Excellent police procedural that takes place in and around Dublin and the Burren, a rocky land in the west of Ireland. Inspector Matt Minogue describes it this way: “ Not enough earth to bury a man. Not enough timber to hang him. Not enough water to drown him.” Yet the monks who founded Corcomroe Abbey in the 12th century blessed it, “Holy Mary of the fertile rock.”

Matt, who was raised in the area on a farm he has few ties but family to, is called back by his family to look into his nephew’s legal problems. The book, which was written in 1992,, reveals the fractures of Ireland and the tension between rural and city, that, I suppose, exists just about everywhere. Eoin, Matt’s nephew, proclaims, “T’was the country people brought us our freedom in ‘21. The people of Clare and plenty more that won our land back from the landlords in Parnell’s day. We took pikes in our hands when we had no guns. We deserve every blade of grass that’s under our feet.”

Ostensibly on holiday, Matt’s investigation into the trial and sentencing of Jamey Bourke. Bourke had set fire to his girlfriend’s house hoping she would run out into his arms. Instead she was trapped and died. Supposedly on medication, Bourke has been released, but he has his own agenda. Matt’s investigation is hampered by the attempted suicide of his sergeant and the conflict between The Garda Commissioner Tynan, the local Garda Superintendent, Tom Russell, and Minogues boss Kilmartin on the national murder squad. Each has his own reasons for wanting the other to wind up with mud on his face and Minogue’s quasi-investigation into the shotgun death of Bourke by a German national wanting to buy up local land bring tourism to the area. Then there are the tensions caused by an IRA arms clash and the desire of the local superintendent to ask for “new commando type outfits to patrol the place. The ones trained to eat their children and run through walls with their heads.” It doesn’t help that Eoin is suspected of IRA sympathies. (Remember this was written in 1990 or so.) The investigation soon becomes intertwined with an IRA plot and police corruption. A very Irish book.

Some lovely Irish words and pronunciations: iijit, bejasus, smucking fart.

Marvelous writing and story. It was also fun to mentally revisit some of the wonders of Ireland from our trip last summer. ( )

A new, at least to me, mystery writer, Brady has a series with Inspector Matt Minogue, a Guard, in Dublin. This story, however, takes place in Minogue's home county of Clare where he gets caught up in a 12-year old murder case. The case was "solved" and a man sent to prison, but there are a inconsistencies in the case that make a lawyer, Crossan, want to reinvestigate it, and he manages to persuade Matt to do so while visiting family in the region. Matt begins to poke around and quickly finds himself embroiled with the locals who do not appreciate him trying to re-open the issue, as well as high politics involving tensions between the local and the central Guard authority in Dublin, and a group of bumbling, but dangerous IRA sympathizers who want to make life unpleasant for foreign investors and who mistake Matt for an undercover agent sent down to try to ferret them out. Mixed into this brew is Matt's concern with his partner's drinking which led to a failed suicide attempt; Matt enlists his partner's help in the new investigation, but is constantly concerned about his friend falling back into drinking.

A good plot with a few good twists that keep you guessing and good writing.
(Nov/00)