The cold cold ground

The cold cold ground / Adrian McKinty, read by Gerard Doyle, 320 pgs.

The OCD part of me never likes to read a series out of order but I started with the sixth in this series and loved it. But now I have to go back and fill in some background.  In this, the first Sean Duffy novel by McKinty, we meet Sean at 30.  He is a Catholic cop in Northern Ireland and still figuring a few things out.  Of course, he already has a lot under control.  Not his drinking, his smoking, or (he finds out) his sexuality.  He is a plodding cop (his description) who likes to figure things out.  When it seems like there is a serial killer taking out homosexuals (this is 1981, homosexual acts are still illegal in Northern Ireland), he applies the brawny brainpower to figure out the situation.  Not one to stop, even when his bosses take him off the case, he pieces together a story that sounds kind of nuts to everyone else.  Then he gets some confirmation that he is on to something.  I don't want to reveal any spoilers but am glad I've kept digging into Duffy.  Gerard Doyle does a great job of narrating.

Police at the station and they don't look friendly

Police at the station and they don't look friendly / Adrian McKinty, 319 pgs. Read by Gerard Doyle

Sean Duffy is one of those cops who will do what is "right," rules be damned!  The kind of cop I love to read about.  When a drug dealer ends up dead, he is investigating even though there is evidence that the crime is IRA related and thus will probably not ever be solved.  But Sean isn't going to let that stop him.  He starts putting together a theory and the more he digs, the more he sees this case is something bigger.  Throw in a couple of assassination attempts, a  blackmail scheme and some heavy drinking and you have the making of a perfect cop story.  This is part of a series and normally I hate not starting at the beginning, but I will certainly go back and fix this soon.  Narrator Gerard Doyle is an award winner and I can see why, he does a wonderful job and the pacing makes you want to feed one cd after the other.

The First Four Sean Duffy Novels and then the Sixth

The Cold Cold Ground 320 pages
I Hear Sirens in the Street 256 pages
In the Morning I'll Be Gone 314 pages
Gun Street Girl 311 pages
Police at the Station and They Don't Look Friendly 319 pages
All by Adrian McKinty.
Detective Sean Duffy joined the Royal Ulster Constabulary shortly after Bloody Sunday. To a lot of people that seemed like an odd thing for a Roman Catholic to do, especially since he had first tried to join the IRA. But Duffy's not a man who is much moved by what other people think. This attitude repeatedly causes him trouble with his higher ups, and as the seriers progresses, with British intelligence, the FBI, random IRA kill-teams, UVF kill-teams and most of the women he dates, and maybe one young man he meets in a highway rest-stop bathroom. Duffy drinks too much (even for a Northern Irish Peeler), smokes too much weed, and cuts a lot of corners. When describing himself Duffy says he's plodding instead of brilliant, he's aware that other
Well-written, with great dialogue, a terrific (as far as I know) sense of Belfast and the surrounding area in the 1980's and tight, intricate plotting throughout. Strongly recommended to fans of noir, fans of Ed McBain or Elmore Leonard. Plus, you get McKinty's take (through Duffy's acerbic commentary) on popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s as well as classical music. I'm really glad I found these. I saw Nancy Pearl's recommendation after I was already hooked, so I have to credit Christa for this one. She had a copy of the book on CD and I had to drive for 11 hours. Of the five I have finished, I have listened to 3 of them. They are all read brilliantly by Gerard Doyle. Pretty much everything McKinty has written is available on Hoopla. Check it out.
Now I have to go and finish Rain Dogs.