Hang on St. Christopher

Here's Detective Sean Duffy of Northern Ireland's Royal Ulster Constabulary. He wears leather, downs great quantities of vodka and lime juice--Guinness, too--leaves baddies who cross him needing medical attention, nicks Picassos from a crime scene and thoughtfully commissions forged replacements. And he never gets into his car without checking for bombs (it is 1991, in Northern Ireland, after all). We encounter Duffy while he's working part-time, putting in just enough hours to assure his upcoming pension. But he views a crime scene, knows the locals misread it, and is off and running. What follows is an intricate plot that leads beyond the IRA to London and Washington. Readers might become confused, but will be unlikely to give a hoot, because author McKinty is offering something special: a glorious reading experience. The novel is constant invention at a high level, in prose that blooms on the page. The staples of hard-boiled noir--chases, gunplay, capture, fist fights--are deployed in scenes that squirm with energy. And, yes, an abundance of dry humor.

McKinty impressively balances action and intimacy in his appealing eighth adventure for Northern Ireland's Det. Insp. Sean Duffy (after The Detective Up Late). It's July 1992, and Duffy is commuting from Scotland to Belfast six days per month, counting down the hours until he can retire from the Royal Ulster Constabulary. While Duffy's boss is holidaying in Spain, a murder is reported in Belfast: well-liked portrait painter Quentin Townes was killed in what Duffy's colleagues quickly label a violent carjacking. Duffy, on the other hand, has a hunch that the attack was targeted. Soon, he unearths a plot linking foreign forces to the IRA, a discovery that makes him a target for ruthless assassins and sends him to the U.S. to solve the puzzle. As always, Duffy is a sly, lovable narrator, peppering the narrative with witty asides and copious references to 1980s and '90s British pop culture. Enriched by McKinty's brisk plotting, illuminating glimpses at a difficult period of Irish history, and poignant reflections on aging, this is a cracking good time. Agent: Shane Salerno, Story Factory. (Mar.)

If Detective Inspector Sean Duffy can hang on for two years, working part-time at a desk job in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, he'll get his partial pension and will be able permanently to retire to Scotland where his wife and daughter live to escape the Troubles. In Carrickfergus he works at a desk job six days a month and takes the ferry home to Scotland in between. But Duffy is never one to take the easy route. When a murder occurs in Carrickfergus while his boss is on vacation, Duffy and another part-timer catch the case. On the surface, it's a case of carjacking and murder, but Duffy can't find any trace of the victim. His investigation identifies the dead man as an assassin, leading to more violence in 1992 Northern Ireland. Eventually, Duffy's search leads to someone who is trying to cover his tracks and has links to the CIA and the ongoing peace process. It seems that Duffy's options are to wind up dead or, as a one-man wrecking team, destroy the peace process in Northern Ireland. VERDICT An outstanding new installment (following The Detective Up Late) in the award-winning police procedural series featuring lone wolf Sean Duffy and set during the Troubles, from the bestselling author of The Chain.--Lesa Holstine