cover image THE FOUR COURTS MURDER

THE FOUR COURTS MURDER

Andrew Nugent, . . St. Martin's Minotaur/ Dunne, $22.95 (240pp) ISBN 978-0-312-32758-3

Fans of police procedurals leavened with humor will welcome Irish author Nugent's impressive debut. When an unpopular judge turns up murdered in his Dublin chambers, Insp. Denis Lennon and his partner, Sgt. Molly Power, dig into his secrets. Their suspicions first focus on a young man who ostentatiously observed the judge's last sessions from a restricted-access gallery, but clues lead them to a sophisticated art-theft ring and unscrupulous dealers on the Continent. The way their inquiries alternate with sections from a prime suspect's perspective will remind many of a classic Agatha Christie puzzler. The author puts his rich, variegated background—as a trial attorney, a school headmaster, a missionary and an abbey prior—to good use as he effortlessly conjures up the backbiting and territoriality of those who labor in the court system, as well as the world of the Dublin police. While the solution may be too obvious and the crucial evidence arrives as an improbable deus ex machina, the often comic repartee between Lennon and Power always satisfies. Admirers of Peter Lovesey's Peter Diamond series should latch onto this one and clamor for more. (May 16)