McGARR AND THE LEGACY (A Viking Novel of Mystery and Suspense) [Hardcover]

Bartholomew Gill (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The seventh assignment undertaken by Gill's redoubtable Inspector McGarr involves him in shocking conspiracies in a village close to the Irish Sea. Investigating for the Garda (the national Irish police), McGarr must unmask the murderer of an elderly spinster, Fionnuala Walton. Together with her late partner and lover, Dan Daughterty, and his sons Tom and Dan Jr., Fionnuala had managed a successful horse-breeding business based on her experiments in eugenics. Her sisters Siobhan and Machala, as well as great-niece Deirdre, live in Fionnuala's imposing house and could have killed her, McGarr theorizes. To gather information on the Daugherty family, he asks his wife, Noreen, to lodge with the Waltons at the farm adjoining their home. Posing as a vacationer, Noreen is there and in grave danger when Tom becomes attracted to and then suspicious of her. When Tom's mother dies at the hands of the wily killer, Noreen vanishes and McGarr relies on his innate cunning to find her as well as the felon. Integral to the daring plot are the author's amazing descriptions of ancient Irish traditions still observed today and clues to the solution of McGarr's latest case.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In this tale of tradition versus progress in Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains, ancient Profitt McCampbell vandalizes road construction equipment to protect his family burial ground from being uprooted for the sake of a new highway. Piper, a defrocked minister, vows to bring the old man to heel. Mysterious and evil, Piper is both bounty hunter and avenging angel. Sometime in the hazy past, McCampbell had caught Piper in a bear poaching scheme, and Piper was sent to prison. Now Piper rejoices that McCampbell is on the wrong side of the law. A strong sense of regionalism pervades the tale. One might even say that the Great Smoky Mountains and the cemetery are major characters in themselves. By the author of Hub, this second novel is recommended for most public libraries. James B. Hemesath, Adams State Coll. Lib., Alamosa, Colo.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 218 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (June 18, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670806730
• ISBN-13: 978-0670806737
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,994,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Was there life out of the saddle?", September 24, 2005

By 

Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews
(COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: McGarr and the Legacy of the Woman Scorned (Penguin Crime Fiction) (Paperback)

(3.5 stars) Gill's novels are always fun because they incorporate aspects of Irish life not usually included in mystery stories--eel-fishing, secret Catholic societies, literary history, the serious business of salmon-fishing and fly-tying, and in this case, the breeding of race horses. One of the least known of the seventeen mysteries in the Peter McGarr series, this 1986 mystery begins with the death of Fionnuala Walton, whose PhD in genetics and doctorate in veterinary medicine have made her the formidable director of Greenore Eugenics, a horse farm trying to develop a "super sire," a horse so powerful that he will sire champion after champion, regardless of whether the mare is of champion quality.

The several suspects in her murder reflect interconnections and relationships almost as complex as the horse breeding charts in the farm's offices: Siobhan and Machala, Fionnuala's sisters and partners in the breeding farm; Deirdre Walton, Fionnuala's niece and possible heir; Tom Daugherty, son of Fionnuala's former fiancé, and manager of Greenore Eugenics; his brother, Dan Daugherty, Jr., the fiancé of Deirdre Walton; and Mna Daugherty, the woman whom Dan Daugherty, Sr. married instead of Fionnuala. The Daughertys have acquired 480 acres of farm land from Fionnuala, land which originally belonged to the Daugherty family.

Det. Supt. Peter McGarr of the Garda Siochana is called from his vacation to investigate Fionnuala's death. Since McGarr's wife Noreen is the daughter of another a well-known horse breeder, he asks her to stay, incognito, at the B&B run by Mna Daugherty to find out about the Daugherty family and its work while he investigates the Waltons. As is always the case with McGarr, justice is what is important, even if that means bending the rules, and McGarr is not above using his fists to inspire truth-telling.

This mystery, more complex than some of Gill's other efforts, differs in many other respects, too. Noreen, McGarr's always devoted wife, begins to question her marriage. McGarr himself lacks the wry wit and playfulness here which are trademarks in his other novels, and the humor, which usually evolves from the interactions of McGarr and his quirky staff, never develops since McGarr is working almost alone here. Because much of the important action has taken place in the past, it is told about, rather than illustrated, slowing down the plot. The ending does resolve the complex mystery, but Gill has written himself into a corner--some important issues are raised but left unresolved, leaving the reader to wonder about the future. n Mary Whipple