Review: THE ELOQUENCE OF THE DEAD by Conor Brady

Conor Brady made his debut as a historical crime novelist with A June of Ordinary Murders (2011), and that novel’s hero, Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow of the Dublin Metropolitan Police ‘G-Men’ Division, makes a welcome return in THE ELOQUENCE OF THE DEAD (New Island). The novel opens in Galway in 1887, with Lady Gessel bidding a none-too-fond farewell to her estate as she prepares to sell her family’s ancestral home, as so many of her peers are doing, and move to England. Meanwhile, back in Dublin, Swallow is called in to investigate the murder of a pawnbroker in the Liberties area, a man who appears to have paid a very harsh price for handling stolen goods. How these events are connected gradually emerges in a propulsive but stylish tale of conspiracy and corruption on a grand scale. Swallow, a keen amateur painter, brings a sharp eye to bear on his surroundings, which in turn allows Brady to give us a vivid account of late Victorian Dublin in all its squalid glory. The result is a very satisfying police procedural / mystery and an equally fine historical novel. ~ Declan Burke

  This review was first published in the Irish Times, in a column that also included reviews of the latest titles from Jo Nesbo, Sophie Loubiere, Conor Fitzgerald and John Lawton.

Dead Men Tell More Tales

I thoroughly enjoyed Conor Brady’s debut novel, the historical crime title A JUNE OF ORDINARY MURDERS, and I’m pleased to see that that novel’s protagonist, Joe Swallow, returns in Brady’s sophomore offering, THE ELOQUENCE OF THE DEAD (New Island). Quoth the blurb elves:

“Bodies can tell you a lot. There can be an eloquence about the dead. But you have to be able to interpret what they are telling you …”
  When a Dublin Pawnbroker is found murdered and the lead suspect goes missing, Sergeant Joe Swallow is handed the poisoned chalice of the investigation.   With authorities pressing for a quick resolution, the public living in fear of attack and the newspapers happy to point to the police’s every mistake, Swallow must use every trick in his arsenal to crack the case.
  On the way he uncovers deep-rooted corruption, discovers the power of new, scientific detection techniques and encounters a ruthless adversary.
  Following leads from Trim to the Tower of London, THE ELOQUENCE OF THE DEAD is the second of the Joe Swallow books and is a fast-paced and gripping crime thriller from the pen of a truly talented writer.

  THE ELOQUENCE OF THE DEAD by Conor Brady will be launched by Donal Ryan on Thursday, 24 October at the Irish Writers’ Centre at 6pm.