SON OF A TINKER

Short stories and some top grade ones in Walsh's best tradition, which is high praise for he is a master hand in this field. Variety, too, with four that offer fare for the most demanding. There's the title story, with a stock plot told in an engagingly way. A tinker pulls himself up by his own bootstraps, goes into business on his own with his competitor, a traveling shop through the Irish countryside, wins himself partnership and the daughter as wife... There's an absorbing ghost story, My Fey with romance and a happy ending -- and atmosphere to your taste... The Bone gives you the days when matters of honor were settled with swords in a story where two Irishmen fight for a fair lady. And there are a generous number of slighter and one with Walsh's beloved ""small dark man"" as a factor -- a goodly array. I'm no lover of the short story , nor yet of dialect tales, but I'll take Maurice Walsh any time. And this is good Maurice Walsh.