Critical Mick

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Reviews by the Clown that All Other Critics Want to Strangle with a Black Turtleneck

An Irish Solution
by Cormac Millar
Penguin Books, 2004

Flat Soda Water, Something Bitterly Suspicious, and Sweet, Sweet Grenadine

An Irish Solution introduces one of the sharpest, most determined and most interesting investigators in Dublin crime fiction. No, it's not civil servant Seamus Joyce, recently appointed acting head of the Irish Drug Enforcement Agency even though he has never fired a gun. Nor is it loose canon Billy O'Rourke, hero cop who seems to love shooting off his. Not even Decko Dowd, chief bottle washer in the rival Garda Drugs Squad.

Our unlikely star is a teenaged member of the bar staff who enters the story on page 21.

The dish is Davnet O'Reilly, who owes her job to best friend Jenny Blake- the daughter of Paul Blake, the patron of Blackwood's Club. Much of An Irish Solution's set-up takes place in this pretentious upscale imitation of an old-fashioned London gentlemen's club, where full-figured Davnet susses out what's going on while filling ice buckets and laying out china jugs of variegated flowers on the antique tables.

Slender, dark-haired Jenny Blake's father is a stupid fop. Paul Blake's in deeper debt than he knows to a Dublin gangster known as The Robin. To sustain the impeccable reputation of the Club, Blake tangles old school chum Jerome Fennessy up in what seems a simple courier jaunt to the Continent.

This Jerome is desperate. Dismissed from his teaching post after a scandal involving a young teenaged girl, Jerome is in debt. Too bad for him, he is naïve and also easily distracted.

Unfortunately for poor Romy Fennessy, (1) an iDEA trap springs and everything soon goes horribly, dreadfully awry, and (2) he's barking up the wrong kind of tree.

An Irish Solution goes unexpected places for a Dublin crime novel. It is intended to involve the readers in iDEA head Seamus Joyce, but he's bland. Much more interesting is Davnet's amateur sleuthing. By far she's the smartest character in the novel. She spots the crucial money connection. Her interactions are the most quirky and engaging, and Davnet's bravery in the face of the baddies' intimidation is truly inspiring. Go, redzer, go!

Though a long, effete opening must be re-read for clarity, I encourage Irish crime fic fans to endure. An Irish Solution ultimately hits convincing positions on the Clergy, money laundering, Dublin life, the drug war, and Irish courts. And Millar proves he can do action. His follow up, The Grounds, is on my to-read list.

Don't do drugs! Use An Irish Solution: drink stout and whisky instead.

Critical Mick says: Though the best bits are Davnet's, An Irish Solution portrays a richly-voiced, deadly Dublin. Millar is a good oul skin.

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This Page Was Last Updated On 21 July, 2008.