The Jekyl Island Club

Rating:
Summary: Really good page turner
Review: I am not a Southern native, but I have had the great pleasure of a weekend at the Jekyll Island Club. There, over oysters and champagne you can can easily imagine a long forgotten patrician America, who spent their weekends "roughing it" in unmatched splendor. One can still have brunch there, served by starched, tuxedo-clad waiters, after whcih play croquet on the lawn or golf on a pretty good course once the property of the Goodyears and the Morgans.

This is the wonderful setting for a period mystery by experienced author Brent Moynahan, who deftly crafts a tale of murder, revenge, avarice and envy set in a prestigious capitalist resort. One of the members, limited by invitation only to the 100 richest men in the US, Erastus Springer, has been found dead, apparantly shot during his morning constitutional. John LeBrun, Brunswick sherriff has been called almost as an afterthought to solve the case, presumably with the least fuss possible to the powerful members. LeBrun, who is above corruption, is thwarted by the members, especially J.P. Morgan and Joseph Pulizer, arch captialist and arch populist rivals in everything except their rabid dedication to the Club.

If flawed, this novel is not the nail-biting suspenseful mystery that leads us along with crumbs of evidence to the great "aha" at the end. It does though admirably succeed in its characterization of the people, especially of the very rich and vary poor, who made fin-de-siecle America, and lived bathed in the resntments and ignorance of the War of Northern Agression. It beautifully paints Georgia of the era and tells a story as much tension and grit as charm and wit. By the satisfying end we care less about the plot reaching its logical conclusion as we do seeing a good man prevail. Heartily recommeended, and and admirable Summer read, especially if you are poolside at one of the Barrier Island resorts.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful and enlightening
Review: It starts out a little slow (some very long chapters) but soon you are hooked. The fascination of moguls of that time and their impact on our history. Well written. You wish there were other books about Sheriff John Le Brun and his crime solving abilities.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful and enlightening
Review: It starts out a little slow (some very long chapters) but soon you are hooked. The fascination of moguls of that time and their impact on our history. Well written. You wish there were other books about Sheriff John Le Brun and his crime solving abilities.

Rating:
Summary: Scranton, PA
Review: Many Georgians and many tourists enjoy the recreation and relaxation of Jekyll Island, one of the jewels of Georgia's "Golden Isles." One of the attractions for visitors to the Island is staying at, or visiting, the restored hotel, The Jekyll Island Club, and touring the "cottages" built by the millionaires who originally developed the island more than one hundred years ago. In The Jekyl Island Club, Brent Monahan takes us back to the time when J. P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, and other tycoons and robber barons vacationed in splendor, and ran their little island as part of their fiefdoms. When one of the guests on the island is found dead from a gunshot, however, they have to acknowledge the local authority, at least enough to have the Brunswick sheriff make official their idea of what happened. Enter John Le Brun, high sheriff of Brunswick and a person with good reason to hold a grudge against the captains of industry who occupy what was formerly his home. Le Brun has his own problems, including a brand new chief deputy who recently returned home is disgrace from Philadelphia and is the son of the local judge. The judge is not a fan of the sheriff's, and is totally in the pocket of the Jekyl Island Club membership. In launching his investigation Le Brun must face the disdain, if not enmity, of club members and some of their staff; concerns about the loyalty of his own deputy; his own feelings; and his sense of justice. The pressure is on, in part because President McKinley is soon to visit the Island, traveling over from Thomasville where he is vacationing at the vacation home of his advisor, Ohio Senator Hanna, to meet with the some of the millionaires and House Speaker Reed, a guest of Morgan's. President McKinley's visit actually happened, and Monahan uses that historical fact and the residual glamor of the Jekyl Island Club, to fashion a neat little mystery. In an afterword Monahan also notes that before and after the millionaires' ownership, Jekyll was spelled with two "l's." While it was their private preserve, there was only one. While this book is not a great mystery, it is a solid one. The greatest charm, however, is in its bringing to life the era of conspicuous opulence and filling out the pictures today's visitors to Jekyll Island have in their imaginations.

Rating:
Summary: History Comes to Life
Review: Many Georgians and many tourists enjoy the recreation and relaxation of Jekyll Island, one of the jewels of Georgia's "Golden Isles." One of the attractions for visitors to the Island is staying at, or visiting, the restored hotel, The Jekyll Island Club, and touring the "cottages" built by the millionaires who originally developed the island more than one hundred years ago. In The Jekyl Island Club, Brent Monahan takes us back to the time when J. P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, and other tycoons and robber barons vacationed in splendor, and ran their little island as part of their fiefdoms. When one of the guests on the island is found dead from a gunshot, however, they have to acknowledge the local authority, at least enough to have the Brunswick sheriff make official their idea of what happened. Enter John Le Brun, high sheriff of Brunswick and a person with good reason to hold a grudge against the captains of industry who occupy what was formerly his home. Le Brun has his own problems, including a brand new chief deputy who recently returned home is disgrace from Philadelphia and is the son of the local judge. The judge is not a fan of the sheriff's, and is totally in the pocket of the Jekyl Island Club membership. In launching his investigation Le Brun must face the disdain, if not enmity, of club members and some of their staff; concerns about the loyalty of his own deputy; his own feelings; and his sense of justice. The pressure is on, in part because President McKinley is soon to visit the Island, traveling over from Thomasville where he is vacationing at the vacation home of his advisor, Ohio Senator Hanna, to meet with the some of the millionaires and House Speaker Reed, a guest of Morgan's. President McKinley's visit actually happened, and Monahan uses that historical fact and the residual glamor of the Jekyl Island Club, to fashion a neat little mystery. In an afterword Monahan also notes that before and after the millionaires' ownership, Jekyll was spelled with two "l's." While it was their private preserve, there was only one. While this book is not a great mystery, it is a solid one. The greatest charm, however, is in its bringing to life the era of conspicuous opulence and filling out the pictures today's visitors to Jekyll Island have in their imaginations.

Rating:
Summary: Another great vacation read!
Review: Monahan has written another, but quite unique, piece of atmosphere and plot that I could not put down. I just wish I had saved it for my vacation in Maui. Perfect for the beach. Best read in broad daylight!

Rating:
Summary: Another great vacation read!
Review: Monahan has written another, but quite unique, piece of atmosphere and plot that I could not put down. I just wish I had saved it for my vacation in Maui. Perfect for the beach. Best read in broad daylight!

Rating:
Summary: Scranton, PA
Review: Pretty cool book - the ties between the characters and persons they portray are incredible... i found myself questioning, could this be real or is it just fiction...

Rating:
Summary: The Jekyl Island Club is Faction
Review: The Jekyl Island Club truly existed. It was created as an ultra-exclusive and guarded winter resort when millionaires from New York, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia bought the island in the Golden Isles of Georgia outright. The membership was strictly limited to 100, but these hundred controlled one-sixthof the entire wealth of the United States. They included the Rockefellers, Goulds, Morgans, Cranes, Bordens. They also, curiously, included Joseph Pulitzer, the genius newspaperman who became a millionaire largely by exposing the robber baron antics of his fellow members. I discovered the 'Millionaire Village' 18 years ago while on my honeymoon. It was abandoned in pristine state in 1945 to the State of Georgia and has been meticulously kept. It can be toured today, and the clubhouse has been beautifully restored as a working hotel. While I worked diligently to craft a good murder mystery, the great strength of this novel is in the dozens of books I read on the period, as well as poring through microfiche copies of The Sun, Journal, World, Times, and Herald of New York, and even mail order catalogues and dialect books to get all the background as perfect as possible. The characters of Morgan and Pulitzer were particularly well researched. My favorite murder mysteries are ones that inform me of a period, a craft, a profession, etc. as well as entertain with a good plot and characters. I feel that I've added such a novel to the ranks with The Jekyl Island Club.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Miss This One
Review: The Jekyl Island Club was my first exposure to Monahan and probably not my last. Monahan's book, set in the late 18oo's pits a crafty, columbo-like cop against an overconfident crew of money men to solve a murder on Jekyl Island. This is a page-turning "historical murder mystery" you shouldn't miss.