Synopses & Reviews
In Northern Ireland’s darkest corner, the Troubles have never endedThough bombs no longer rock Belfast, for some the fight goes on. Retired Special Branch agent David Hughes disappears after looking into the previously closed case of Oliver Jordan, who went missing at the hands of the IRA decades ago. Soon after, a former spy is found bludgeoned to death, the day after placing his own obituary in the newspaper. Beneath Northern Ireland’s modern calm, ancient jealousies threaten to rend the country asunder once more. A Catholic detective in a Protestant nation, Celcius Daly knows too well the agonies of sectarian strife. To solve this string of murders, he must reach decades into the past, confronting a painful history that Ireland would prefer to forget.
Review
“Quinn has developed a plot that immerses the reader into a darkness we have only read about in the papers or seen on the late night news.” —
The State-Journal Register Review
“Irish journalist Quinn’s fiction debut kicks off a series featuring Northern Ireland police inspector Celcius Daly. This first installment manages to both entertain and enlighten, taking decades of sectarian violence that preceded present-day calm and using this as the background for a suspenseful whodunit.” —
Publishers Weekly“Quinn has developed a plot that immerses the reader into a darkness we have only read about in the papers or seen on the late night news.” —The State-Journal Register
“Disappeared is a major piece of work. Eerily tender, a wonderfully wrought classic that is a landmark in the fiction of Northern Ireland. . . . Line up the glittering prizes of mystery. This one is going to take ’em all.” —Ken Bruen, award-winning author of Rilke on Black
About the Author
Anthony Quinn (b. 1971) is an Irish author and journalist. Born in Northern Ireland’s County Tyrone, Quinn majored in English at Queen’s University, Belfast. After college, he worked a number of odd jobs—social worker, organic gardener, yoga teacher—before finding work as a journalist. He has written short stories for years, winning critical acclaim and, twice, a place on the short list for the Hennessy Literary Awards for New Irish Writing. His book
Disappeared was nominated for the Strand Critics Award for Best Debut Novel, and
Kirkus Reviews named it to their list of 2012’s Top 10 Best Crime Novels. Quinn also placed as runner-up in a Sunday
Timesfood writing competition.
Border Angels is his second novel, the sequel to Disappeared, which also features Inspector Celcius Daly. Quinn continues his work as a journalist, reporting on his home county for the Tyrone Times.