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BLACK-IRISH SETTER
by Bill Stackhouse
iUniverse, February 2003
234 pages
$16.95
ISBN: 0595270638

Caveat: I read this book in manuscript form several years ago in my capacity as a judge for the Malice Domestic/St. Martin's Press Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Contest.

Caitlin O'Rourke used to be a world-class volleyball player, until she blew out a knee in the 1988 Olympic semi-finals. Now she is part owner of Kehough's Irish Pub in Nashville, Tennessee, along with her brothers Pat and Seamus (and Seamus's wife Mary Grace); Caitlin lives upstairs with W.B., her cat. Seamus and Mary Grace run the bar, Pat is a policeman. Caitlin is more than a little bitter about losing her career, and she hasn't quite figured out what to do with her life, so she plays a lot of pick-up volleyball and basketball, and hangs around the bar. As the story opens, she is considering an offer to coach college volleyball in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The prospect is not pleasant.

Caitlin is no wee slip of a girl; at six-one and not quite 180 pounds, all of it fairly well distributed, she tends to draw unwanted attention from newcomers to Kehough's. One evening, a classy gent named Junior Thigpen won't take "No" for an answer, and winds up with one of Caitlin's knees "where he'd be sure to remember it the next time he sang the descant to O Holy Night with the boy's choir." As a result of that encounter, Caitlin meets Matt Denning, and his wife Delane. One thing leads to another, fairly plausibly, and Caitlin winds up spending three days with Delane in Cove Creek, a "gated resort community with twenty-four-hour security patrols, a golf course, tennis courts, private beach, not to mention our own pool, hot tub, and sauna". At the end of the three days, Caitlin drives Delane back to Delane's regular house, where Delane opens the door and gets her head shot off.

Caitlin becomes convinced that the Delane she spent three days with is not the Delane to whom Matt Denning was married, the Delane who was seriously contemplating divorcing Matt Denning. Caitlin persists in trying to figure out who "her" Delane is, what happened to her, and why. She sometimes works with the police, as personified by Detective "Ozzie" Osborne and her partner Detective Sykes. Sometimes she goes off on her own, which can get her into trouble, both physically and with the police. In the long run, Caitlin is far more help than hindrance to the police, although it doesn't go well at first.

The investigation focuses on Junior Thigpen, for reasons which are obvious and relevant to the story. The investigation progresses. More bodies turn up. Someone tries to burn down Caitlin's garage, which almost kills Caitlin. As one would suspect, this doesn't deter Caitlin but only makes her more determined. The opponent has upped the ante, and Caitlin has always relished that kind of fight.

Caitlin isn't necessarily the most likeable woman you'd want to meet;she's a strong woman with a mind of her own, and very human. The O'Rourke family dynamics are fun to observe, although one can easily understand why Caitlin stands on her own two feet. There are two functions of the plot which I don't like. Mr. Stackhouse sets up the bad guys, one by one, and knocks them down, one by one. By the end of the book, there is only one person left who could have done all the killings (or arranged them) and it's no surprise. Admittedly, one is well into the book when this becomes apparent, and by that time I was hooked enough by the characters to keep reading.

My second dislike has to do with the romantic interest sub-plot involving a high school almost date named Chris Panoaopoulos. There is a lot of potential for character development, romantic complications, conflict between two people raised in second or third-generation immigrant families, etc. Mr. Stackhouse cuts all this off at the knees in a manner which confounds me and which, as near as I can tell, serves no purpose within the novel.

I enjoyed this book the first time I read it, and I enjoyed it this time. I look forward to reading more about Caitlin O'Rourke in the future.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, March 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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