St. Patrick's Gargoyle - Hardcover

Katherine Kurtz has been writing fantasy for well over twenty-five years.

It's bad enough that, with Christmas just around the corner, some "lager louts" have trashed the vaults under St. Michan's church in Dublin. It's worse when Paddy the gargoyle, returning from the Dublin gargoyles' monthly conclave to his own St. Patrick's Cathedral, finds an ambulance and police cars parked outside. Thieves have stolen two silver alms basins and beaten Paddy's favorite verger. Paddy, who like his fellows is an avenging angel reassigned to guard duty, sets off to investigate. Distracted by a gargoyle ornament on an old Rolls, he inadvertently speaks to its owner, Francis Templeton. Then the worst happens: Paddy negligently allows Templeton to see his reflection in the car's polished fender. Reflections show gargoyles' true, angelic miens, and humans who see their glory don't live long thereafter. Luckily, Templeton is 82, with a failing heart and a longing to see Maeve, his wife, again and forever. Moreover, he belongs to the Knights of Malta, a Catholic men's order sworn to fight for the faith. As such, he is qualified to help meet the crisis that the miniwave of church vandalism and theft has camouflaged. A major demon, buried under Clontarf Castle, is about to burst from its worn bindings, and a human must help rebind it. Perhaps Paddy's blunder was part of a higher plan. The creator of the Deryni fantasy series wraps plenty of Dublin sights, fascinating bits of Catholic history, much ecumenical Christian goodwill, a cast of endearing characters, amusing dialogue, and just enough thrills into a charming package of a tale. Although it emerges either 2 months too late or 10 too early, this lovely yarn deserves to become a Christmas perennial. Ray Olson
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