THE DYING BREED
Declan Hughes – John Murray - $38.99

Edward Loy, Declan Hughes’ wonderfully drawn protagonist, a once-successful Los Angeles private investigator, but one with a disastrous person life, is now back in his native Dublin where he takes on a seemingly straightforward case of hoons making trouble on a local housing estate. He installs a tiny camera to try and gather evidence but this leads him into a much bigger case, one involving murder and mayhem.

Hughes is also a playwright, (this is his third crime fiction novel), which may account for the dark and complex plots that are a feature of his writing. Set in Dublin, on the wrong side of the tracks The Dying Breed is a complex story about the murky underworld of horse racing, about neglect and sexual abuse in church-run schools, illegally amassed wealth, with love and betrayal thrown in for good measure.
This novel belongs in the gritty, hardboiled, and often coarse variety of crime fiction. He does it well. I enjoyed it.
Footnote:
The trade paperback is currently available, NZ$38.99, but the mass market paperback is being released in New Zealand in May at $27.99.