First published 2008
Chief Superintendent Peter McGarr arrives at a crime scene that reads like dark literature. Kevin Coyle, a Trinity College professor and Joyce expert, lies dead with a knife through his heart. The murder happened on Bloomsday, Dublin's annual celebration of James Joyce. The location makes it worse: Murderers' Ground, the very spot Joyce wrote about in Ulysses. McGarr sees the symbolism but focuses on facts. He discovers Coyle lived a secret life filled with scandal and enemies. The suspect list grows longer as McGarr digs deeper. Students, colleagues, and lovers all had reasons to want the controversial scholar dead. The investigation takes McGarr through Dublin's literary circles and academic rivalries. Each clue connects back to Joyce's work in unexpected ways. McGarr must separate literary symbolism from real motives. The killer hides among people who know every page of Ulysses by heart.
Genres: literary-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, academic
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, literary-mystery, secret-life
Setting: Dublin, Ireland, Murderers' Ground, Trinity College
Period: Bloomsday
336 pages · ebook · HarperCollins Publishers