Be careful who you love …
It’s the year 2000 and while Bunny McGarry is theoretically on sabbatical from the police, he just can’t help sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong.
Rosie Flint is an old acquaintance of Bunny’s whose boyfriend mysteriously disappears off the face of the Earth. What starts out as a simple missing person’s case soon gets a whole lot more complicated when it emerges that the boyfriend is not who he claimed to be and there are some rather sinister people showing an unhealthy interest in Rosie.
Bunny is only trying to help a friend but it’s just a matter of time before he finds himself at loggerheads with his colleagues on the force, having to reassess some events from his past and unwittingly involved in a major political coup.
He won’t be able to do this alone, so it is a good job he can call upon a certain band of kick-ass nuns to do what they do best. And he might even find a use for a twelve-year-old boy who is desperate to escape from an Irish language summer school.
Firewater Blues is the sixth book in McDonnell’s critically acclaimed bestselling and increasing inaccurately titled Dublin Trilogy. It mixes high-octane thrills with distinct Irish wit.
The Dublin Trilogy (books 3 - 7), Caimh McDonnell
The Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell is now made up of 9 entries, two of which are novellas. Bear with me:
In Order of Publication:
A Man with One of Those Faces
The Day That Never Comes
Angels in the Moonlight
Last Orders
Bloody Christmas (novella)
Dead Man's Sins
Firewater Blues
The Family Jewels
Escape from Victory (novella)
In chronological order according to the events in the books:
Angels in the Moonlight
Dead Man's Sins
Firewater Blues
The Family Jewels
A Man With One of Those Faces
Bloody Christmas (novella)
The Day that Never Comes
Last Orders
Escape From Victory
So, given how bloody confusing all that got, I ended up listening to them in publication order (except for the two novellas which aren't available on Audible) and spent the few opening chapters of each story working out where the hell I was in terms of the past, present and probably future events.
Which given the nature of this series felt right, proper and fair play. Some people, after all, have an appreciation for the fundamentals of the game (in joke / you'll need to read / listen to this series yourself to get it).
And listen to it is something I'd highly recommend. Particularly with the narrator that was used on all the ones I listened to - Morgan C. Jones - who had an array of voices / accents and mannerisms that instantly identified all the myriad of lunatic characters in these books, whilst adding to the fun in a big way (although there was a character buried in there somewhere that I would have sworn was Dylan Moran talking).
Anyway, the stories are based around Bunny McGarry / sometime active / sometime on sabbatical / sometime freelancing member of the Garda Síochána (Irish Police) who is part cop, part vigilante, part mentor to young folk, mostly menace to all and sundry who don't do the right thing. He's a sort of one man mission designed to bully, threaten, terrify or talk somebody intent on wrong to the right side of the tracks. And talk he most definitely can. He can also see what's happening, react and frankly, is a bit on the superhuman side of the equation - if you're of a mind to pay attention and aren't laughing too loudly.
As I listened to this entire series, the Irish accents were both a soothing influence and a worry. I did wonder if I'd end up muttering "fair play to you" just a bit too often and can confidently report that it's not taken too strong a hold, although I'm not making any promises on "some people have no appreciation for the fundamentals of....". I'm also looking at nuns in a whole new way.