Rating: 
Summary: Parry Does It Again!
Review: "Bold Sons of Erin" is the fifth in a series of mystery novels set in the American Civil War. Owen's protagonist is Major Abel Jones: Union Army sleuth, fervent Welsh immigrant and believer in the American dream, veteran sergeant-major in the British Indian Army, Methodist teetotler, reformed hell-raiser, devoted husband, natural and adoptive father. This story is set in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal country (that Parry loves and understands so well), where Abel Jones searches for the murderer of a Union brigadier general, another immigrant with an interesting past. In the process, Jones encounters Irish immigrant coal miners and a failed priest, intent in their own ways upon frustrating his efforts. There are the usual twists and turns of plot along the way, and a fascinating look at mid-19th Century social and political history. Familiar characters re-appear, and interesting new ones emerge from the story. For experienced Owen Parry fans, this book will not disappoint.For those benighted ones not yet familiar with his work, I strongly suggest this latest effort; but, better yet, start at the beginning with "Faded Coat of Blue" and work happily through the series. You need have no particular interest in the American Civil War, per se, but you will learn a lot. What IS needed is an appreciation of a first-rate novelist at work: working hard, teaching and having fun. Yet like all truly talented novelists, Parry is more that a mere story-teller. He is a social philosopher, a poet of the human spirit, an historian of the American immigrant experience, a wonderful conjuror of words and images, a delightfully mischevious chronicler of European tribal ethnic prejudice and slurs, and an optimist of the first water. He is a master of dialect, and he is getting better at it with each book. If you find yourself re-reading whole passages in order to delight in and absorb Parry's imagery and use of language and telling insights into human nature, then you will have gotten the whole point of his work. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Parry Does It Again!
Review: "Bold Sons of Erin" is the fifth in a series of mystery novels set in the American Civil War. Owen's protagonist is Major Abel Jones: Union Army sleuth, fervent Welsh immigrant and believer in the American dream, veteran sergeant-major in the British Indian Army, Methodist teetotler, reformed hell-raiser, devoted husband, natural and adoptive father. This story is set in the Pennsylvania anthracite coal country (that Parry loves and understands so well), where Abel Jones searches for the murderer of a Union brigadier general, another immigrant with an interesting past. In the process, Jones encounters Irish immigrant coal miners and a failed priest, intent in their own ways upon frustrating his efforts. There are the usual twists and turns of plot along the way, and a fascinating look at mid-19th Century social and political history. Familiar characters re-appear, and interesting new ones emerge from the story. For experienced Owen Parry fans, this book will not disappoint. For those benighted ones not yet familiar with his work, I strongly suggest this latest effort; but, better yet, start at the beginning with "Faded Coat of Blue" and work happily through the series. You need have no particular interest in the American Civil War, per se, but you will learn a lot. What IS needed is an appreciation of a first-rate novelist at work: working hard, teaching and having fun. Yet like all truly talented novelists, Parry is more that a mere story-teller. He is a social philosopher, a poet of the human spirit, an historian of the American immigrant experience, a wonderful conjuror of words and images, a delightfully mischevious chronicler of European tribal ethnic prejudice and slurs, and an optimist of the first water. He is a master of dialect, and he is getting better at it with each book. If you find yourself re-reading whole passages in order to delight in and absorb Parry's imagery and use of language and telling insights into human nature, then you will have gotten the whole point of his work. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Master of the Welsh dialect
Review: A couple of things: First off, any Abel Jones mystery improves when Jimmy Malloy and Mrs. Schutzengel take center stage. Owen Parry doesn't seem to realize this since he spends the early part of BOLD SONS OF ERIN having Jones interrogate a Catholic priest and Franklin Gower, the DA of Schuylkill County. This part of the book crawls along at a snail's pace.
Secondly, there is an acknowledgment section that every fan of the Abel Jones series should read. It will tell you how Parry got to be such a dead-on master of the Welsh dialect.
As a mystery, BSOE is rather lackluster. President Lincoln sends Jones to his home town of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, to investigate the murder of General Stone, who was there trying to recruit an Irish brigade. One of the Irish miners had confessed but had died of cholera. Jones doesn't believe it, so he digs him up only to find the disemboweled body of a young girl. And so on and so.
I thought the best part of the book was the ending. Parry is almost as good at describing battle scenes as he is at dialect. Jones is looking for the illusive young man who had supposedly died of cholera at the Battle of Fredericksburg. After the battle he and Malloy crawl out to retrieve some of the wounded. This is what Jones says about the aftermath: "The hardest wounded men with whom you must cope are the boys who beg you not to move them, to let them lie there and not add to their pain. Some ask you to kill them."
Another impressive aspect of the book is how much Abel Jones grows as the plot moves along. For a Christian man he's awfully bigoted. He's not too fond of the Irish and he certainly doesn't approve of the prostitute who's been frequenting his wife's dressmaking business. But by the end of the novel, Abel and the prostitute are business partners in a coal-mining operation and he admits that the Welsh and the Irish "...are all Americans now."
Rating:
Summary: Historical mystery with macabre, Gothic overtones.
Review: Abel Jones, a Welsh immigrant, is a soldier for the Union Army, seriously wounded during the early campaigns of the Civil War. Sent home to Pennsylvania to recuperate and rejoin his family, he is soon called back to service, this time in an investigative capacity. His high moral standards and his trustworthiness have brought him to the attention of President Lincoln, who has asked him to investigate the murder of General Carl Stone so that Lincoln and the country can avoid an international incident. The Germans and Russians are clamoring to know who killed Gen. Stone in Heckschersville, a community of Irish miners, and why. Gen. Stone has been recruiting Irish miners in Pennsylvania to the Union cause, and an Irishman has confessed to killing Gen. Stone. The Civil War is raging, and local boys are dying. Wealthy mine owners are building personal empires while their workers endure abominable conditions. Revolutionaries and republicans are vying for political influence, churches and parishioners are trying to reconcile Darwin's Origin of the Species with their traditional beliefs, and women who have been the sole support of their families during wartime are being forced into subordinate roles when their men return from war. All these issues, well researched, play a part in the drama and add realism to the novel. Vivid personal glimpses of Lincoln, Sec. of State Seward, and other historical personages, combined with personal observations by Abel Jones, also develop a sense that these are real people engaged in real problems, subject to real, personal limitations. This is not strictly a historical mystery, however. A strong sense of Gothic melodrama infuses the action, and a number of scenes are positively macabre. A gruesomely described exhumation, a visit to a madhouse, and necrophilia, incest, cannibalism, and bloody self-torture play as much of a role in the novel as accurate historical detail. These bizarre details distract the reader from the complex history, some of which, such as the role of labor activists (known as Mollie Maguires), is hinted at but never fully developed, making the author's focus feel a bit fuzzy. Parry is a fascinating writer, however, with many strong gifts. His vibrant characters, dialogue, unpredictable plot twists, and breath-taking narrative of the Battle of Fredericksburg make the reader hope he will find a balance between the excitement of real historical events and the sometimes disturbing melodrama he often creates to accompany them. Mary Whipple
Rating:
Summary: Historical mystery with macabre, Gothic overtones.
Review: Abel Jones, a Welsh immigrant, is a soldier for the Union Army, seriously wounded during the early campaigns of the Civil War. Sent home to Pennsylvania to recuperate and rejoin his family, he is soon called back to service, this time in an investigative capacity. His high moral standards and his trustworthiness have brought him to the attention of President Lincoln, who has asked him to investigate the murder of General Carl Stone so that Lincoln and the country can avoid an international incident. The Germans and Russians are clamoring to know who killed Gen. Stone in Heckschersville, a community of Irish miners, and why. Gen. Stone has been recruiting Irish miners in Pennsylvania to the Union cause, and an Irishman has confessed to killing Gen. Stone. The Civil War is raging, and local boys are dying. Wealthy mine owners are building personal empires while their workers endure abominable conditions. Revolutionaries and republicans are vying for political influence, churches and parishioners are trying to reconcile Darwin's Origin of the Species with their traditional beliefs, and women who have been the sole support of their families during wartime are being forced into subordinate roles when their men return from war. All these issues, well researched, play a part in the drama and add realism to the novel. Vivid personal glimpses of Lincoln, Sec. of State Seward, and other historical personages, combined with personal observations by Abel Jones, also develop a sense that these are real people engaged in real problems, subject to real, personal limitations. This is not strictly a historical mystery, however. A strong sense of Gothic melodrama infuses the action, and a number of scenes are positively macabre. A gruesomely described exhumation, a visit to a madhouse, and necrophilia, incest, cannibalism, and bloody self-torture play as much of a role in the novel as accurate historical detail. These bizarre details distract the reader from the complex history, some of which, such as the role of labor activists (known as Mollie Maguires), is hinted at but never fully developed, making the author's focus feel a bit fuzzy. Parry is a fascinating writer, however, with many strong gifts. His vibrant characters, dialogue, unpredictable plot twists, and breath-taking narrative of the Battle of Fredericksburg make the reader hope he will find a balance between the excitement of real historical events and the sometimes disturbing melodrama he often creates to accompany them. Mary Whipple
Rating:
Summary: Marching along with Abel Jones
Review: After a recent discussion of James M. McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era", several students asked me what other books I would recommend in order to get a sense of what 19th century Americans were like. Their primary interest is in understanding why people responded as they did to the Civil War. Among those titles I suggested were several novels. Owen Parry's "Abel Jones" series was in that group. The latest addition to the Jones saga, "Bold Sons of Erin" goes a long way toward helping today's reader understand the great divergence in attitudes and motivations of those living in the United States during the Civil War. They were not all singing "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" by any means. I think this author is doing us a great service by exploring the complex nature of our society in that period. His curiosity is contagious and his readers are the beneficiaries of his beautifully written stories that probe, investigate, and explain the Americans of the 1860s. I admire Owen Parry's skill in every aspect of his plot development, with his characters wonderfully drawn, and the suspense building to an exciting and satisfying climax. Having said that, I have to say that I enjoy his marvelous descriptions of Civil War combat even more. The last chapter of this book describes the surreal quality of the repeated gallant assaults of Ambrose Burnsides' Union army against Lee's Confederates at Fredericksburg, Virginia on December 13, 1862. As seen through the eyes of Major Abel Jones, it was a day all Americans should never forget. He is a wonderful observer of the American scene and I will always be grateful that Owen Parry is telling his story.
Rating:
Summary: A Major Improvement
Review: I thought that Parry's previous book was not particularly good, and stated in my review that I would try this one when it came out. I am glad that I did, because Parry is back to his usual high level of historical fiction writing. The story involves the efforts of protagonist, Major Abel Jones, to solve the murder of a Union general in the Pennsylvania coal country. The plot twists and turns, the historical details are accurate and quality of writing is excellent. One aspect that I enjoyed immensely is the character development of Jones. By admission, he is a staunch Methodist, but struggles to resolve the realities of life with the strict tenets of his religion. Reading the entire series makes this internal struggle more interesting. We also get to know Jones' family much better. Parry has given us another good effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Sorry, not my kind of book!
Review: If you enjoy reading about a pompous ass major in the Union army that debases every religion, race, sex, political affiliation and nationality that isn't his own...who likes to tell you all about the faults of the Irish and Germans and at the same time praises (over and over) the Welsh (of which he is one of course)... who can't tolerate socializing with a prostitute...who's wife has a lot of sympathy for said prostitute, but none for her husbands adopted daughter...and who will tell you about his "bad" leg at least fifteen times throughout the book, then by all means read this book. Be smart and buy it at a used book store so you will only be ripped off half as bad.
In fairness to the author the story line and plot were alright. For me it was the characters (in particular Able Jones) whom I couldn't tolerate. Mr. Perry did seem to have the habit of many authors where they write a 200 page mystery in 400 pages. I understand that Able Jones is just a character in a book, however it would be nice if he had at least a few redeeming characteristics.
Rating:
Summary: A Brilliant Gem
Review: In BOLD SONS OF ERIN, Owen Parry's fifth volume in his Civil War series, he again delivers a riveting tale, one replete with a cast of fully realized characters in a drama firmly anchored in historical fact. With this novel Parry honors his (and this reviewer's) native Schuylkill County by illuminating the rich but little known history of the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. Coal was the essential raw material of the war effort and the men who mined it are at the heart of this story. Brought vividly to life are the brutally harsh conditions in which Irish immigrants worked and lived, bound by ties as deep and hard as the coal veins they mined. Those ties withstand their sharply divergent views over the relevance of the War to their own struggle to survive, with some mounting a violent resistance to the military draft and others fighting fiercely for the Union Army. As in all of Parry's novels, actual historical figures play a role. Brilliantly presented in this book is Franklin B. Gowen, a would-be robber baron who ultimately failed miserably, here in his early years of empire dreaming, scheming and flagrant abuse of power. Here too is a finely wrought portrait of Black Jack Kehoe, working with Irish miners to organize what would become the Molly Maguires. As for the characters born of Parry's exquisite imagination, Abel Jones remains one of the most engaging characters you're ever likely to encounter. Whether you're meeting him for the first time in BOLD SONS OF ERIN or renewing your acquaintance with the old friend you first met in FADED COAT OF BLUE, the time you spend with him will be wonderfully rewarding. With each book, more is revealed about Abel's past but it is Abel's self-reflection, the way he absorbs experience and changes, that makes him such a vital character. Some other past stars of the series reappear here, the most welcome being the rapscallion Jimmy Molloy, whose keen wit and ability to get to the heart of matters great and small, is pure joy. In a striking departure from past books, Mrs. Abel Jones, who for reasons of plot location we knew through Abel's thoughts of his beloved Mary Myfanwy, is here very much her own person, and a thoroughly interesting one at that. In this book Parry has given Abel Jones his greatest challenge to date: while he pursues the mystery of a murdered Union general, Abel must also work his way through a thicket of tensions, secrets and revelations within his own family. The family drama is deftly woven as a fine complement to the main narrative, one of the many ways Parry proves himself to be a true master of his art. And with his writing, Parry again delivers an exquisite gift to anyone who thrills to the beauty of language. He is a poet clad in prose.
Rating:
Summary: Abel Jones back home
Review: Just when you think this author can not improve upon his last book about Abel Jones, along comes a new work that sets even higher standards! Our intrepid and introspective, if somewhat stiff moralizing hero is back in his hometown of Pottsville to look into the murder of a Union general who was in Schuylkill County recruiting men for soldiers. This plot really expands to nighttime visits to a graveyard, a priest with a terrible secret, witches, and the beginnings of the Molly Maguires. Abel tramps through a lot of small coal towns and patches (Minersville, Hechschersville, Primrose) and having been in all of these places, I can attest to the veracity of his writings about them. He also walks the streets of Pottsville, and I know those streets well, and the directions and contours of the ones about which he speaks are accurate. His characters, as usual, are finely drawn, both the fictional and the historic. We see Franklin Gowen again (there is a little village not far from where I live, named Gowen City, after this man), and are introduced to Black Jack Kehoe, who was played by Sean Connery in the movie "The Molly Maguires". The book is excellent, and if you haven't read any of the ones in this series, I strongly suggest you begin with the first one, and go through them in order. You won't be disappointed.
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