Death on a Cold, Wild River: A Peter McGarr Mystery

In his 10th appearance, Dublin police Chief Superintendent Peter McGarr attends the funeral of former lover and expert fisherwoman, 54-year-old Nellie Millar, who drowned one night while casting for salmon in Donegal's River Owenea. Although he has moved on to a young wife and daughter and a career full of ups and downs (he's currently under suspension), old loyalties goad McGarr to investigate when he finds a sharp cut near the back of the waist of Nellie's waders. He meets her most recent lover, a young American with a wide smile and family in tow, and learns that Nellie's purist ways angered local poachers trying to make a living off the river. He also comes across a sultry Scottish woman who's keen on sex and fishing, looks uncannily like Nellie, ties off a fly like a master and has bedded the available men in the village. Having detailed the somber emotional underpinnings of McGarr in previous books, including Edgar-nominated The Death of a Joyce Scholar , Gill, in this well-turned plot, highlights the rugged vibrancy and anachronisms of Ireland and its citizens without ever succumbing to cliched Emerald Isle sentimentality. (Sept.)