The Death of an Irish Lover: An Inspector Peter Mcgarr Mystery

By Bartholomew Gill

Book Overview

Crime runs rampant in the ancient, picture-perfect town of Leixleap on Ireland's famed River Shannon. So many thieves have been furtively harvesting the succulent, gourmet-prized and high-priced eels that flourish in the river that there's an Eel Police division whose job is to find and arrest the evildoers. But while poaching may he a matter local lawmen can handle, murder is quite another thing. And when it occurs, a frantic call for help goes out to Dublin and Chief Inspector Peter McGarr. The Death Of An Irish Lover The call has come from a source Peter doesn't much trust: Tim Tallon, a boyhood acquaintance who was once a tactless bully, but has grown up to become - on the surface, at least - a substantial citizen, thanks to his common-law liaison with a well-heeled Belgian woman. The two now own a luxury inn, joined to a lowbrow pub with hot-sheet accommodations for dirty weekenders and their lecherous like. In one of its beds lies a nude couple, so intimately intertwined that one bullet seemingly killed them both. She was Eel Policewoman Ellen Gilday: young, pretty, and recently married, but not to her partner in death. He was Pascal Burke, her boss, a divorced womanizer more than twice her age. It seems that their unsavory affair has been going on for months, both before and after her marriage to a highly regarded local lad, Quintan Finn. McGarr soon finds a witness who may also he a suspect: the charismatic but conniving head bartender, Benny Carson. A former policymaker for the Irish Republican Army, Benny blithely confesses to the double murder as an act of revenge on behalf of the cuckolded Quinton, his nephew. But when McGarr disallows the trickster's "confession," Benny then fingers the infamous Frakes brothers, Manus and Donal, former IRA thugs now employed in eel poaching and various other outside-the-low activities. Benny claims they had involved his hapless nephew in their schemes and done the murders in his behalf. But once again, nothing is clearcut. What seems to be an unraveling mystery is merely a wad of loose ends. There are unexplained oddities, like the seven-year-old girl prowling outside Tallon's inn with a beeper. The testimony of the maid who found the bodies is hopelessly skewed. And more suspects keep turning up as McGarr finds that the victims might have enraged not only their spouses but also eel fishermen, both legitimate and otherwise, and environmentalists, who have long suspected the two were on the take. In this clever and beguiling novel, Bartholomew Gill not only creates a stunningly complex puzzle but also gives the reader an authentic look at the charms, the challenges, and the fascinating contradictions that exist in present-day Ireland. The result is a work that is both informative and unfailingly entertaining.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380977974
• ISBN13: 9780380977970
• Release Date: May 2000
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.9" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Another winner

Another winner in the Peter McGarr series, which were written by American author, Mark McGarrity, until his untimely death last summer. The characters are well rounded, never stereotyped, and the endings never easy to predict.There are enough false leads to keep you guesing until the end. As always we get a picture of Ireland, from the small town gossips to the dark underbelly of the criminal world. McGarr and his cohorts are interesting characters despite their all too human frailties. In a country where murders are refreshingly rare, McGarr keeps busy solving all that come his way. This book is a good read.

An Ireland the tourists never see--if they are lucky.

Bartholomew Gill is an Irish writer of intriguing police procedurals which blend hard realism with romantic story-telling, set always in very confined settings, full of local color and local characters. The intricacies of eel-fishing on the River Shannon, and eel-poaching by IRA sympathizers, who sell the eels at high prices to finance IRA activity, are the offbeat sources of the realism and romance here. When two members of the "eel-police" are found shot to death in bed, in what appears to be a slaying by a jealous husband, Detective Superintendent Peter McGarr and his motley assistants from Dublin are called in. As they investigate the killings in the seemingly idyllic town of Leixleap, the reader is exposed to the slippery underbelly of small town Irish life--the petty jealousies, the abusive liaisons, the manipulations of those clever enough to play "the system," the limited expectations of the young women, and the ties that bind everyone to a beautiful village which has few legitimate opportunities. Ultimately, it's the characters which make the novel come truly alive. McGarr, his family, and his assistants are colorfully drawn, all with unique characteristics which make them memorable. His psychological acuity makes their behavior plausible, and the limited setting provides for much interaction among them and the townspeople. These interactions, not outside sources, lead to the complications which enliven the plot. Gill alternates pathos and humor to moderate the most violent scenes, and his depiction of a child caught unwittingly in the turmoil is especially affecting. This is an absorbing mystery and a welcome change of pace from urban thrillers--no less violent, but perhaps more affecting because its world is so small and its characters, so chummy. Mary Whipple

A good mystery series returns

The Leixleap Inn owner Tim Tallon calls his childhood acquaintance, Ireland,s Chief Superintendent Peter McGarr to report a double murder. The victims are two Eel Officers, Ellen Gilday and her superior Pascal Burke. They have been found in an illicit position that defies her recent marriage to a local lad.Peter, as the head of homicide in the country, begins his investigation into the killing of two cops. He quickly realizes that several motives exist. They could be victims of a love crime from either her spouse or one of his string of lovers. They could be victims of an IRA assassination since a questionable confession from a former member provides a clear-cut tie to the group. Finally, there is the economic crime as there is a thriving eel poaching business that the two cops were assigned to control.The fourteenth McGarr mystery is a taut police procedural that shows why the lead character has been a favorite of readers for over two decades. The story line is exciting as the motive for the killings keeps switching based on the latest findings. McGarr remains one of the more endearing fictional detectives as he still retains his wit and intelligence even with the frustrations of a seemingly ever-changing case. Bartholomew Gill proves he still is one of the masters of the Irish mystery without the trite maudlin gushiness that many authors feel is a requirement of a tale set in Ireland. Harriet Klausner