Book Review
"The Death of an Irish Lover"
by Bartholomew Gill
William Morrow, 265 pp., $23.00
It is my butt-headed policy to avoid the novels of Irish writers. There is a sadness deep in the roots of their people and places which slowly colors everything in the book shades of gray. Melancholy seeks me out; so, when possible, I run from it avidly.
Thus, it was a celebration to find that Bartholomew Gill has written a charming mystery story set in the Emerald Isle and lighthearted as an Irish jig.
We discover the two murder victims in the first few pages, in that "flagrante" situation as shocking as it is distressing. Thus a drama of murder, sex and eels –– you read it right, eels –– starts out with a bang. No pun intended.
The town of Leixleap (Salmon Jump in Irish) is famous for its eels. The government has eel police (I swear) to catch poachers who are not licensed to net them. The book's accounts of the history of eel breeding and farming are fascinating, especially to someone who considers the slimy things edible.
The murder presents a death scene so appalling, so complicated, that it is like a deadly jigsaw puzzle. Nothing has happened as it appears, and a super sleuth is needed to find the truth, buried as it is beneath misleading fact after fact. Here's where our talented Chief Inspector Peter McGarr methodically begins to track his killer.
When one thinks of Ireland, the lore of the Irish Republican Army comes to mind with all its romantic stories of the fight for independence from England that has raged for hundreds of years. Gill's version is that today some of the former heroes have fallen upon lean times as a troubled peace has come to their homeland. They are not cut out for 9-to-5 jobs like ordinary humans; they see themselves as warriors and, lacking a battlefield, they have become an odd type of Mafia, dealing in drugs and weapons.
The barroom scenes are bright, with the talk funny and full of jokes and light-hearted humor. At the same time, our Chief Inspector McGarr, having come down from Dublin, sees clearly through the Irish mists how to sort through things and find his culprit.
There's a lot going on, plots within plots, in this village on the River Shannon. The picture of present-day Ireland will captivate you as dozens of loose ends finally come together for our likeable inspector. Bravo, Mr. Gill, you've dispelled my Irish myths!
"The Death of an Irish Lover" is available at Dockside Bookshop at Havensight Mall. To check out other Dockside favorites click here.
