John Cafferky

You REALLY have to enjoy history to read this one and like it. Lucky for me, I do, and I really got a lot out of this book. I must say, the readership of this one will probably be very narrow, so I'd recommend it to a) those who enjoy reading about Irish history, especially the beginnings of the fight for home rule and b) those who are interested in reading high-society scandals among the British royals, nobles and others around the turn of the century.

The main thrust of this study is to try to understand who stole the Irish Crown Jewels and why. Frankly, I didn't know there were Irish Crown jewels, so that was a revelation. But yes, indeedy, they did exist, and were stolen from Dublin Castle under the nose of their caretaker, Sir Arthur Vickers, and just before a planned visit by Edward VII to Ireland during a time of tremendous turmoil and unrest. Once the investigation began, the findings led to an exposure of a scandalous cohort of homosexuals (remember...at this time, it was still extremely bad to be gay) within the Dublin Castle circle, including Frank Shackleton, brother of the famous Antarctic explorer, and the brother in law of the king.

The authors lay out the problem at the beginning, then do a quick bio of each of the principals involved (the Dublin castle circle) over the next few chapters. Then they paint a picture of the historical setting in terms of troubled times of Ireland, the moral climate just before and just after Victoria's death, and thus lay the groundwork for the investigation. If you don't like history, or want to get right to the point, you're not going to like this. But as I said, I love history, so it works for me. Anyway, from there, they go on to offer their conclusion (and it was actually quite probable, imho) as to why the jewels were stolen, who stole them, and why the British government and Scotland Yard are mum on the topic even up to the time of writing this book.

As I said, this book will probably have only a narrow readership, so it's not for everyone. I thought it was good (a little tedious at times) and it will be a worthy addition to my nonfiction library.… (mer)