Shortlisted for the Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2016.
Shortlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger 2016.
An involved, complex Irish-set murder mystery with two deaths to baffle Sergeant Sean Duffy in his fifth case. Set in 1987 while some high-ranking Finnish businessmen were visiting Ireland, Sean Duffy is called to their hotel when a wallet is stolen. He meets a young reporter from the Financial Times who is found dead at Carrickfergus Castle the next day. It looks like suicide but not to Duffy. Paedophilia eventually raises its ugly head and what I found quite startling is that famous names now pop into the tale, Jimmy Saville amongst them, coming across as vulgar and rude. Given that the action takes place in the late 1980s it was an interesting portrait of him. The conclusion is fun, in fact a good deal of humour spots the drama. The Sean Duffy series are well worth investing in. ~ Sarah Broadhurst
New York Times bestselling author Adrian McKinty won an Edgar Award for this "e;standout in a superior series"e; (Booklist)."e;Shot through with a smart, crackling humor that manages to be both dark and witty."e;-Boston GlobeIt's just the same things over and again for Sean Duffy: riot duty, heartbreak, cases he can solve but never get to court. But what detective gets two locked-room mysteries in one career?When journalist Lily Bigelow is found dead in the courtyard of Carrickfergus Castle, it looks like a suicide. Yet there are a few things that bother Duffy just enough to keep the case file open, which is how he finds out that Bigelow was working on a devastating investigation of corruption and abuse at the highest levels of power in the UK and beyond.And so Duffy has two impossible problems on his desk: Who killed Lily Bigelow? And what were they trying to hide?
