The Wrong Doyle

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, 15 January 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, 23 February 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."