Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly

January 9, 2017
Set in 1988 in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, Edgar-finalist McKinty’s riveting sixth Sean Duffy novel (after 2016’s Rain Dogs) pits the detective inspector against some of his toughest foes yet. Francis Deauville, a known heroin dealer, is found shot to death by a crossbow in front of his home, his wife sobbing over his corpse. Duffy and his faithful right-hand man, Det. Sgt. John “Crabbie” McCrabban, wonder whether the murder is tied to a local IRA splinter group known as Direct Action Against Drug Dealers, but no one is claiming responsibility for either Deauville’s murder or a separate crossbow attack on another drug dealer. Back at the station, Duffy also juggles office politics, as it appears the least qualified among the coppers is rising in the ranks, while Duffy remains behind. The IRA, a constant presence in the series, looms large and ugly, notably in a brutal blitz attack, which will leave even seasoned readers shaking. Whether Duffy will live to see another installment remains uncertain to the end. Agent: Bob Mecoy, Creative Book Services.

June 26, 2017
Doyle returns as narrator for McKinty’s sixth Sean Duffy novel. It’s 1988, and Det. Sean Duffy is a Catholic policeman serving in Northern Ireland during the unstable time of The Troubles. He’s seen a lot during his career, but the murder by crossbow of a local drug dealer is something new even in a world where car bombings, riots, and assassinations are almost commonplace. As he and his team dig into the case, he learns that there is more to the dealer’s death than meets the eye, and his continued inquires will endanger not only his own life but the lives of those closest to him. This is familiar territory for Doyle, and he knows exactly how to navigate the material. From the tense opening scene he keeps the story moving at a steady pace, expertly building the suspense as Duffy delves deeper into the mystery. Bolstered by excellent characterizations, Doyle’s reading holds the listener transfixed straight through to the final confrontation when all is revealed. A Seven Street paperback.

Starred review from January 1, 2017
Detective Inspector Sean Duffy of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Rain Dogs, 2016, etc.) tries to cut back on the smoking and do decent police work despite bombs, riots, and bureaucracy.By 1988, the Troubles have turned any high-minded nationalism, loyalist or republican, into little more than a front for drug runners and sociopaths. Still, no one trusts the likes of Duffy, a Catholic taking the king's shilling. When a penny-ante heroin dealer is found dead, the only surprise is that he was shot with a crossbow. For once, the paramilitaries aren't claiming credit for wiping out the scourge of drug dealers (read: their competition), and the silent, untraceable, and perfectly legal crossbow is a devilishly clever murder weapon. The victim's widow, Elena Deauville, has clearly been smuggling their stock in from Bulgaria, and though she's not talking, Duffy knows she knows something. Meanwhile, Duffy's posh, Protestant girlfriend, Beth, wants to move to a posh, Protestant house. When Duffy hesitates, Beth packs herself and their baby off to her parents'. The brass are pushing Duffy to write off the case--no one cares about a dead criminal--when Elena disappears. While Belfast riots, Duffy uncovers a part of Ulster's bloody history casting its long shadows over his case, as over everything else. McKinty's hero is irreverent, charming, and mordantly, laugh-out-loud funny, and his eclectic personal soundtrack and bitter, pragmatic politics make for vivid period detail.

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March 1, 2017

Sean Duffy, a flawed but dogged and streetwise sleuth, is digging his own grave at gunpoint as the latest book in McKinty's (Rain Dogs) series opens. He and his small team of police officers have been stymied since the moment they picked up the case of a Carrickfergus drug dealer killed by a crossbow. The man had paid off paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland. Why would someone kill him? Why did his wife disappear? Who wants to shut down Sean's investigation? VERDICT This gritty mystery that explores violent conflict in Northern Ireland during the 1980s is the sixth book in McKinty's series about the Irish "Troubles"; however, new readers can pick it up as a stand-alone. Perfect for Stuart Neville aficionados and police procedural buffs.--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2017
The chronicles of Sean Duffy could not be contained in McKinty's Troubles trilogy, and this is the sixth novel in the series (after Rain Dogs, 2016). For readers who have not shared in the rapture, there is no time like the present to join. In Royal Ulster Constabulary Detective Duffy, McKinty has created a Chandleresque character who walks the mean streets of Belfast, a man of honorby instinct, by inevitability. He is a somewhat conflicted man in a very conflicted 1980s Belfast, where warring factions both demand protection money from drug dealers and execute them under the auspices of the Direct Action against Drugs (DAAD). Duffy's investigation into the death of a pusher takes him down some dangerous roads, always checking under his Beemer for a mercury tilt switch bomb before he careens off. Like his literary hero, Jules Maigret, Duffy considers himself thoroughly existentially jaded. But he is also very much like his TV idol, Sonny Crockett, from Miami Vice. They each operate effectively in their own demimonde and are supported by high-caliber bromance. Driving it all is McKinty's compelling style: Duffy's first-person narrative and internalized musing are lengthy at first, then reduced intermittently to terse one-sentence statements that move the story along at an astonishing pace. A must-read for fans of Stuart Neville and Celtic noir.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)