Edmund Bohan: The Irish Yankee

By ELIZABETH JONES

Edmund Bohan's new novel takes us from the American Civil War to Christchurch in the Depression years. It is the fourth novel to feature the charming but flawed Inspector O'Rourke, whom we meet this time under the alias of Sean Brennan, a member of the Union Army and "laughingly christened the Irish Yankee".

It is Tennessee in 1863 and O'Rourke's track record isn't good - he has already mishandled one operation and paid the price but is now entrusted with a secret assignment for General Ulysses S. Grant. He is to escort Major General Francis L. Beaumont of the Confederate Army to Grant's headquarters, where Beaumont is to change allegiance.

But Brennan has an Achilles heel: women. Blinded by the wiles of his charge's daughter-in-law, Louisa Beaumont- who has "features perfect enough to inspire men to make fools of themselves" - he falls victim to her duplicity, to the detriment of yet another assignment.

Part Two opens in 1885 in Christchurch where O'Rourke is held in high esteem as the police lieutenant. But an incident in a hotel brings his presence to the attention of a group of Americans who recognise him as Sean Brennan, the Irish Yankee, who they believed had died at Gettysburg. They decide to gain vengeance for the deeds done back in America that involved the no-good Louisa.

But O'Rourke plans to bring them to justice for their part in the same events, and in setting the trap has to face his own painful memories, and face revelations that affect his future.

Bohan strikes a good balance between historical detail and the developing plot. He respects his readers' intelligence with the enjoyable subtlety of his writing, and by allowing us to see the hero's failings. Highly recommended.

Hazard Press

$22.95