Jessie Boyle – is a 45 year old perfectionist, who works as a Criminal Behaviourist for the Irish Police. Jessie is over six feet tall, is single, and a workaholic.

Jessie Boyle drives an orange, vintage MG

Jessie’s longtime friend, Dawn Wilson, is now the Police Commissioner of Ireland. Dawn is now her boss and the leader of an elite, albeit small team of criminal investigators.

Garda Seamus Keneally is in his  late twenties. From the west of Ireland, he has valuable local knowledge and has proven himself with a commendation for bravery on the job. He is courageous, boisterous, and constantly hungry.

Terri Kehoe is in her mid-twenties. She is a historian and genealogist who works as a consultant for the Garda Síochána. She is a skilled researcher who also has a keen intellect and a marked proficiency for digital investigation and hacking. Quiet and nervous, she dresses in a goth style and has dyed blue hair. She is covered with freckles that she hates.

Jessie, Seamus, and Terri are skilled at working seemingly impossible cases. This time out, a young girl who is in hospital receiving chemotherapy for her cancer, is abducted from her hospital bed. Her parents are wealthy and it is presumed that a ransom demand will follow.

When they learn who took little Rosie Blake, they are faced with even more questions. The case gets murkier and murkier. After days of investigation they realize that an old man and a large dog have something to do with it, as does a Dublin gang of organized crime, AND Jessie Boyle’s old nemisis, Uruz.

The crime fighting team of Jessie Boyle, Seamus Keneally, and Terri Kehoe make for the perfect team in that their various strengths, combined with their real affection for one another, make them formidable adversaries. As with the previous books in this series, it is the rapport and camaraderie between the members of the crime fighting team that kept me thoroughly invested in the outcome.

The fate of little Rosie Blake keeps the reader rooting for the team’s success. Along the way they encounter gangsters, corrupt financiers, morally bereft lawyers, old Irish sects, and the famous Dublin “Hellfire Club“.

The great characterization of the small investigating team, along with the Irish setting and lore have kept me invested in this series and I’m already looking forward to book four.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel from Bookouture via NetGalley  at my request,  for my own reading enjoyment and the writing of this review. Publication date: May 18, 2022

ISBN: 9781803142081 – ASIN: ‎ B09RGGCJJT  – 343 pages

S.A. Dunphy (born 1973) is a child protection expert, author, journalist, musician, broadcaster and teacher. He is married, has two children, and is also a proud grandad. He worked as a child and social care worker throughout Ireland for fifteen years, and still practices on a consultancy basis. He is currently Head of the Social Care Department at Waterford College of Further Education. Dunphy is a multi-instrumentalist, performing live regularly. Shane writes both narrative non-fiction and crime fiction.

Dunphy is an award-winning documentary maker and he writes regularly for Independent newspapers. His crime novels are written under S.A. Dunphy which is a pseudonym for Shane Dunphy.

Visit Shane Dunphy’s official website and/or follow him on Twitter @dunphyshane1