Going Rate: A Matt Minogue Mystery

Inspector Matt Minogue #9

by John Brady

Gang violence and brazen shootings have made Dublin's streets a battleground this last decade. When Polish-born Tadeusz Klos is murdered, Minogue is suddenly in demand, both for his background in that Murder Squad and for his current work in the Garda International Liaison office. With little to go on, Minogue first forms a picture of a chance event, with bad timing, a swarm of drunken youths and racism. And Tadeusz Klos was no this wayward and restless only child was involved in petty crime back in Poland. Ready or not, Minogue is about to drop down a crevasse into Dublin's underworld. There, not far from the busy world-class shopping and the crowded nightclubs, the glass clad offices tower and the massive rock concerts, is where drug lords and their hired killers rule.

Genres: Ireland, Mystery

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

John Brady was born in Dublin, the fictional setting of his acclaimed series of Matt Minogue mystery novels. Brady immigrated to Canada at the age of 20, and has worked as a bank official, RCMP clerical officer and teacher. His seventh Minogue novel, Wonderland, taps into Dublin’s exploding economy and its aftershocks at every level of society. He lives in Toronto. He won the Arthur Ellis Award to the First Best Novel in 1989 for A Stone of the Heart.

Series:
* Inspector Matt Minogue

Reviews

[Ron McGuire · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a very well written story, goes nowhere.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a Polish immigrant is found beaten to death on the streets of Dublin, officer Matt Minogue is asked to investigate. Meanwhile, aspiring screen writer, Dermot Fanning, is busily researching Dublin’s crime scene. Fanning wants realism in his work, and gets more than he bargained for by witnessing a barbaric dog fight (this will be hard for animal lovers to read), among other things.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Details about the grittier aspects of Dublin are terrific, Minogue’s character is well drawn, and the author nicely balances the personal lives of characters with the main plot. The problem was that Fanning’s lack of common sense is so annoying that I found myself speed reading through his chapters, hoping to return to Minogue’s story. Minogue’s investigation became disappointing as well. Too many pages are spent interviewing surly, uncooperative teens who might, or might not, know how the victim died. These scenes slow the pace and, at times, actually diminish the tension with repetitious dialogue. Happily, the action picks up again near the end but, as in real police investigations, it seems to take a long time to get results in this 360 page novel.

[Kieran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love John Brady's books, but this one was only so-so.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

First I have ever read of John Brady and I did enjoy it.

I loved how the two stories ended up meeting at the same point in the end. I actually didn't expect the ending so that was really fun!