A Carra King: An Inspector Matt Minogue Mystery [Paperback]

John Brady (Author)

Book Description

Series: Matt Minogue Mysteries | Publication Date: June 14, 2001

An Irish-American antiquities collector’s son turns up dead, and a curator at the National Museum in Dublin is missing. Police Inspector Matt Minogue suspects a connection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tight plotting and subtle characterization distinguish this sixth Inspector Minogue police procedural set in Dublin. With the chief inspector on three-week leave, Minogue is in charge when Patrick Shaughnessy, an American tourist, is found dead in the trunk of his rented car at the airport. The victim was the son of an Irish-American millionaire, who believes his son was trying to connect to his Irish roots as well as to recover his father's favor after a stint in drug rehab and narrowly avoided charges of assault against several women at home. In tracing the victim's last steps, the police determine that a museum curator named Aoife Hartnett, possibly a key witness, is missing. Before she took a leave of absence from her job, the smart but lonely Hartnett had been putting in long hours setting up an interpretive center at the Carra Fields, a recently unearthed Stone-Age site that promises (or threatens) to rewrite Irish history. Minogue believes that at some time during her leave she converged with Shaughnessy, but with few clues to go by, the inspector is guided by instinct as much as evidence. The plot eventually involves stolen archaeological artifacts, an internationally famous rock band and the prior murder of a notorious gangland figure. Familiar landmarks, convincing dialogue and pungent slang contribute to a nuanced portrait of Dublin. Brady skillfully captures all the upheavals economic and social changes brought about by the Celtic Tiger phenomenon. (June 7)Inspector Matt Minogue mysteries in the coming months.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The sixth Inspector Matt Minogue novel is sure to please fans of the series, who have been waiting more than five years for another visit from the Irish inspector. A body is found in a car at Dublin Airport; the victim, Patrick Shaughnessy, is the son of a prominent Irish American millionaire. Apparently, Shaughnessy got himself in trouble over some valuable antiquities, though, as Inspector Minogue soon discovers, nothing about this case is as straightforward as it first appears to be. Like many recent novels set in Ireland, this one uses the country's politics as a backdrop to the mystery, but unlike some of his competitors, Brady doesn't use those elements merely as local color; instead, he shows us what daily life is like in a country where the simple act of opening an automobile door could be fatal. This is the kind of book for which the term literary mystery was coined; fans of crime fiction set in Ireland or followers of such Irish literary novelists as Irvine Welsh should be thrilled by Brady's tough, smart, unsettling novel. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: Steerforth; 1st edition (June 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1586420186
• ISBN-13: 978-1586420185
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,816,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, February 5, 2002

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Carra King: An Inspector Matt Minogue Mystery (Paperback)

I'm a long-time John Brady fan, so it was with great anticipation that I laid hands on A Carra King. After a somewhat confusing start, with seemingly disparate scenes, the basis of the essential mystery gets laid out (the body of a young American--son of a wealthy Irish-born millionaire--is found in the trunk of a rental car at the airport) and the sleuthing begins. Matt Minogue, Brady's long-time Garda hero, and his partner, Tommy Malone, cover a great deal of territory, and history, in getting to the truth.

Brady's wonderful accomplishment in the creation of Minogue is the tracking of a fine mind as it skitters over thoughts--of art, of music, of history, of character and weather and fatherhood--and, in the process, reveals both the intellect and intuition that go into getting to the truth.

Once past the first few chapters, the book races along. It's a book filled with quirky characters, superior plotting, and a relentless narrative drive.
Highly recommended.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful and smart., July 16, 2002

By 

P. A. Hogan (Providence RI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Carra King: An Inspector Matt Minogue Mystery (Paperback)

Reading a writer for the first time and loving it is a wonderful thing. Knowing that the writer has more books out there is better. Knowing that several of those books are among a series centered around the same fully-developed character featured in the book that grabbed your attention in the first place, is as good as it gets.
John Brady is a first-rate writer who deserves more attention; "A Carra King" is a smartly constructed mystery novel filled with rich, lively dialogue, tense action scenes, and believable characters. If you appreciate superior writing in any genre, read it.