Happy Are the Peacemakers

Father Greeley ( Happy Are the Meek ) not only kissed the Blarney Stone but swallowed it whole for this masterful Bishop ``Blackie'' Ryan whodunit. Setting it in Dublin on Bloomsday, Greeley makes James Joyce as much a part of the plot as the IRA. Beautiful and seductive Nora MacDonaugh's husband, industrialist Jim Lark MacDonaugh, was blown to bits by a bomb just a week after he changed his will in her favor. When the Dublin police discover that her first husband committed suicide and also left his money to her, Nora becomes the top suspect. Her late husband's second-in-command, Arthur T. Regan, hires ex-Chicago cop Tim MacCarthy to pin the crime on her. But MacCarthy is not convinced of her guilt; and since he is nothing if not the second-best detective in Chicago, he soon teams up with the best, Bishop Ryan, to defend Nora and find the real killer. Together, they combat the cynical Dublin police, the IRA, and the late MacDonaugh's family and business associates. MacCarthy proves as entertaining as Ryan, and the inevitable love affair between the detective and Nora is both realistic and tension-provoking. (Apr.)