Irish Love follows the story of winsome couple Dermot Michael Coyne and Nuala Anne McGrail as they vacation on the western coast of Ireland. Though Nuala is recovering from the stress of her demanding musical career and the birth of their second child, she still has the wherewithal to sense the evil intentions of past and present criminals.

Over 100 years after a mass murder occurred, Nuala and Dermot discover an old diary that chronicles the investigation of that murder and the trial and conviction of an innocent man. As they read about the young journalist Edward Fitzpatrick, they begin to uncover a story that still angers the local inhabitants. As a series of modern crimes occurs, Dermot and Nuala wonder if there is a connection between the past and the present.

That author Andrew M. Greeley has done his homework is evident in his careful reconstruction of a historical time period and a fact-based crime. The story line of Fitzpatrick and the past murders is by far the more interesting one, and readers may happily skip to these italicized sections without missing much about Dermot and Nuala. Good fiction has great conflicts, and the Fitzpatrick story line has enough to keep your interest. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien


From Publishers Weekly
Father Greeley's deep and obvious love for the history and culture of Ireland shines through in his latest contemporary mystery (following Irish Eyes) involving singer/psychic Nuala Anne McGrail and her American writer husband, Dermot Michael Coyne--who finally seems to have come to terms with playing Watson to Nuala's Holmes. So strong is Greeley's affection that it more than makes up for his occasional doses of lame humor (such as the "you should excuse the expression" asides from Dermot and his dialogues with the Adversary, a voice in his head that comments on his follies). Suffering from the strains of motherhood and her psychic crime-solving, Nuala has abandoned her musical career, reluctantly agreed to try Prozac and retreated to the country home in Renvyle, a "bare headland" on the far coast of Connemara in the West of Ireland. There's no escape from crime for Nuala and her daughter, Nelliecoyne, however. Both possess what Dermot calls "fey" psychic powers, and they smell blood in the foggy air while exploring the ruined hovels and caves in the area. Indeed, the site turns out to have been the scene of a brutal massacre in the 1880s. Deftly linking the old crime to current events, which include two explosions and an apparent sniper attack on a water-skiing Nuala, Greeley skillfully depicts an Ireland flushed with economic success but still carrying the scars of historic poverty. (Feb. 14)Forecast: Previous novels in this series have appealed to both the mystery and romance markets, and Irish Love will do the same, with print advertising in Romantic Times and TV advertising on Lifetime, plus author publicity by the effervescent Greeley and an excerpt in the mass market edition of Irish Eyes, due out Mar. 1.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In yet another work of fiction from the prolific priest, Greeley revisits his popular mystery series featuring Nuala Anne McGrail and her husband, Dermot Coyne, continuing the exploits of the crime-solving duo. This time, we find them back in Ireland on vacation, where they are drawn into a complex murder mystery. Nuala, who, as faithful readers will recall, has the ability to see both the past and the future, divines that these modern crimes are somehow related to a mass murder that took place in the area, back in the 1880s. That crime (based on an actual event, in which an entire family was murdered and an innocent local peasant was arrested, tried, and executed for the crime) provides clues for solving the contemporary crime. Despite several attempts on their lives, the plucky twosome piece together the answers to both mysteries and save the day in the nick of time. Greeley has hordes of fans who devour his books as fast as he can write them; librarians should stock up. Kathleen Hughes
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Solid, modest Dermot and fiery, unpredictable Nuala Anne enjoy an ideal marriage: sexy and humorous and unabashedly loving. Happiness is harder to write about than misery, and Greeley deserves credit for making this fantasy . . . as much fun as it is."-Los Angeles Times

"[A] storytelling master." -Chicago Tribune



Book Description
Continuing the enchanting chronicles of the fabulous Nuala Anne McGrail and her spear-carrying husband Dermot, bestselling author Andrew M. Greeley takes them once again to Ireland for another thrill-packed adventure.

Back on the Emerald Isle, Nuala and Dermot soon get the feeling that someone is out to get them. They find themselves dodging multiple explosions, and someone starts shooting at Nuala while she is water-skiing in the cold Atlantic. Meanwhile, the handsome parish priest, Father Jack, has given Dermot the diary of a young Chicago newspaperman. Written in the year 1882, the diary tells in horrendous detail an intriguing story of a mass murder and a trumped-up trial in which one of Ireland's greatest heroes was accused of the murders without a shred of evidence. These two stories, ancient and modern, soon get mixed up, and they make for an utterly fascinating tale of murder, betrayal, and redemption with Nuala and her magical powers at the center of it all. Andrew Greeley not only tells us a riveting tale of adventure and derring-do, he gives us a picture of modern-day prosperous Ireland and the engaging and, of course, sometimes villainous people who live there.



About the Author
A native of Chicago, Reverend Andrew M. Greeley, is a priest, distinguished sociologist and bestselling author. He is professor of social sciences at the University of Chicago and the University of Arizona, as well as Research Associate at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. His current sociological research focuses on current issues facing the Catholic Church-including celibacy of priests, ordination of women, religious imagination, and sexual behavior of Catholics.

Father Greeley received the S.T.L. in 1954 from St. Mary of Lake Seminary. His graduate work was done at the University of Chicago, where he received the M.A. Degree in 1961 and the Ph.D. in 1962.

Father Greeley has written scores of books and hundreds of popular and scholarly articles on a variety of issues in sociology, education and religion. His column on political, church and social issues is carried by the carried by the Chicago Sun Times and may other newspapers. He stimulates discussion of neglected issues and often anticipates sociological trends. He is the author of more than thirty bestselling novels and an autobiography, Furthermore!: Confessions of a Parish Priest.

FROM THE CRITICS

LA Times

A master of the human heart.

Los Angeles Times

Solid, modest Dermot and fiery, unpredictable Nuala Anne enjoy an ideal marriage: sexy and humorous and unabashedly loving. Happiness is harder to write about than misery, and Greeley deserves credit for making this fantasy...as much fun as it is.

Baltimore Sun

Greeley has a fluent, beguiling pen.

Chattanooga Times

Andrew Greeley always writes a gripping novel.

Associated Press