The Death of Love

by Bartholomew Gill

Book Overview

The evening before he is slated to unveil his plan to revive Ireland's faltering economy, millionaire philanthropist Paddy Power is murdered, and Chief Superintendent Peter McGarr must investigate.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380719827
• ISBN13: 9780380719822
• Release Date: September 1993
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.4" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Death, love-loss, and keening

Paddy Power had a cardiac condition. McGarr was the Chief Superintendent of the murder squad. He was tasked to consider Paddy's death by Ireland's leaders. Paddy had been an important person in Irish life, a philanthropist. McGarr's wife, Noreen, said that Paddy had wit without malice. The dead man had been planning to launch a political career. He died at a resort where there was to be a conference on the subject of the Irish debt. A female police officer, Ruth Bresnahan, was drafted to help with the investigation. Her role was to play a guest or journalist, and she was dressed in finery suitable for attendance at the conference. Other officers were to masquerade as hotel employees. The murder, if there had been a murder, was a complicated matter of the victim's having been driven to ingest the wrong amount of medicine. Ireland was a small country. McGarr had met some of the suspects who were political and financial leaders. McGarr's wife knew a number of the well-placed people of the country through family connections. In politics, someone opined, quick sure strokes count for everything. Politics offered for political consumption was a mere shadow of the actual workings of public affairs. This point was illustrated by Paddy's notecards written in preparation for his autobiography it was believed. Paddy wrote that life changed through love. Peter McGarr's own life had changed substantially upon his meeting Noreen. Paddy Power felt that the negative side of Irish life consisted of death, love-loss, keening. A former supposed beau, Rory O'Suilleabhain, helped Ruth Bresnahan with the investigation. They were an admired twosome at an address by Dr. Maurice Gladden, self-proclaimed best friend and defender of the interests of Paddy Power. In the course of events, in the aftermath and confusion of Paddy's death and wrongful conduct by Gladden, McGarr was dismissed from the service, from employment at Dublin Castle. Subsequently, McGarr readied himself for a confrontation with Mossie Gladden and was only extricated from extremely dire circumstances by his brother officers. He had used himself and information in his possession as bait. The solution to the mystery is worked out finally through the auspices of a newspaper reporter. This is a splendid crime novel.

A good progression of the McGarr series

I read Death of a Joyce Scholar last week. This week I am reading the Death Of Love. No, I am not dissappointed. In fact, it is an engaging read. It is nice to see the characters grow from the previous story. It is also nice to see these Irish law enforcers engage in some more covert operations as opposed to their usual brand of detection found in the other works. And the writing is just as solid as ever. Check it out.