Synopses & Reviews
After twenty years in Los Angeles, Ed Loy has come home to bury his mother. But hers is only the first dead body he encounters after crossing an ocean.
The city Loy once knew is an unrecognizable place, filled with gangsters, seducers, hucksters, and crazies, each with a scheme and an angle. But he can't refuse the sexy former schoolmate who asks him to find her missing husband—or the old pal-turned-small time criminal who shows up on Loy's doorstep with a hard-luck story and a recently fired gun. Suddenly, a tragic homecoming could prove fatal for the grieving investigator, as an unexplained photograph of his long-vanished father, a murky property deal, and a corpse discovered in the foundations of town hall combine to turn a curious case into a dark obsession—dragging Ed Loy into a violent underworld of drugs, extortion, and murder . . . and through his own haunted past where the dead will never rest.
Review
“Distinctive, witty, violent and moving...Irish crime fiction has come of age.” John Connolly
Review
“An intricately crafted tale of murder and betrayal.” Library Journal
Review
“[Hughes] vividly conveys the sights, sounds, and smells of the Dublin streets.” Booklist
Review
“[A] promising debut.” Kirkus Reviews
Review
“Declan Hughes breathes new life into the private eye story...[an] artful thrill ride of deception.” Michael Connelly
Synopsis
Returning to Dublin following the death of his mother, L.A. private detective Edward Loy takes on the case of an old friend who asks him to find her missing husband, unaware that the case will trap him in the middle of a dangerous quest involving his late father, two corpses, and the notorious Halligan brothers, leaders of a dangerous organized crime ring. Reprint.
About the Author
Declan Hughes is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter, and the cofounder and former artistic director of Rough Magic Theatre Company. He has been Writer-in-Association with the Abbey Theatre. The first Ed Loy novel,The Wrong Kind of Blood, was nominated for the CWA New Blood Dagger and won the Shamus Award for Best First PI Novel. His second novel, The Color of Blood, was also nominated for a Shamus, and his third, The Price of Blood, was nominated for the Edgar, Shamus, and Macavity Awards for best novel. Hughes lives in Dublin with his wife and two daughters.