Now for the good news: Superintendent Cecil Megarry has retired from the RUC and settled in Howth, which means that (a) he belongs to us now, and (b) future Megarry stories will include, as this one does, delightful descriptions of the irascible detective's morning constitutionals, which are as much part of the fabric of these books as the plotlines. Murder at Piper's Gut opens with the grim discovery of a woman's severed head; Megarry is, naturally, recruited to help solve the crime; as it goes along the story catches up and examines, like bits of detritus caught in a fishing net, fragments of female identity in Ireland today - the plucky cop, the career woman, the transvestite - and all at a pace which never slows beyond allegro con brio. Every suitcase which is packed to go on holiday this summer, whether in Ireland or out of it, should contain a copy.
