The Bishop in the West Wing: A Bishop Blackie Ryan Novel (A Blackie Ryan Novel) [Hardcover]

Andrew M. Greeley (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Blackie Ryan Novel | Publication Date: July 19, 2002

"See to it, Blackwood," says the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, and Blackie Ryan, the Cardinal's auxiliary bishop, doesn't exactly jump (he never jumps), rather he moseys down to Washington, D.C., where one of his friends, Jack Patrick McGurn, called "Machine Gun McGurn" by the media, has surprisingly just been elected president and needs his help.

Blackie's first confrontation is with Washington bureaucracy; the powers that be don't want to give Blackie a pass to wander in and out of the Oval Office at will. The bureaucracy blinks first and Blackie gets his pass.

Blackie, who can do anything, has been called on to deal with ghosts in the White House. Yes, poltergeists. But there are more problems in the White House than ghosts. A conspiracy abroad in the land results in two men trying to blow up the White House. Happily, Blackie has one of his intuitive moments and manages to get a picture of the terrorists, and he didn't forget to take the cap off his camera. He also got the license number of the getaway car. Blackie also has to deal with four enchantingly beautiful women who, without knowing it, may be responsible for the strange ghostlike behavior of an unhappy spirit. None of these things does Blackie find daunting. He stumbles about his business and waits for enlightenment to come.

The Bishop in the West Wing is one of the finest of the Blackie Ryan stories .We meet again a great cast of characters: Sean Cronin, the Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, who is turning out to be one of the treasures of modern American detective fiction; Mike Casey, the cop turned painter, and Dr. Kate Murphy, Blackie's beautiful and terrifyingly smart sister. With this cast of characters the poor ghosts deserve our pity.

Andrew Greeley was a guest at the White House three times during the most recent administration and his keen eye and powers of observation are put to remarkable use in this latest Blackie Ryan mystery/adventure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fun is the word for bestseller Greeley's latest, lively Bishop Blackie (aka Blackwell) Ryan thriller. It's not a whodunit, but a hoodoo-done-it, the mystery being Who's the hoodoo? A poltergeist is stalking the corridors of the White House, threatening to embarrass the president, who's already confronting a fiercely divided Congress, accusations of sexual harassment and the threat of civil war in China. The press has dubbed President John Patrick McGurn "Machine Gun McGurn" and accused him of being a tool of the Chicago Irish Mafia. The far right view him as no less than Satan himself, being an Irishman, a Catholic and a liberal Democrat. There are rumors (which are true) of conspiracies to discredit McGurn and plots (also true) to take his life. Blackie receives an invitation to the White House from the president, who's an old friend. His cardinal orders him to go: "I baptized him, I officiated at his marriage, and I baptized his kids. I said his wife's funeral mass. Now that he is also president... it is unfitting, offensive, and intolerable that he be haunted by ungodly spirits." Known for his psychic gifts, Blackie has nine possible candidates for the intrusive spirit, including the president's daughters. Most likely the poltergeist is a young, troubled woman in need of love. Greeley dedicates the book to Bill Clinton, an obvious model for McGurn. Republicans may grumble, but plenty of others will appreciate the well-drawn characters, swift action and logical resolution.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Bishop Blackie Ryan is summoned to Washington, D.C., by the newly elected Democratic president to investigate a possible poltergeist. Shortly after his inauguration, President Jack Patrick McGurn, a South Side Chicago Irishman dubbed Machine Gun McGurn by a national media eager to discredit him, is plagued by a series of inexplicable psychic phenomena. Assigned to monitor the situation and intervene if necessary, the deceptively innocuous bishop wanders around the White House, thwarting a devious plot hatched by the disgruntled vice-president and averting an assassination attempt. Since it wouldn't be a Greeley novel without the possibility of a little romance, McGurn, a handsome widower, a devoted father, and the object of a trumped-up sexual-harassment suit, is surrounded by a bevy of beautiful and intelligent professional women. In his own bumbling, inimitable style, Blackie once again proves to be a loyal friend, a formidable foe, and a gifted spiritual advisor. An entertaining romp through the West Wing. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (July 19, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312868731
• ISBN-13: 978-0312868734
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,255,598 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, August 23, 2002

By 

"chris21770" (Holden, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bishop in the West Wing: A Bishop Blackie Ryan Novel (A Blackie Ryan Novel) (Hardcover)

Let me preface this review by saying I have read most of the Blackie Ryan series and have loved them all, despite a few irritations. Let me also disclose that I am a moderate Republican and practicing Roman Catholic. If that shoots my credibility in the foot for you, move on to the next review.

I found the story line in Bishop in the West Wing to be very thin. The central problem of the poltergeists in the White House is brought up from time to time to string it all together, but it seems an afterthought. The true purpose of this novel seems to be to recount Father Greeley's visits to the White House during the Clinton administration, with Blackie playing the part of Greeley and President McGurn as President Clinton. While I would be interested in reading about that subject, I would prefer it in a nonfiction text, as opposed to under the guide of fiction. Having Republicans as a group stereotyped as hate-spewing elists, as they are in this book, is no more fair than stereotyping all Catholic priests as pedophiles, which they are most certainly not. Also, there is a real Rasputin-ish quality to the part that Blackie plays in the White House in this novel. Am I the only one who noticed this?

I was bothered by Father Greeley's characterizations of teenage girls in this novel, as I have been in his past novels. It seems especially evident in Bishop in the West Wing. He portrays them as modern-day "Valley Girls", with ditzy personalities and brainless slang used in every sentence. When one conducts a conversation with most teenage girls and young women, I believe one will find that most of them, especially those of the type Father Greeley is representing in his novels, speak much like the rest of us. I won't even get started on the "ebonics" he imposed on a high-level African-American White House aide in the book.

I am hoping that this novel is an abberation in the Blackie Ryan series, and not a sign of things to come in future novels. Despite the negative tone of this review, I would still nonetheless recommend this novel to Blackie fans such as myself (hence the two stars instead of one). Blackie is a fun, clever character, and spending some time in his world is always an escape from our own. Just hold your nose in parts and pray that Father Greeley will juice things up in the next Blackie novel.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Needs more story and less politics, July 24, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Bishop in the West Wing: A Bishop Blackie Ryan Novel (A Blackie Ryan Novel) (Hardcover)

I have read every work of fiction that I can find that Father Greeley has written, and I love the Father Blackie mysteries. However, I was disappointed in this book because so much time was devoted to promoting the Democrats as victims of a vicious Republican conspiracy. I have always known that Father Greeley was a Democrat, but this was a bit much. It seemed he even went so far as to imply that maybe our former president was not guilty of some of the moral decadence that he finally admitted to, but was really set up by the Republicans of that time period. If you can get past or ignore the political chapters, the Father Blackie story is a good one. I hope this was a one time only jaunt into this level of politics or I may have to find another favorite author.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Book of Bias and Hate, December 29, 2005

By 

E. M. Iwanciw "Avid Reader" (Arlington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bishop in the West Wing: A Bishop Blackie Ryan Novel (A Blackie Ryan Novel) (Hardcover)

Like many, I have been a long-time fan of Father Andrew Greeley and especially his Bishop Blackie Ryan series. The good Father, however, has now betrayed the trust of his readers with this book of bias and hate.

Throughout the book, the author accuses Republicans (not some or a few but all) of being wealthy, corrupt, and crooks. He does not miss an opportunity to level an attack againsts all Republicans, even those who died well over one hundred years ago. One might expect that from a partisan book written by political lackeys. One expects more, however, from a novel written by a priest.

What is most disturbing is that a Catholic priest using a fictional Catholic bishop to directly and indirectly debase all Republicans leaves the impression that his views have the imprimateur of the Catholic Church. Unlike the ficitonal church in this book, the real Catholic Church teaches love and forgiveness.

While he condemns the demogogues of the religious right, Father Greeley has adopted the very same tactics of hate and bias which he supposedly deplores.

Perhaps Father Greeley should write future novels with the words of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who also hailed from Illinois, in mind: "With malice toward none, with charity for all."

This is one book which should not have been written. Or, perhaps it should have as it exposes the real Father Greeley.