| Brent Monahan's mystery, 'The Jekyl Island Club' is a | | | | making little progress. |
| great glimpse into the lives of the incredibly filthy rich in | | | | The most entertaining part of the novel is Monahan's |
| the last years of the nineteenth century. The setting is | | | | portrayal of Joseph Pulitzer, the news tycoon, as aging |
| Jekyl Island off the coast of Georgia near Brunswick, | | | | and nearly blind but still sharp and very witty. I'm not |
| which was the playground for the ultra-wealthy such | | | | certain how precise the depiction is but this Pulitzer |
| as J. P. Morgan and Joseph Pulitzer, both of whom | | | | adds much to the story, with his jokes and |
| appear in the novel. | | | | over-bearing ego. |
| The story opens as a member of the club is found | | | | The story does pick up the pace a bit after one of the |
| murdered and Morgan tries to pressure the local | | | | club's servants is murdered in what appears to be a |
| sheriff, John Le Brun, into concluding it was an | | | | random act of burglary at a bar on the mainland. The |
| accidental death by a poacher. An open and shut | | | | action moves along from that point with the sheriff and |
| case. Le Brun, not one to be bullied, insists on a | | | | the deputy finding more clues and finally gaining |
| thorough investigation to find the murderer but also | | | | respect among the titans of industry. |
| what the millionaires are hiding on their exclusive resort. | | | | The conclusion, however, is rather complicated, which |
| With his somewhat duplicitous deputy Warfield | | | | is a sharp contrast to the rest of the story. For the |
| Tidewell, Le Brun sets out interviewing the members | | | | first three-fourths of the book, the sheriff and the |
| on the island and, at length, uncovers some very ugly | | | | deputy find very few clues and even fewer are given |
| truths and politically motivated agendas. President | | | | to the reader when, in the last chapters, the bulk of the |
| McKinley visits the club during the events in the | | | | evidence is found. The sheriff reveals the solution in a |
| mystery but never becomes more than a peripheral | | | | long and meticulous monologue during which the |
| character and exits the story without incident. | | | | reader is as impatient with him as are Morgan and |
| Although the details and facts behind the island and | | | | Pulitzer, when they angrily urge him to get to the point. |
| club, its members and the political climate of the time | | | | It is an entertaining read, despite the lull in action. The |
| are historically accurate and wonderfully written, the | | | | characters are colorful and the writing is superb. One |
| story tends to drag for much of the book. Since clues | | | | can get a great lesson in U. S. history if one is paying |
| to the murder are few and no one is willing to | | | | attention. This certainly was much more enjoyable than |
| cooperate, the sheriff and deputy spend most of their | | | | any history text book. |
| time interviewing and re-interviewing club members, | | | | |