Jo Spain publishes her second novel, BENEATH THE SURFACE (Quercus) in September, and it appears that Inspector Tom Reynolds, whom we first met in WITH OUR BLESSING (2015), is becoming a series protagonist. To wit:
Did I know it would come to this? That I was playing Russian Roulette? I would give anything to turn back time and to be with my girls. There is no shot at redemption. I am going to die. The gun is in my eye-line as the second bullet is fired. That’s the one that kills me.
Late at night, two powerful men meet in a secret location to discuss a long nurtured plan about to come to fruition. One is desperate to know there is nothing standing in their way - the other assures him everything is taken care of. Hours later, a high-ranking government official called Ryan Finnegan is brutally slain in the most secure building in Ireland - Leinster House, the seat of parliament. Inspector Tom Reynolds and his team are called in to uncover the truth behind the murder.
At first, all the evidence hints at a politically motivated crime, until a surprise discovery takes the investigation in a dramatically different direction. Suddenly the motive for murder has got a lot more personal … but who benefits the most from Ryan’s death?
BENEATH THE SURFACE will be published on September 22nd. For what it’s worth, I thought WITH OUR BLESSING a very impressive debut – reviewing it for the Irish Times, I had this to say: “In a very strong year for Irish crime-fiction debuts, Jo Spain’s With Our Blessing is among the most assured . . . an old-fashioned mystery harking back to Agatha Christie . . . The apparently cosy tone is only skin deep, however: With Our Blessing picks at the scabs of recent Irish history to reveal raw and gaping wounds.”
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