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This past Friday, I attended a party to celebrate
the publication of Peter Quinn’s
third and final installment in his Fintan Dunne trilogy, Dry Bones. The event was
held at New York University's Glucksman Ireland House, an appropriate venue for Irish America’s
finest scholars and writers.
The Dunne series (the earlier volumes are Hour of the Cat and The Man Who Never Returned) are
detective novels set in the 20-year-period before and after WWII, and are
highlighted by Quinn’s vivid descriptions, colorful dialogue, and mastery of
every detail of New York as it looked, sounded, and was experienced before everything
irretrievably changed.
You don’t have to take my word for it. Read Tom Nolan’s extremely perceptive Wall Street Journal review of Dry Bones and its distinguished predecessors nearly two weeks ago.
Faithful readers of this blog realize that I’m not a
subtle person. This photo of me (holding the books) with Peter proves the
point. The novel’s availability now makes it an ideal time to figure it into
your holiday buying plans. There’s no reason why you can’t do what I have done (and am trying, not so subliminally, to persuade you to do):
buy one for yourself and another for a friend.
(If you’re feeling especially festive, you should
also look into Banished Children of Eve, Quinn’s American Book Award-winning novel of New
York City on the brink of the Draft Riot in 1863--still the worst racial disturbance in American history--and Looking for Jimmy, a
collection of his evocative essays on the Irish-American experience.)
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