A June of Ordinary Murders by Conor Brady

A June of Ordinary Murders

by Conor Brady

"A thrilling, beautifully written mystery debut that brings 1880s Dublin vividly, passionately to life, from the former editor of The Irish Times This captivating, expertly crafted mystery debut captures the life and essence of Victorian Dublin and draws the reader on a gripping journey of murder and intrigue. In the 1880s the Dublin Metropolitan Police classified crime in two distinct classes. Political crimes were classed as "special," whereas theft, robbery and even murder, no matter how terrible, were known as "ordinary." Dublin, June 1887: The city swelters in a long summer heatwave, the criminal underworld simmers, and with it, the threat of nationalist violence is growing. Meanwhile, the Castle administration hopes the celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee will pass peacefully. Then, the mutilated bodies of a man and a child are discovered in Phoenix Park and Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow steps up to investigate. Cynical and tired, Swallow is a man living on past successes in need of a win. With the Land War at its height, the priority is to contain special crime, and these murders appear to be ordinary--thus of lesser priority. But when the evidence suggests high-level involvement, and the body count increases, Swallow must navigate the treacherous waters of foolish superiors, political directives, and frayed tempers to solve the case, find the true murderer, and deliver justice. "--

Reviewed by wyvernfriend on

4 of 5 stars

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There are two main, non-spoilery, things missing in this book, the first is a small appendix with the current names and former names of some of the streets (for example Carslile Bridge is now O'Connell Bridge) and the second is a postscript listing some of the real and fictional people in this story.

This book has a number of interesting characters and the most interesting of which is the city it's set in, you can see them travelling through the streets of Dublin, only slightly different from today. One of the big tensions is between Irish-born and English and between Protestant and Catholic. Some of the stresses that would later become rebellion can be seen. You could also see the issues of a heatwave in a city like Dublin.

The story is set in 1887, in June. The book follows the days of the investigation of a man and child in Phoenix Park, Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow is the investigator and as he investigates things it gets murkier as he goes. Swallow has to deal with his own demons as well as political interference, some of which make it hard for him to deal. Alongside this there's a gangland war brewing due to the death of their leader Ces "Pisspot" Downes, a notorious woman with an iron hand on her followers. Just to complicate matters it's also the time of the Queen's Jubilee and Swallow's teacher student sister is caught up in some of the nationalist politics fermenting at the same time.

The author does telegraph some of the clues in the story so that I was waiting when some of the revels of what I intuited about the story to be put on the page. Then again I've read far too many mysteries and often find it's the journey not the reveal that can be the most interesting part of the story. I know Conor Brady is a former journalist and I look forward to him becoming a more practiced fiction writer, there were times when his research was thrown at the page without enough reason for the plot, though it did make me want to research more of that period in Dublin.

The story does wrap itself up nicely, giving space for future volumes with interesting enough characters set up for the future. It reads a bit like a cross between the Murdoch Mysteries and Victorian London-based crime, though Swallow is no Sherlock Holmes, even with his demons, and medical examiner friend Harry Lafeyre.

And the Ordinary murders? Political crimes were "special" everything else was "ordinary"

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  • Started reading
  • 9 January, 2013: Finished reading
  • 9 January, 2013: Reviewed