Book #6 in this excellent series finds DS Aector McAvoy on a personal mission across the pond.

It all begins when Irish boxing coach Brishen Ayres & his protege Shay Helden travel to NYC. Within days, Brishen is in a coma & Shay is dead. Det. Ronald Alto of the 7th precinct is handed the case & it’s a head scratcher. So when he hears an English detective is coming over to check in on the investigation, he welcomes the help.

Aector has no clue what happened to Ayres & Helden. It’s a third Irishman he’s interested in. Valentine Teague is another boxing prospect & Shay’s rival in the ring. He followed them to the Big Apple & promptly disappeared. Back in Ireland, Shay’s relatives are certain Valentine is responsible for the attack & declare war on his family. And that includes his estranged sister Roisin McAvoy, Aector’s wife.

What follows is an incredibly complex plot with multiple narrators adding their two bits to the overall story. The murder investigation is just the first step down a path that leads to plot lines involving illegal boxing, a disillusioned priest with mob ties, old unsolved murders, a Chechen hit man & the twisted character known as “the Penitent”. Each is given plenty of space to tell their story with some beginning in the 1970’s. As these slowly develop & begin to intersect, ties to the present day investigation become clear.

As usual, Aector is the emotional core of the story. He’s a big Scottish fish out of water, bewildered by the teeming streets & mobs around him. He’s homesick & desperately misses his family but Roisin’s safety is at stake. He’s on shaky ground professionally with no official status & depends on Alto to keep him in the loop. It’s a clash of cultures as the 2 men work together & they make an interesting pair. Alto is a battle worn New York cop whose wife left due to his inability to leave the job at the office. Initially he’s bemused by the seemingly naive DS but comes to appreciate there may be a brain behind all that brawn.

This is a book that rewards the patient reader. The back story is huge & it takes awhile for the big picture to come into focus, kind of like one of those 1000 piece puzzles. And if you’re a “cozy” fan? Run! It’s a dark, gritty read full of characters desperate to get what they want whether it’s money, power or redemption. At times there’s not much moral ground separating the good guys from the bad. Fortunately the author provides moments of comic relief in the chapters narrated by Brishen as he ruminates on events from inside his coma.

This can be read as a stand alone but I recommend starting with “The Dark Winter”. Aector has a colourful past & each book adds to the development of this compelling character. ( )