Fingertip Search
Selected Crime Fiction Reviews
Selected Crime Fiction Reviews
It has been two or three years since I read the first three books in this series by Michael Russell, and an idle check the other day tells me that there is now a fourth which I purchased immediately and look forward to reading as soon as time permits. City of Strangers is the second book in an elegant collection of crime fiction stories, the lead detective being Garda Sergeant Stefan Gillespie from the small parish of Kilranelagh, West Wicklow.
It is 1939 and even in this remote place everyone senses that war is in the air and when we meet Stefan he is helping out at lambing time on his parents' farm. It's a life he enjoys and is reasonably content with his lot, chiefly because Tom his nine year old son is happy there. Stefan used to be a detective in Dublin but, after his last case, he opted to become a plain sergeant in his home town however his police duties are humdrum; marshalling herds of sheep on market days, dealing with a handful of drunk and disorderlies and enforcing the recent absurd Dance Hall Act.
Out of the blue Stefan is summoned to Dublin to meet his old boss, Ned Broy, the Garda Commissioner, who has a job for him. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the recent violent murder of Mrs Leticia Harris was the work of her son Owen, now in New York, on tour with the Gate Theatre company. Stefan is ordered to New York to bring Owen Harris home, selected because Micheál Mac Liammóir, owner of the theatre company, has asked for him personally as they have met before and he knows him for a decent man.
The mission must be accomplished quickly so as not to cause Irish embarrassment before world leaders assemble in New York for the 1939 World's Fair that is about to open in Flushing, New York. This seemingly simple task becomes far more more convoluted as an increasingly personal struggle develops and encounters with the IRA, the largely Irish NYPD, the Mob, German spies, and a conspiracy of espionage and terror bombings all have deadly consequences.
Time and place are beautifully realised in Michael Russell's recreation of New York and, in what must have been extensive research, gives a real sense of the late 1930s, bringing to life places such as the Fulton Fish Market, the World's Fair itself, black Harlem, jazz clubs and swanky hotels. The plot moves swiftly, with excitement and twists that held my attention from beginning to end.
Highly recommended and available at Amazon in paperback at £6.49 or as a Kindle download for £1.99 - that's a real bargain.
Historical Note : Micheál Mac Liammóir and his partner Hilton Edwards founded the Gate Theatre in Dublin in 1928. It was a showcase for modern plays and the set and costume designs were importants elements in its success.
Mac Liammóir wrote and performed a one-man show, The Importance of Being Oscar, based on the life and work of Oscar Wilde and the Telefís Éireann production won him a Jacob's Award in December 1964. It was later filmed by the BBC with Mac Liammóir reprising the role.
Many of the other characters in the book were real people and Michael Russell includes potted biographies of them all in a very informative appendix that includes some details about the co-operation between the Mob and the FBI in this tense pre-war period.