Kaddish in Dublin

This brilliant Irish police procedural follows Garda Sgt. Matt Minogue (last seen in Unholy Ground ) on a murder case as it updates the troubles in the isle of saints and scholars. In Joyce's Dublin, now dingy and polluted, women remain subservient under traditions of church and state, while outlanders are labeled ``bog-trotters''; 500,000 of the jobless and hopeless young flee to the U.S. each year, and the country seems to be run by tribes rather than political parties. An anonymous caller to the press identifies the corpse washed up on the beach at Killiney as that of Paul Fine, son of Billy Fine, chief justice of the Irish Supreme Court, and claims responsibility for the murder on behalf of the hitherto unknown League for Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Another body is discovered burnt beyond recognition after being doused with petrol. Mayo man Minogue establishes a connection between the Jewish Paul Fine (Irish Jews total 2000 North and South) and the second victim, who had been a member of Opus Dei, the mysterious Catholic organization founded in Spain to oppose communism. All signs point to a political conspiracy reaching into the Garda, the army and the government. Thoughtful, likable Matt is a man to watch. (Sept.)