How to Murder a Man

In his ninth book of fiction, G bler, the son of Irish novelist Edna O'Brien, illuminates a melancholy page of Irish history. In the 1850s Thomas French takes employment as estate manager for Mrs. Beaton, responsible for a residential community where many tenants haven't paid rent for several years. He comes to the job with definite ideas of how to proceed; he will not evict delinquent tenants, but will wipe out their arrears in return for their tenant rights. He will allow them to sell their belongings and keep the proceeds, and will pay their passage to America and a new life. These generous resolutions raise the ire of a vigilante organization known as the Ribbonmen, who control and terrorize the local people. The Ribbonmen serve notice that French is to be killed. Two local thugs are hired to do the job, but through bad management and bad luck, several attempts on French's life fail. The subplot concerns Tim, a poor employee of French's, who wants to marry his sweetheart, Kitty, whose family disapproves of him. Compliant Kitty rejects Tim, too, and in a fit of anger and grief, he joins the Ribbonmen in their plot to kill French. But the lovers come together again, defying Kitty's parents; after Tim flees the Ribbonmen, they now need the aid of French and his assistant Micky Laffin. It might surprise readers to learn that there was an equivalent of the witness protection program in 1850s Ireland. Talented storyteller G bler, writing with a strong, distinctive voice, captures the climate and landscape magnificently: one can smell the burning peat and feel the chill of the fog. (Dec.)