All Souls

Like stones enveloped in a thick Irish mist, Brady's images and characters take shape gradually. Gently placed between the harsh urban realities of Dublin and the harsh rural realities of an Irish farm community is Matt Minogue, the jaded homicide inspector of Brady's three earlier books, most recently Kaddish in Dublin . Minogue--with his brother disabled by arthritis and his nephew in trouble with the law--visits the family farm in County Clare, where the lands are in the grip of powerful business interests intent on driving farmers out and drawing rich tourists in. Minogue arrives near terminal burnout, but policing is never far away. A local solicitor wants him to investigate the plight of Jamesy Bourke who, once convicted of murdering a Canadian girl, has returned to the area after his release. Jamesy walks alone at night, talks to his dog and makes the natives nervous--especially the landowning families most eager to turn the place into a haven for yuppies. When Jamesy is killed, Minogue's investigations widen. Brady uses snatches of evocative language and a deliberately languid pace to bring County Clare into focus. For readers who bemoan the sometimes rudimentary literary skills of crime writers, Brady's Matt Minogue novels are a breath of air--occasionally pungent, but undeniably bracing. (Nov.)