by Adrian McKinty

The Cold, Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty is a mystery set in Northern Ireland in the 1980s, during The Troubles. It is witty, informative, and introduces Sean Duffy, one of the darkest and funniest detectives working a beat in any country or time.

TLDR: Read this if you like an excellent mystery, want to meet a new detective, can’t wait to get sucked into a fantastic series, and are willing to learn something about recent Irish history into the bargain.

Detective Sergeant Sean Duffy is a Catholic detective working a serial killer case in Belfast in 1981, the heart of The Troubles in Protestant Northern Ireland. It’s a dangerous situation for him, since everyone from his neighbors to his colleagues to the bad guys would like to see him dead. But he wins everyone over with his fatalism and dark sense of humor, including you. He’s also a bit of a music buff so get ready for some monologuing on music.

You’ll get an in-the-trenches look at an interesting time–often misrepresented in the press, at least if you are Irish–and rarely discussed. There were prison hunger strikes, IRA bombings, and general mayhem and that is just the backdrop for the mystery and character building.

The whole series is a great ride, so buckle up. And, if you like to listen to audiobooks, there has never been a better narrator/writer pairing the Adrian McKinty and Gerard Doyle.

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