous novels in the series you will not be disappointed with this one.
The review of this Book prepared by Chuck Nugent
