Vengeance of the Black Donnellys: Canada's Most Feared Family Strikes Back from the Grave

by Thomas P. Kelley

The Vengeance of the Black Donnellys is a fictionalized tale that picks up where The Black Donnellys left off -- at the grim scene of their common grave. What ever happened to the members of the mob that clubbed, stabbed, shot, and burned the two Donnelly parents, two of their sons, and a visiting niece? Why was no one ever convicted of their brutal murders? Who was the mysterious mastermind behind the mob? What happened to the surviving Donnellys? Find out the answers to these and other (some still unanswered) questions in this spellbinding sequel.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, History

212 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Tom Ryerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't a bad book, and I do enjoy Kelley's writing style, but it's got nothing to do with the Donnelly's of Biddulph (much like his first book on the family.) It's an embarrassment to the family name, and I only read it because I want to read all of the main Donnelly books. Going by the numbers this was the third overall, and the second published in 1962, mostly to capitalize on Orlo Miller's recent publication, 'The Donnelly's Must Die.'

[Cora James · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Kelley's defence, he *did* introduce the book as fiction, and the publisher *is* Harlequin. So, do not pick up this book, expecting a continuation of historical fact, or anything less than pulp-driven nonsense. The writing is terrible, the insults hurled at women are unnecessary, as is the description of Ann as a "blonde." I do very much want to visit Lucan, Ontario now, though, and try to find the Donnelly farmhouse.

[Debbie Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read. A little history of early rural Ontario.

[Lorne S. · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are few books that I consider so poorly written and constructed that I would go out of my way to advise people to steer well clear of them. This, unfortunately, is one of those books.

From the opening premise I struggled to find something, anything, to like about this book, but came away empty handed. Part of that may be the awful facts surrounding the actual massacre of the Donnelly family, but most of the fault with this book lies with the author who has chosen to re-tell the story of this brutal episode in Canadian history in a style that can only be described as trite and tedious.

While it is semi-interesting to see the social background of the impoverished Irish immigrant stock which settled in Ontario in the eighteen hundreds, the author's imagined "Lady in Black" and the subsequent hackneyed last-chapter explanation that the teller of the tale was really a ghost in the graveyard makes this an eminently avoidable piece of very poor literature indeed.

For anyone interested in the history surrounding the case of the Donnelly massacre, I suggest going through the Globe and Mail archives rather than wading through this tiresome bit of drivel.

[Irish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vengeance of the Black Donnellys is a MUST read!!
This book is a sequel/expansion of the first book "The Black Donnellys". Fictional or not it is based on tales of the past. Somewhere there is a story and this book gives glimpses of the myths and legends and what could of have been and is still alive after all these years.
There is always some truth in legends, what did go on after dark?????

[Thomas Ryerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pure entertainment only, this story has no bearing to the true story. For the real truth, read The Donnelly Murders by William Crichton and both Donnelly books by Orlo Miller. The Donnelly Volume by Ray Fazakas is also very very detailed.

[Tammie]

I have an old copy that strange as it may sound my mom gave me when I moved into my first (by myself) place..now I am going on a tour of Lucan next summer with my mom...its a bucket list thing for her..the story is local for me & it has peeked my interest in other local crimes from many years ago