The Death of an Irish Tinker

Peter McGarr #13

by Bartholomew Gill

A body is found shackled to the upper branches of the tallest tree in Ireland. The victim is a "Tinker," one of the mysterious class of itinerant travelers who have roamed Ireland for generations. The murder bears all the signs of being the work of Desmond Bacon, "the Toddler," brutal king of Ireland's heroin trade. But who was the deceased and why was he killed? The answer lies with a Tinker woman named Biddy Nevins, who may be the only person able to put Bacon away--that is, if Peter McGarr and his crew can get to her before the Toddler does.

Genres: Mystery, Ireland, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Irish Literature

245 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1990

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

[AngryGreyCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book 13 in a series I have not heard of written by an author unfamiliar to me. It was at a library book sale and I decided to take a chance on it. The murder involves a villain known as the Toddler, who commits a crime witnessed by a traveller woman. This sets in motion the rest of the events in the book. Peter McGarr is the Chief Superintendent investigating the crimes here, which are both brutal and unusual. The nature of the travellers’ distrust of the police and the Toddler’s far reaching power makes for a difficult investigation with many twists and turns before reaching the conclusion.

A very dark, somewhat depressing police procedural. I won’t judge it very harshly, simply because I didn’t read the earlier books and don’t know the character’s back story and may be missing important details by reading this one as a stand alone.

[Thom Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book and couldn't put it down, but toward the end it got a little weird. The last chapter was about a subplot that never caught my full attention, seemed misplaced. I did enjoy it, just not as much as I thought I would. Moved it down from a four to a three, which still isn't bad.

[Monnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one started as a blast from the past: An old friend we haven't seen in years mailed my husband Jack a copy of 1997 The Death of an Irish Tinker totally out of the blue, knowing we'd "get" the connection. Bartholomew Gill is the pen name of Mark McGarrity, who wrote 16 books featuring police detective Peter McGarr (the last published posthumously after McGarrity's death from a fall in 2002).

So what's the connection? Quite a few years ago, McGarrity's brother, a very tall Irishman named Hugh, owned and operated a pub in the town where we lived for nearly 50 years. When Hugh died, Mark came to town to take over for his late brother, staying a while before selling the place (which since has been torn down, much to the dismay of frequent patrons like us). Knowing Mark was an accomplished author, we of course read a few of his books back then. So, seeing this one brought back more than a few memories.

It's also one we hadn't read. So, despite my vow to never again open a book not on one of our Kindles, I set to it. As usual, this McGarr book is set in Ireland; it starts with the murder of a "Tinker," a member of a class of itinerant travelers who have wandered around the country for hundreds of years, living much like gypsies. From there, it's a chase almost literally through the streets of Dublin to find the killer - presumed to have been hired by a known drug lord. It's a fast-paced adventure filled with plenty of dead bodies on both sides of the law, and it held my attention right to the end.

[Tocotin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because I wanted to read about Tinkers. There was very little about them, because the main Tinker character has left the community and lived outside of it for quite a long time. I liked the descriptions of the encampment and the young people towards the end, and I thought that they were portrayed mostly sympathetically. I liked and rooted for Biddy. I liked Rita – as a character, not necessarily as a person! – although her appearance in the novel was extremely short (and didn’t end well).

The novel was a bit sexist and stuff, but not excessively. Point for including a lesbian couple, and the same point taken away for… you can guess. The style, I didn’t like that much, because it was sometimes distracting.

[Patrick Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not know it at the time I read it but this was part of a long running series featuring Dublin Garda Peter McGarr. This novel features a tinker woman with great artistic talent who witnesses a man being thrown under a Dublin bus. The two men go after her. She gets away but has to remain on the run as the man behind the murders has a long memory and is Dublin's biggest drug dealer. The book is a trip into the tinkers world. What can McGarr do to help her get away from the drug king pin once and for all when she has such a distrust of the police?

[Rogue Reader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dismal, destructive characters and the book, almost without redemption. I wish there'd been more than that one win.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite McGarr novel.

[David Devine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent crime drama set in Dublin. It's too bad the author passed way too early. I look forward to reading the rest of his series of novels set around Peter McGarr.

[Emilie Lang · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved the beginning, but it lost the magic for me part way through.

[A P · Rating 5 out of 5]

And unexpected death.. but good read!

[Linda Chrisman · Rating 5 out of 5]

As brutal as a punch to the face, this series isn't for those who cannot face violence. McGarry and his Team take on the most vicious drug dealer in Dublin. The action begins with the Traveler, Buddy, her husband Mickalou, and their daughter Oney. Buddy sees something she never should have seen and it takes every skill she has learned from childhood on to escape death. I learned a lot about the Travelers from this book. Especially the terrible prejudice the live with. McGarry his himself, and his crew are involved in various complications in their lives. I love this series and this is an excellent book. Not for the squeamish!

[Aunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I had read all of Gill's McGarr mysteries - but I found very confusing the fact that the titles of the books have been changed. Although Gill was a reporter in real life for the Star Ledger his writing all took place in Ireland.
This book was a lot of fun, if scarey murders can be called fun, and contained modern information on the life of the Tinkers - or Travelers - or Irish gypsies - however they wish to be called.
Of course I've been following in the books McKarr's career but once the names of the books were changed I found I was reading out of his life timeline. This book made me immediatly to the next one: Death of an Irish Sinner.

[Lori]

Picked this one up by chance, and it's part of a series. Kept my attention. Would be very gory and bloody if it was made into a movie, but a good story line. I want to read more in this series and figure out who Peter McGarr is.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent! This was a freebie but I'm game for a good mystery and an Irish accent. I also absolutely love to read a book that uses the occasional word that I have to look up the definition. Yea! New words!

[Mike Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. Similar plotline to that Brad Pitt movie a while back where he is a gypsy and has the crazy accent...the movie may have been based on this book???

[Mwshepherd]

A little different view of Dublin - not the uprisings or the Celtics, this is crime and travelers and frustrated detectives. Good accents and a fast read - good vacation stuff.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting crime novel about an Irish drug kingpin and police corruption spanning 12 years - I may read more McGarr mysteries. There's only about a billion of them.

[Kieran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit gruesome.

[Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Fairly well paced with believable characters. However leaves you wondering a bit at the end.

[Rebes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too dark for my taste. But despite that, it was still a page-turner!

[Abbey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for this book. Although it was easy to read, I wish there was a little more description with the characters. It just didn't do anything for me.

[Dillon Stubbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spent a summer in Ireland and I loved how detailed it was, even mentioning street names I remember walking down.

[Althea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice info about travelers, good story