Library Journal (starred review): "Kerrigan gets the midnight choir humming in an intricately plotted novel that can safely be mentioned in the same breath as those by Rankin."

A dour Celtic copper does duty in a capital city in the British Isles and runs afoul of the authorities while working with (and sometimes against) his colleagues. No, it's not a new Ian Rankin novel but a "Garda procedural," the first publication to appear in the United States by award-winning Irish newspaperman/novelist Kerrigan (Little Criminals).

The story is set in what is clearly the "new" Ireland, the preserve of all things on the way up: Bono, Ryanair, and any number of shiny new solicitors. Slogging his way through a seemingly mundane rape case, Det. Insp. Harry Synott of Dublin feels that he, too, has earned his promised promotion up the ladder to Europol. At his side is Det. Garda Rose Cheney, who is able to tick off the astronomically rising cost of real estate in the Irish capital.

It turns out, though, that the island is as tight as ever, with the rape case having repercussions throughout Irish society, from down-and-out Dixie Peyton to its higher echelons, from Dublin to Galway. Kerrigan gets the midnight choir humming in an intricately plotted novel that can safely be mentioned in the same breath as those by Rankin. For all larger public libraries.

By Bob Lunn