From Publishers Weekly
Greeley kicks off a new mystery series with this slick, if far-fetched, entry revolving around a hidden fortune in gold and the real-life, still unsolved, question of who killed Free Irish leader Michael Collins in 1922. Dermot Coyne, a 24-year-old American and sometime commodities trader, is in Dublin looking desultorily into why his maternal grandparents fled Ireland in 1922. An attack by three thugs aimed at getting Dermot to "let the dead sleep in peace" only inspires him to start digging in earnest-and, eventually, to uncover a cabal plotting the reunion of England and Ireland. Dermot shares his sleuthing with Nuala McGrail, a ravishing Trinity College student, singer and actress whom he hires to translate the Irish diaries his grandmother kept during the Troubles of 1919-1922. A typically hot-blooded Greeley hero, Dermot waxes ecstatic about Nuala's physique even while struggling to control his lust, which is never satisfied here-though promised sequels to this entertaining novel, including Irish Lace and Irish Linen, should give Dermot and Nuala further chances at romance, as well as at mystery. BOMC dual main selection; major ad/promo. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
On a benign quest, Dermot Michael Coyne travels to Dublin to investigate his grandparents' mysterious flight from Ireland to Chicago during the time of the "Troubles" in 1922. His initial foray produces life-threatening warnings intended to discourage him from delving into Liam and Nell O'Riada's past. In a local pub, Dermot reflects upon the horrifying prospect that Liam might have been a terrorist. Later, he is dazzled by the presence of a "Celtic goddess," Nuala McGrail. Thus begins Dermot and Nuala's passionate relationship. As translator of Nell's Irish diary chronicling the Troubles, Nuala subtly guides Dermot as he untangles a nefarious web of murder and intrigue. With a promise to continue the saga of Dermot and Nuala, priest and prolific novelist Greeley serves up piquant characters who are engulfed in delightful Irish mystery. Recommended for popular fiction collections.--Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland HeightsCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Priest-writer Greeley's latest novel is good. It's the first entry in a planned series of mystery novels, and if subsequent volumes are as well conceived and executed as this one, it should be a fine set of books. Young Dermot Coyne is in Dublin looking into his grandfather's past, particularly why he immigrated to America. Coyne eventually tangles with the Irish Special Branch, who want him to end his investigation. With the help of a young woman he meets in a pub, Nuala McGrail, Coyne learns of British involvement in the murder of Michael Collins, an Irish revolutionary leader gunned down in 1922 in the midst of the Irish civil war. Why is the Special Branch so interested in Coyne and his stone-turning? Because airing of the information on British involvement in Collins' murder would derail the current peace negotiations between Dublin and London. There's a lot of history to sort through here, but the persistent reader will be rewarded by a rich story and will look forward to the return of Dermot Coyne and Nuala McGrail in subsequent novels in the series. Brad Hooper


From Kirkus Reviews
Back in the Old Country to find out why his late grandparents left after the Troubles, insisting they could never return, Dermot Michael Coyne, retired from the Chicago commodities trading floor on a bit of Irish luck, runs headlong into fetching student Nuala Anne McGrail, reason enough to remain on the island forever. But Dermot won't succumb to his desire for Nuala, though he keeps her close by asking her to translate his grandmother's diaries. Nuala will need to work from a photocopy, though, since someone's stolen the diaries and the yellowed sheaf of clippings Nell Pat O'Riada left behind--clippings that suggest Nell Pat knew who killed Irish patriot Michael Collins and Daniel O'Kelly, commander of the Galway brigade, back in 1922. As Dermot and Nuala float through a lilting, tumescent present interrupted by periodic attacks by local bullyboys and veiled threats by their well-placed masters, excerpts from Nuala's translation unfold the parallel love story of Nell Pat and Dermot's grandfather, Liam O'Riada--and hint at the location of a treasure in Irish gold missing since the Easter Uprising in 1916. More romance than mystery, with Nell Pat's intermittent account of Civil War intrigue (complete with unconvincing celebrity killer) eclipsed by the mating dance of Nuala and Dermot. The would-be lovers may be less cloying back in Chicago, where Greeley (Sacraments of Love, 1993, etc.) promises to send them for a new series. (Book-of-the-Month Club dual selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Chicago Sun-Times
"Drawing from the letters of Michael Collins, Greeley portrays the Irish leader as romantic, sensitive, introspective, and also tough."


Review
"A first-rate adventure story."


Baltimore Sun
"A first-rate adventure story."


Review
"Father Greeley has given great attention to the role of imagination in the life of faith. What he is doing is re-evangelizing the imagination, using fiction to address the faith and the mysteries of the faith. That's an extraordinarily significant project." --Cardinal Francis George, archbishop of Chicago

"Nobody has ever left the church because of an Andrew Greeley novel, but many have been attracted back to it by him." --Reverend Ron Rolheiser, O.M.I.

"Michael Collins is now recognized as the lost leader of the 20th century. If he had lived, it is probable that Collins could have ended the Irish troubles. He had the vision and leadership skills to stop the killing and bring all parties to the negotiating table. Drawing from the letters of Collins, Greeley portrays the Irish leader as romantic, sensitive and introspective. Greeley's Collins is also tough." --Chicago Sun-Times

"A tale of young love and faith as modern as U2, with a cast of characters, Irish and American, that very well may open Greeley's work to a generation of new...readers." --Chicago Tribune

"A first-rate adventure story." --Baltimore Sun



Book Description
Bestselling novelist Andrew M. Greeley outdoes his previous triumphs with Irish Gold, a contemporary, fresh and exciting novel of suspense and love. Nuala Anne McGrail, a student at Dublin's Trinity College, is beautiful the way a Celtic goddess is beautiful - not that Dermot Michael Coyne of Chicago has ever seen one of those in his twenty-five years - unless you count his grandmother Nell, who left Ireland during the Troubles with her husband Liam O'Riada, and who would never tell why they left. Somebody else remembers, though - or why is Dermot set upon by thugs?



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.

ANNOTATION

A thrilling tale of love and danger, set against the Irish troubles of the past and present from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense. "Irish Gold revolves around a hidden fortune in gold and the real-life, still-unsolved, question of who killed Free Irish leader Michael Collins in 1922."--Publishers Weekly.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A thrilling tale of love and danger, set against the Irish troubles of the past and present from the New York Times bestselling master of suspense. "Irish Gold revolves around a hidden fortune in gold and the real-life, still-unsolved, question of who killed Free Irish leader Michael Collins in 1922."--Publishers Weekly. HC: Tor.

FROM THE CRITICS

LA Times

A master of the human heart.

Baltimore Sun

Greeley has a fluent, beguiling pen.

Chattanooga Times

Andrew Greeley always writes a gripping novel.

Publishers Weekly

The veteran Greeley plots this latest work with some admirable cunning, which shows up clearly in a highly believable trading expos and in the exacting re-creation of the supposed death of an enigmatic crime lord from Capone-era Chicago. Unfortunately, it all counts for naught beside the truly tiresome twosome around whom this third book in a series (after Irish Gold and Irish Lace) revolves. Nuala Anne McGrail is an Irish beauty with a fine singing voice, all kinds of sexy outfits, a job as an accountant and the gift of second sight. She talks dirty, likes to be fondled and must be the least likely virgin featured in recent literature. Her dutiful betrothed is Dermot Coyne, who also doubles as the narrator. A former commodities trader who's now a bestselling author, Dermot is currently under investigation for the $3 million he netted during his brief trading days. When Nuala "sees" an empty coffin in a cemetery plot, the hunt for a missing corpse is on. The shooting death of Jimmy Sullivan, onetime rival to Al Capone, emerges as just the kind of long-unexplained mystery that exactly suits Nuala's otherworldly gifts and Dermot's dogged legwork. Dermot's trial is fun, and so is Jimmy's turbulent history. But the lovers' dialogue is laughable with its lewd promises for the upcoming wedding night. And then there's Dermot's continuous declarations of his endless devotion and the lustful attention Nuala elicits from every breathing male in Chicago. One might be tempted to opine that Greeley knows less about love (or lust) than he might think.

Library Journal