I Met a Man Who Wasn't There

Just as Anne O'Brien's plane is about to land at New York's Kennedy airport, she spots a man--whom she later realizes is her grandfather--across the aisle, wearing a white suit with a red rose. Problem is, Marcus Quilligan O'Neill, Esq., has been dead for more than 60 years. Apparently Marcus has begun to haunt Anne, a writer and academic, convinced that she should pen his biography. As Anne researches the old man's life, Callaghan (Mothers) shows what happens to a sophisticated, contemporary woman when she lets her stress level overtake her reason--or is Marcus, in fact, a ghost? When Anne discovers that an innocent man may have been executed in a case Marcus handled back in 1913, her investigations take a serious turn. Callaghan skillfully intertwines the fascinating world of Tammany Hall politics and pre-Prohibition corruption with the life of present-day Ivy League academia, which proves more treacherous than it seems. Anne's lover may be a sociopath, her affable roommate turns out to be on the run from the mob and things come to a head when some of the wisecracking hoods from her grandfather's past materialize in the present, ready to ""plug"" her if she ""squeals"" in the biography. In this comic romp, O'Callaghan fuses intriguing historical detail onto a psychological thriller that features more than one superbly wrought character. Eccentric and thoroughly enjoyable, this novel offers intelligent, witty entertainment. (Nov.)