Fenian Street

At the start of this gripping mystery set in the early 1970s from Arthur Ellis Award winner Emery (the Collins-Burke series), the death of Rosie McGinn, a night clerk at Dublin’s Goss’s Hotel, prompts Shay Rynne—who has had a crush on the four-years-older Rosie since he was 11 and their families lived in the same public housing project—to join the Garda Síochána. Two detective inspectors decide that Rosie, whose body was found at the foot of the Goss’s back stairs, fell down the steps accidentally, despite marks on her neck. Determined to find the killer, Shay and his friend Det. Sgt. Colm Griffith doggedly seek witnesses to what happened. That a number of Shay’s relatives have criminal records complicates his quest, but he and Colm succeed in identifying a suspect, shady politician Dermody Risteard. Some months later, Darragh McLogan, a member of the Irish parliament, is found dead behind his house in what proves to be a related case. Meanwhile, bombs go off in Belfast. Emery does a fine job integrating Shay’s personal story with the larger Irish political issues of the period. Adrian McKinty fans will want to check this out. (Sept.)