The Wrong Doyle

Infobox Book |
name = The Wrong Doyle


image_caption =
author = Robert Girardi
cover_artist = Rodrogo Corral
country = United Kingdom
language = English
genre = Mystery novel
publisher = Sceptre
pub_date = 2002
media_type = Print (Hardcover)
pages = 337 pp
isbn = ISBN 1-932112-18-9

"The Wrong Doyle" is a Mystery, or Crime novel by Robert Girardi.

Plot introduction

Tim Doyle after much wandering abroad, returns to his roots on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, investigating the legacy of his Uncle Buck.

Plot summary

Tim Doyle returns to the Eastern Shore after the death of his Uncle Buck. As pressure rises for him to sell out quick, his suspicions rise, and his investigations escalate. He meets the keeper of Uncle Buck's inheritance, Maggie Peach, at Doyle's Pirate Island putt putt golf course and motel.

Characters in "The Wrong Doyle"

;Tim Doyle: is a wandering saloon keeper suffering from a midlife crisis.

;Maggie Peach: is a barmaid, and Tim's love interest on the Shore.

;Augustus Doyle: is a Mexican War veteran, gambler, and Cuban adventurer.

;Tench Doyle: is a pirate and settler on the Eastern Shore.

Publishing history

Originally published by a British publisher, Spectre, in 2002. Then picked up by Justin Charles in 2004 in the United States. His original publisher, Delacorte after the purchase of Random House by Bertelsmann, let slip the well regarded novelist.

Criticism

"One of the great protean imaginations of the twentieth century, Robert Girardi combines a firm grasp of the real with a marvelously entertaining flair for the fantastic. "The Wrong Doyle", as much as "Vaporetto 13" or "Madeline's Ghost", provides a ringing answer to the question: "What if a literary writer knew how to plot?"" Madison Smartt Bell

Kirkus, 01/15/2004" [A] tongue-in-cheek yarn about a feisty Virginian and the scurvy knaves ranged against him....It's all good, not-so-clean fun...."Publishers Weekly, 02/23/2004

Publishers Weekly "Girardi's delightfully improbable and loosely plotted fourth novel...is a raunchily erotic mishmash of pirate lore, putt-putt golf, corporate chicanery, Irish gangsters and tongue-in-cheek reflections on matters ecological."

Marco Notarianni, writing in the Times Literary Supplement, thought that Girardi "takes a risk by focusing on the decidedly banal subject of crazy golf", complained of a "lack of tension" as well as a "general lack of sophistication throughout the novel", commented, that it "still manages to provide entertainment, [which] is testament to Girardi's ability as a storyteller." [http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25361-1925998,00.html]

References