St. Patrick's Gargoyle
Katherine Kurtz
ACE Books, 2001
ISBN:0441007252 (paperback)
The city's gargoyles meet monthly on a moonless night and, like
good Irishmen, bemoan change and the loss of the good old days. When vandals break into St.
Patrick's Church, Paddy, its resident gargoyle, calls on old Templeton, a Knight of Malta who
drives an ancient Rolls Royce for weddings, to help him apprehend the miscreants. Paddy also
brings to life the Rolls Royce's hood ornament, which Templeton tells him is a gryphon, not a
gargoyle. Investigating the scene of the crime with his thirtyish policeman godson, Marcus Cassidy, Templeton finds Death's Deputy at the church, expecting his due. In a nice touch, Paddy argues with the deputy to allow the old man more time to discover who's behind the break-in. Heavy in its piety and exposition of Celtic history, this novel is a determined tourist guide to Dublin sites.
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