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    Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel
    Unavailable
    Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel
    Unavailable
    Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel
    Ebook381 pages6 hours

    Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel

    By Adrian McKinty

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Shortlisted for the Anthony, Ned Kelly, and Edgar® Awards! Belfast, 1985, amidst the “Troubles”: Detective Sean Duffy, a Catholic cop in the Protestant RUC (Royal Ulster Constabulary), struggles with burn-out as he investigates a brutal double murder and suicide. Did Michael Kelly really shoot his parents at point blank and then jump off a nearby cliff? A suicide note points to this conclusion, but Duffy suspects even more sinister circumstances. He soon discovers that Kelly was present at a decadent Oxford party where a cabinet minister’s daughter died of a heroin overdose. This may or may not have something to do with Kelly’s subsequent death. New evidence leads elsewhere: gun runners, arms dealers, the British government, and a rogue American agent with a fake identity. Duffy thinks he’s getting somewhere when agents from MI5 show up at his doorstep and try to recruit him, thus taking him off the investigation. Duffy is in it up to his neck, doggedly pursuing a case that may finally prove his undoing.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSeventh Street Books
    Release dateMar 3, 2015
    ISBN9781633880016
    Unavailable
    Gun Street Girl: A Detective Sean Duffy Novel
    Author

    Adrian McKinty

    Adrian McKinty was born and grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He studied philosophy at Oxford University before moving to Australia and to New York. He is the author of more than a dozen crime novels, including the award-winning standalone thriller The Chain, which was a New York Times and #1 international bestseller. McKinty’s books have been translated into over forty languages, and he has won the Edgar Award, the International Thriller Writers Award, the Ned Kelly Award (three times), the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Macavity Award, and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. His novel The Island was an instant New York Times bestseller and made their “Best Thrillers of 2022” list.

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    Reviews for Gun Street Girl

    4/5

    108 ratings13 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I’ve read several McKinty books, but the Sean Duffy series is the best. Originally billed as a trilogy, I was delighted to see a fourth appear. Set during the Troubles, Sean is a Catholic cop in a Protestant world who makes sure to check the bottom of his car every day for bombs that might have been planted while he was away. He watches as his superiors fuck up capturing a boatload of arms from America, then bails out his Chief Inspector in a brothel where a local pro has just whacked an American movie star on the head when he got a little rough after she refused to partake in his substantial stash of cocaine.Sean then gets involved in the investigation of the murder of two prominent people, apparently a hit that’s first blamed on their son who left an apology and a suicide note before jumping off a cliff. But when his girl-friend is also found dead, with a suicide note and the motor running in her car, the coincidence seems forced and the autopsy reveals signs of murder. The new Jewish detective in the squad, a very bright Oxford grad manages to sniff out a connection with another death at a party in Oxford. Couple that with the return of MI5 agent Kate who wants to enlist Sean in the security service, and you have the makings of a nifty mystery.I really like McKinty’s writing of Sean’s voice, melancholy mixed with humor. For example a scene at a church-sponsored dating social dance. All the girls make excuses when they discover he's a cop:"I fought a strong urge to flee and introduced myself to a girl called Sandra who looked a bit like Janice from The Muppet Show band. She was an estate agent who sold houses all over East Antrim. “We’ve got something in common. I’m a peeler,”I said. “What do we have in common?” “Well, uh, both of us are at home to a certain amount of moral ambiguity in our work.” No hesitant buyer ever got up Sandra’s nose the way I instantly did, and she told me coldly that she had to mingle. Later I saw her dancing with a very tall man whose face was like a Landsat image of the Mojave. ""The word went round and none of the other women came close. I didn’t blame them. If you were a single lady, getting on in years, or worse, a widow, the last thing you wanted to do was marry a policeman who could be killed next week. It certainly didn’t help that I was a Catholic. A Catholic in Carrickfergus was bad enough, but a Catholic policeman? My life expectancy could be measured in dog years." And for some reason, perhaps my antipathy to B&B’s, this passage had me laughing out loud. Sean and Lawson are sent to Oxford where they are put up in a Victorian B&B run by a couple of eccentrics. She hands them their keys with the warning, “Now, Mr. Duffy, it’s the off-season at present, of course, so I can let you have the two rooms overlooking the garden—213, 214,” she said. “Keep the windows closed, mind. The squirrels will come in. We had a shocking incident two years ago with a gentleman from Norway.” That shocking incident with the squirrel….One interesting note given some current political events in Ireland. Gerry Adams makes an appearance as an IRA leader in the book. Make of that what you will.Excellent story.
    • 5/5
      This is the 4th book in this excellent series that was originally going to be a trilogy. Sean Duffy is a rogue cop who drinks too much, takes drugs, and annoys his superiors. But he cares about his fellow cops, about truth and solving murders, and about all the Irish people on both sides of the conflict. Although the subject matter is dark and all at times seems hopeless, there is a lot of black humour in the books, and the author makes you care deeply about his characters. Sean Duffy is a character you will want to know and read more of. It is best to start with the first book, The Cold, Cold Ground.
    • 5/5
      I have read another book by this author but not in the Sean Duffy Series, this is an outstanding police procedural book. It takes place in Belfast circa 1985. A number of likable and believable characters, and a fantastic blending of actual events into the story. A great summer read.
    • 4/5
      I've been curious about Adrian McKinty's work for a while. Though born and raised in Ireland, McKinty now lives in Australia, allowing us to claim him as one of our own. Despite my dislike of starting a series in the middle, so to speak, I couldn't resist the lure of Gun Street Girl, the fourth book in his gritty police procedural series featuring Sean Duffy, an Irish Catholic Detective Inspector in Northern Ireland during the mid 1980's.It's a busy night for Detective Inspector Duffy who, after observing a multi-agency midnight raid on some gun runners which goes spectacularly wrong, is not long home when he is called out to deal first with a sensitive situation in a local whorehouse and then a double homicide just inside the border of their RUC district. A wealthy couple has been shot dead while watching the TV, and Detective Sergeant McCrabban is eager to take on the case. The scene seems straightforward, the dead couple's missing twenty-two year old son determined to be the likely perpetrator, but it soon becomes clear that this investigation will be anything but simple and Duffy finds himself chasing missing missiles, gun dealers and a clever assassin.Duffy is a complex guy, a cop who believes in justice but is cynical about the law. He is not above breaking the rules, enjoying the occasional snort of cocaine and regularly circumventing the chain of command, but he clearly prioritises the truth over diplomacy or procedure. His failure to play by the 'rules', and the fact that he is one of the few Catholics amidst an overwhelmingly Protestant police force, means he will likely never rise any higher.Th plot is well crafted with several layers, though I didn't really feel like it offered any surprises. I did appreciate that Duffy, with the help of McCrabban and Lawson, has to really work the case to get the answers he needs. The investigation is thorough but never tedious and enhanced by the story's subplots.Set against the background of 'The Troubles' and referencing real events, the story is particularly well grounded in time and place. I love that Duffy's house is McKinty's childhood home in Carrickfergus, and though I'm not really a fan, music lovers may enjoy constructing their own playlists from Duffy's preferences.Thankfully I felt that Gun Street Girl worked well as a stand alone novel (though I'm still eager to read the previous books in the series: The Cold Cold Ground; I Hear the Sirens in the Street and In the Morning I'll be Gone). Well crafted, with an appealing lead character and interesting setting, Gun Street Girl is a great read for crime fiction fans.
    • 4/5
      It is the time of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and Sean Duffy is back on the case in book four or the series, Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty. A Sean Duffy novel is always a reason for celebration, with a narrative and lilt that will have you sipping whiskey and listening to the smoky baritone of his Irish brogue as Duffy takes you through the war torn streets of Belfast in 1985.Detective Sean Duffy is the lone Catholic cop in a Protestant Royal Ulster Constabulary and is on the path to burning out when he is called in to consult on a double homicide and suicide. But almost immediately Duffy smells something wrong with the scenario. It just didn't ring true that young Michael Kelly murdered his parents and then threw himself off a cliff in grief and guilt. As Duffy and his group dig further they find that Kelly had been part of a party at Oxford where a Cabinet Minister's daughter overdosed on heroin and died. The evidence begins to lead to gun runners and arms dealers and all the way to the British Government. As well as an American agent with a false identity. Duffy is conflicted with the investigation when he also receives the opportunity to leave the Police force behind and join MI5 with the guarded request to drop the investigation. Duffy is up to his neck again in politics and murder. Just another day in Northern Ireland in the time of the Troubles.Gun Street Girl is as bittersweet as it is tense. Sean Duffy is becoming a man molded by the times around him and nothing comes easy and without strings for Duffy. McKinty does a terrific job of painting the time and place as an integral part of the novel. When Duffy and the rookie Detective head to Oxford to investigate, the contrast between the Police in Oxford and Belfast is startling. The difference in the people in the streets. Duffy is shocked at the ease and safety that people move around London in compared to where he came from. The story is a touch of Noire in Belfast. The sense that no one escapes this time unscathed breathes through the pages. McKinty is easily one of the best crime novelists around and he has staked his claim to Belfast, Sean Duffy and the time of the Troubles.A terrific book!
    • 4/5
      This is a follow on book from Adrian McKinty's Troubles series.
      I was disappointed the series had ended, so was delighted when the author indicated he'd come up an idea for another novel.
      The series is set in 1980s Belfast.
      Sean Duffy is an outsider in the RUC, badly burnt out by events in the previous books. An opening story where he deals with the dilemma of what to do when an American celebrity decides to throw his weight around in a local place of ill repute would give any newcomer to the series a clear indication of the kind of person and police officer he is.
      Sean, who is stuck in his role and unlikely to rise any higher because he doesn't play nicely with others and did things that the higher ups didn't approve of, is shown a glimmer of hope and possible a way up and out.
      In the meantime, he assists with the investigation of something that looks like an open-and-shut domestic murder and subsequent suicide. Sean never sticks with the surface and the more the investigation continues, the murkier it gets.
      I really enjoy this character and the setting (though I would have hated to have lived there!). Adrian McKinty writes well with a gritty, dark humour and shows a love of where he's come from.
    • 4/5
      Gun Street Girl takes place in Belfast, in the mid-1980s, and The Troubles provide a fine backdrop of tension and mayhem. It’s the fourth (yes!) of a planned trilogy, because McKinty—and his readers—couldn’t quite let Detective Sean Duffy go. The complex plot grows out of actual events of the era, including missile thefts from aerospace company Short Brothers (a convoluted affair in real life) and the hostile environment created by the Thatcher-FitzGerald Anglo-Irish agreement. In the novel, Duffy is out of step as usual with his confreres in law enforcement, especially for being the rare Catholic in the Royal Ulster Constabulary. When a murder investigation takes Duffy and a new recruit to Oxford, England, they encounter a more generalized anti-Irish prejudice. The British coppers apparently believe the Irishmen will be satisfied to sit in their cozy b&b in Oxford (unless my ears mistook, referred to as “Morse-land,” in a nice homage) and drink whiskey. They are, of course, mistaken. What has taken them to Oxford is the unraveling of a case that at first appears open-and-shut. A couple is found murdered, and it looks as if their son shot them then committed suicide. Under Duffy’s supervision, Detective Sergeant McCrabban is technically in charge of this investigation and is ready to close the books on it, but something’s not quite right. For one thing, no one really wants Duffy and McCrabban poking around in it. Meanwhile, Duffy’s future with the R.U.C. faces an almost-certain dead-end, and MI5 agent Kate tries to recruit him for her agency. All things considered, a change of employer is more than a wee bit tempting. She’s the Gun Street girl, and, as Tom Waits would have it, Duffy will “never kiss a Gun Street girl again.” Doyle has won numerous Earphones Awards from AudioFile, and has a solid history narrating mysteries and thrillers. In this book, he must present various Irish and English accents and does so beautifully. I could listen to the book again just to hear him read it. Detective Duffy’s voice is crucial, since the story is told in first-person narration, and Doyle captures him—and McKinty’s dry, self-deprecating humor—beautifully.
    • 4/5
      Another craic-er of a book from McKinty that gets the flavour of the Troubles just right while pacing out a good solid thriller / detective plot. Huzzah for the franchise.
    • 4/5
      This series just keeps getting better and better. And more bang for my buck, a history lesson along with the entertainment. That ending though!! I highly recommend listening to the audio version over reading if you do audio as well. Gerard Doyle does an excellent job with the narration and I just love soaking in the accent and language or Ireland.
    • 4/5
      After having just read "The Sun Is God" and being mildly disappointed, how refreshing to return to Sean Duffy and Northern Ireland in the 1980s. McKinty spins a good yarn, the plot has nice twists and diversions and a resolution that isn't lacking in surprise and satisfaction.
    • 5/5
      This series gets better and better. I love the way McKinty weaves through known historical events, and in this case what we know as history makes the story stunningly believable. It's 1985, Belfast is blowing up, and arms dealers are sniffing out opportunities for materials, but which way are they going, and to whom? And what does a double murder have to do with anything? And how does Sean contend with all the substances he puts in his body?
    • 4/5
      Another terrific entry in the series with a complicated case taking Duffy into some real history and some re-imagined history none of which detracts from the actual detecting. These books have been some much breezier than Ellroy's Underworld series to which they must be compared. The blending of the real - Duffy barges into Sinn Fein headquarters in 1985 to have a chat with Gerry Adams - with the almost real - an Ollie North stand-in that is just as punchable - is lighter and less menacing than either Ellroy or David Peace's take on the same kind of thing. Super entrtaining.
    • 5/5
      Did Michael Kelly kill his parents and then kill himself? Duffy suspects otherwise. Is an Oxford party where a cabinet member's daughter dies of a heroin overdose involved? This book is set in Northern Ireland in 1985 at the time of the Irish Troubles. It is a fascinating read with dark and witty humor involving gun runners, arms dealers, British government and an American agent. Meanwhile M15 is trying to recruit Duffy. Adrian McKinty's writing gives you a sense of atmosphere and you feel like you are right there in Northern Ireland. I love his long chapter names and his short one word sentences that move the plot so quickly. If you haven't read any of the Sean Duffy series, you need to rectify that. It's a great series and each book gets better and better. I look forward to reading Rain Dogs and I would recommend this series to those who love mystery thrillers.