Nuala Anne McGrail Novel S.
5 total works
A novel of modern Ireland, a country that is sometimes plagued by violence as Nuala Ann McGrail and her husband, Dermot, embark on another thrill-packed adventure in search of a long-lost treasure, a quest that could threaten their lives.
Damian "Day" O'Sullivan is a troubled young man who blames himself for a tragic vehicular homicide he may not have committed. Trouble is, Day's entire family seems to be conspiring to pin the crime on the poor lad, which only leads Nuala and Dermot to wonder who really ran over (three times!) Rodney Keefe in the parking lot of a ritzy Chicago country club. The O'Sullivans are a ruthlessly ambitious clan of South Side Irish, who consider themselves the cream of the Irish-American community. The sensitive Day has always been something of a black sheep in the family - and perhaps a scapegoat as well. But the twisted saga of the O'Sullivans isn't the only mystery to be unravelled. Having stumbled onto the diary of Father Richard Lonigan, a nineteenth-century parish priest assigned to a remote village in old Donegal, Dermot and Nuala find themselves caught up in the closely guarded secrets and scandals of that desolate time and place, where simmering resentment against the ruling English sometimes erupted into violence and murder...
This latest tale of Nuala Anne McGrail begins with a foreboding dream of some terrible impending evil, but what is the origin of this nameless peril? From the Homeland Security goons determined to deport the Irish-born Nuala on the basis of nothing more than vague suspicions and accusations? Or from the tangled dealings of the Currans, a prosperous clan of Irish-American aristocrats? The true danger becomes shockingly apparent when a catastrophic car-bombing rocks the Chicago riverfront. Uncovering the twisted minds behind the bombing is not easy; Nuala and her husband, Dermot, soon find themselves enmeshed in a complicated tapestry of lies and secrets. Nuala's instincts also lead her to a forgotten manuscript revealing the treachery and deceit behind a tragic chapter in Irish history: the saga of bold Robert Emmet and the failed uprisings of 1798 and 1803. Between the past and the present, our heroine and her devoted spouse have more than enough mysteries to contend with, but the two of them are bound to make the truth just as clear as...Irish crystal.
Nuala Anne McGrail, a student at Dublin's Trinity College, is beautiful in the way a Celtic goddess is beautiful - not that Dermot Michael Coyne of Chicago has ever seen one of those - unless you count his grandmother Nell, who left Ireland during the troubles, and who would never tell why she left. Somebody else remembers, though - or why else would Dermot be set upon by thugs? Dermot has returned to Ireland to learn just why Nell left - but the answer may kill him, for his quest is linked to the current peace talks between Ireland and England, as well as to the bloody history of the years 1919 - 1923. Soon the irresistible and very canny Nuala seems all that stands between Dermot and death. But Dermot's all that protects Nuala, too. And unless they can unravel the secrets of Nell's youth, not only their lives, but hopes for peace in Northern Ireland, may be imperilled.
The beautiful and fey - as they say in the Old Country - Nuala Anne McGrail uses her psychic abilities to help solve mysteries. But even she will admit with a smile that she couldn't do it without Dermot Michael Coyne, her devoted admirer and self-proclaimed "spear carrier."Now both living in Chicago, their unique courtship is once again interrupted by one of Nuala's "spells." On a quiet street on the South Shore, she is overwhelmed by the screaming of thousands of dying men - Confederate soldiers held as prisoners of war. Soon the pair are caught up in a Civil War controversy, and an all-too-present-day mystery involving a sophisticated gang of art thieves, corrupt politicians, and international terrorists. But Dermot is cheerfully resigned, for as he well knows, life with Nuala will never be simple. After all, she's like Irish lace - "thin and delicate and pretty, and just a little bit complicated."