Death on a Cold, Wild River

Peter McGarr #10

by Bartholomew Gill

Suspended from the Serious Crimes Unit for political reasons, former Chief Superintendent of the Irish Police Peter McGarr travels to the Owenea River to investigate the death of master fly-fisher Nellie Miller, one of McGarr's old flames. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Ireland, Fiction

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published August 1, 1994

About the author

Bartholomew Gill is the pen name of Mark McGarrity.

Mr. McGarrity was born in Holyoke, Mass., and graduated from Brown University in 1966. He studied for his master's degree at Trinity College, Dublin, and never tired of mining the country for material.

''One of the things they gave me,'' he once said of his books, ''is a chance to go back to Ireland time and time again to do research.''

He was also an avid outdoorsman, and since 1996 worked at The Star-Ledger of Newark as a features writer and columnist under the McGarrity name, specializing in nature and outdoor recreation. While continuing to produce McGarr novels, sometimes at the rate of one a year, Mr. McGarrity produced several articles a week for the newspaper. He wrote about a variety of topics ranging from environmental issues to the odd characters he encountered in his travels, like an Eastern European immigrant who grew up watching cowboy movies and found his dream job playing Wyatt Earp in an amusement park in rural New Jersey.

Mr. McGarrity also published five novels under his own name.

Series:
* Peter McGarr Mystery

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erased my review again. Argh!
Featured in this book: Flyfishing on the Owenea River, one of Donegal's best salmon rivers.
Murder Victim: old girlfriend of McGarr's he almost married, Nellie Millar
Town: Ardara, Donegal town by the sea surrounded by mountains
Event: McGarr packs and heads for Ardara when Noreen, his wife, reads article about Nellie's death
With the assistance initially of Nellie's father, the man who originally taught McGarr flyfishing, he determines Nellie's drowning was murder, not accident.
Although McGarr is temporarily suspended from his job for political reasons, he gets Ward and Ruth to come help with the investigation.
There are some nasty, grasping folk in the tale and it takes some clever manipulations to bring them out for exposure of their deeds. As seems to be standard, McGarr's wife and young daughter join him. Great descriptions of salmon run and beauty of river. I assume this author was a fisherman as he wrote as journalist on outdoor sport.

Library Loan

[Ben Doran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bartholomew's introductions of his books are always immersing; right into the character, the setting, the heart--the first chapter of this one was no exception to that. I know little of salmon fishing, but that didn't/won't stop me from reading a good mystery about it. And each person on the ensemble/assembled team gets to play a major part in the denouement.

[Scilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nellie Millar, a sport fisher who writes articles, teaches woman to cast, and runs a fly fishing store dies in the swollen Owenea River while catching a trophy salmon. Peter McGarr, her former lover, now suspended Chief Superintendent of the Serious Crimes Unit goes to her wake. He is sure the death is not accidental and begins to investigate. The first clue is that there is a smooth cut through her new waders. Possible suspects include a young American who has been wooing her and would like to join her business, a young Scottish woman who is hanging around with the American and is also interested in the business, and a local net fisherman who believes she got his fishing rights suspended.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fishing and fishing lore dominates this murder mystery set in Ireland. Well done but the characters were less interesting than in some of his other books.

[Lori]

Enjoyed this, even tho it dealt with fishing.