Headline Nugent, A: The Four Courts Murder

A superbly entertaining and suspenseful debut crime novel from Irish Benedictine Monk Andrew Nugent. When a Dublin High Court judge is found dead - slumped in his chair, his neck snapped by a well aimed kick - many would say he got what he deserved. But Inspector Denis Lennon and Sergeant Molly Power soon unearth a far more dangerous and complex case than simple revenge. There's the handsome, fair-haired young man whose flights of fancy and secret liaisons lead them down many a dark alleyway; the judge with an unusual but lucrative hobby; the strange connection with a rural community; the good-looking tae kwon do teacher. Elegant, charming and clever, Andrew Nugent deflates the pomposity of the law, the police force and Irish rural mythology in a novel as ingenious as it is witty and compelling.