Customer Reviews

The Death of a Joyce Scholar (A&B Crime)

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If you don't know Irish detective Peter McGarr, this terrific novel from 1989 is a great introduction! Where else but Dublin might you find a James Joyce scholar dead, and McGarr and the Murder Squad of the Garda Siochana reading Ulysses, and occasionally Samuel Beckett, in an effort to understand what led to his death? Including brief quotations from Ulysses in this novel, Gill locates the action in places which are significant in Ulysses, talks about Finnegan's Wake, and even discusses "the novel of competence," represented by Joyce, as opposed to "the novel of incompetence," represented by Samuel Beckett, making these esoteric subjects comprehensible and intriguing.

Dublin throbs with life here, in the pubs, on the streets, in the university, and at galleries, the Shelbourne Hotel, and St. Michan's church. The action is robust, with many fights, fractures, and a few hospitalizations, as McGarr and his detectives concentrate more on justice than on the niceties of procedure. The characters we know from earlier novels are further developed here (and continue into later novels).

As always, Gill includes lively and wonderfully droll conversations--the teasing and byplay one expects of close and caring relationships--both at home and at the Garda station. And when Det. Hugh Ward and Det. Ruthie Bresnahan finally discover each other, one of the highlights of this novel, their scenes become both hilarious and steamy. Gill's excellent satire (the Beautiful People at a book-launching), his wonderful sense of the absurd (the murder victim's wife bringing the victim home, laying him in bed, and contacting McGarr only after he starts to "go off"), and his uncanny ability to create quirky and likable characters make this one of the best novels in this remarkable series. Mary Whipple

If you know a little bit of Joyce and a little bit of Dublin, this mystery's for you. Don't be intimidated or fooled by the word "scholar." It's a police procedural that delves not too deeply into "Ulysses", but just enough to help Detective Peter McGarr track suspects through the neighborhoods and drinking establihsments that Joyce loved. As a mystery it doesn't tax your intuitive skills too much, and the line of the investigation threads logically. If you're going to Dublin some day and have a choice of reading "Ulysses" or "Death of A Joyce Scholar", I would opt for the latter.

This was my second selection in the long list of Mr. Gill's books. I started with his next to last book and now know some things about his characters that I would not have found out going in the opposite direction. But even with that said, I find myself entranced by the characterizations in these two books. I have become quite comfortable with the repeating case of characters and I enjoy my time with them. The murder being handled sometimes seems secondary to other issues in their lives. While I did have some trouble keeping the three potentially villainous women in this novel clear in my mind, it was nevertheless a fun read. I have always avoided the reading of Joyce's Ullyses, but Gill makes an excellent case for my reconsideration of that decision. He also brings me back, clearly and strongly, to all my memories of my one trip to Dublin and certainly encourages me to return. All in all this is a fine story, well-researched and with characters well worth remembering.

THE DEATH OF A JOYCE SCHOLAR by Bartholomew Gill
Bloomsday, Dublin, Ireland, June 16 - The traditional reenactment of the Dublin day as described by James Joyce in ULYSSES finds one of the participating scholars murdered, with similarities to that fictional account. Who would want Kevin Coyle dead and why? Chief Superintendent of the Murder Squad of the Irish Police (Garda Siochana) in Dublin, Peter McGarr and his squad will have to find out.

It seems just about everyone connected with the case has motive and opportunity and McGarr and his people have to ferret out the truth. Gill leads us through many a twist and turn and side trip until the reveal at the very end. I never could figure out "who dunnit" and that kept me reading.

I'm landing in Dublin on June 16 this year and am looking forward to the experience in a different way now that I have read this book. What a great opportunity for me! And what a great opportunity for you to travel with me as you read this book.

I have a prejudice toward Bartholomew Gill's "The Death of a Joyce Scholar": having done my master's thesis on a section of "Ulysses", this is my favorite in the Peter McGarr series. This doesn't mean, of course, that you have to be well-versed in James Joyce's writing (although it helps a bit). Gill spells out enough about Joyce's works to keep the reader going. It's a marvelous mystery set in the same streets that Joyce walked along and wrote about. And while most mysteries work toward establishing a surprise ending, "The Death of a Joyce Scholar" has an ending that will have the reader shaking his head and saying "How didn't I see that coming?" Treat yourself to a different kind of mystery! Treat yourself to this!

Witty, engrossing, full of good writing, the novel is a relentless pleasure.

I liked the book, as a dilettante Joyce scholar myself. I also liked the atmosphere of Dublin on the brink of changing from the destitute town of the Sixties to the capital of the only European tiger. But I was perplexed by the reference to Kinch (the nickname of Kevin Coyle and of Stephen Dedalus) as meaning a noose, when Bock Mulligan himself clarifies its meaning: Kinch, the knife-blade (Ulysses, ch. 1)

If you don't know Irish detective Peter McGarr, this terrific novel from 1989 is a great introduction! Where else but Dublin might you find a James Joyce scholar dead, and McGarr and the Murder Squad of the Garda Siochana reading Ulysses, and occasionally Samuel Beckett, in an effort to understand what led to his death? Including brief quotations from Ulysses in this novel, Gill locates the action in places which are significant in Ulysses, talks about Finnegan's Wake, and even discusses "the novel of competence," represented by Joyce, as opposed to "the novel of incompetence," represented by Samuel Beckett, making these esoteric subjects comprehensible and intriguing.

Dublin throbs with life here, in the pubs, on the streets, in the university, and at galleries, the Shelbourne Hotel, and St. Michan's church. The action is robust, with many fights, fractures, and a few hospitalizations, as McGarr and his detectives concentrate more on justice than on the niceties of procedure. The characters we know from earlier novels are further developed here (and continue into later novels).

As always, Gill includes lively and wonderfully droll conversations--the teasing and byplay one expects of close and caring relationships--both at home and at the Garda station. And when Det. Hugh Ward and Det. Ruthie Bresnahan finally discover each other, one of the highlights of this novel, their scenes become both hilarious and steamy. Gill's excellent satire (the Beautiful People at a book-launching), his wonderful sense of the absurd (the murder victim's wife bringing the victim home, laying him in bed, and contacting McGarr only after he starts to "go off"), and his uncanny ability to create quirky and likable characters make this one of the best novels in this remarkable series. Mary Whipple

How about visiting a destination and then reading a book that helps you revisit? That happened to me.

In 1986 I went on a literary tour of Ireland visiting the country for the first time and getting three college credits for keeping a journal. Found the journal about the Dublin days a bit redundant when I read THE DEATH OF A JOYCE SCHOLAR by Bartholomew Gill. The actual stay in Dublin was hurried--two days were not quite enough there!

Anyhow, in Gill's fictional book, a Joyce scholar and Trinity professor is murdered in Glasnevin Cemetary on Bloomsday, June 16, when all the world celebrates the Dublin adventures of one Leopold Bloom of ULYSSES fame. The scholar had finished a day-long Bloomsday tour of Dublin. Peter McGarr, Gill's protagonist, is Chief Superintendent of the Dublin Murder Squad and is called upon to follow the scholar's steps that day and to solve the murder. To accomplish these tasks, McGarr reads ULYSSES and remarks on the settings of the novel.

Our first morning in Ireland we visited Glasnevin Cemetary. Afterward we went downtown to Bewley's Cafe for lunch, Trinity College (to see the Book of Kells), and various pubs and shops near the quays. We saw the Shelbourne Hotel, the boarding house where Nora Barnacle lived, St. Stephen's Green. The next day we went out to the Martello Tower featured at the beginning of ULYSSES; we climbed up the narrow steps to the parapet and gazed across Dublin Bay to Howth Head. All these places are in Gill's novel.

Toward the end of THE DEATH OF A JOYCE SCHOLAR, the suspect is spotted by a squad member as he dashes across Grafton Street and heads for Bewley's Cafe (where we had lunch that first day in Ireland):

"In a few quick steps he was off the curb and across Grafton Street toward the swinging doors of Bewley's, which was always packed but especially at this hour and time of year...bumped through the swinging doors into the wide foyer of Bewley's, a baked-goods and candy-sales area...moved toward the main tea room and the lift and stairs that led...to a second floor dining room.

The main dining room was a turn-of-the century relic with tall ceilings and large, multicolored, leaded-glass windows. It was divided into two sections: the smaller served by waitresses; the other cafeteria-style, with tables and deep, red-plush sofas...there was a long line at the sandwich, salad, and dessert cases, a longer one still at the hot-meal, steam-table service section. Only the four women at the tall, chrome coffee urns that dispensed Bewley's renowned brew seemed to be filling orders quickly."

Oh, goodness, I just enjoyed a coffee white, a fresh-cut sandwich, and some of that finely-cut veggie salad that has no mayo. Wonderful!

POSTSCRIPT: There's an interesting male/female relationship developing among two of the Dublin Murder Squad members in DEATH. A clever Gill ends his novel with the same words as Joyce ended ULYSSES: yes I said yes I will yes

ANOTHER POSTSCRIPT: Additional joy from reading Gill's novel came in discovering a book review by a friend of mine, a Joycean scholar named Michael O'Shea, who exhibited the book and his review at the 1989 Philadelphia Joyce Conference. "Look, Muffy, a book for us." (O'Shea was the leader of my third and last literary tour of Ireland in 1999.)

One reads a detective story for the mystery, yes, but also for ambience and for the peculiar collection of people that a good author typically assembles as suspects and others touched by the crime. These are the particular strengths of this novel. The setting is Dublin: the very real modern city and the almost mythical version of it that has grown up over a century or more or literary history and national struggle. The mythic element is enhanced in this case by the fact that the murdered man is the leading Joyce scholar of his generation, and the colorful cast of characters (ranging from rival academics to decidedly liberated women plus the odd urban punk) all seem to know their Joyce also. Not only know him, but live him: the novel is colorful, exuberant, erotic, but also quietly insightful.

It becomes clear that the murder, which happens on Bloomsday -- the day portrayed by Joyce in his great novel ULYSSES -- is closely tied to events in that book; but fortunately I could still enjoy Gill with only a cursory knowledge of the Joyce. While this book did not particularly grip me as a mystery, it did send me out to buy a copy of ULYSSES, and give me not only the inspiration to read it properly, but also quite a few clues on how to do it.