McGarr and the Politician's Wife (Penguin Crime Fiction)

Rating:
Summary: Especially intriguing for fans who study writing.
Review: Originally published in 1977 as McGarr and the Politician's Wife, and reissued in February, 2000, after the Peter McGarr series became popular, this first novel may be particularly interesting to those who are already familiar with Peter McGarr, Chief Superintendent of Detectives of the Garda Soichana, and his staff. Although Gill writes a competent mystery and introduces all the characters who become so familiar to fans of his later McGarr mysteries, he is clearly feeling his way here as he decides how to develop them and his plots. The character quirks and foibles we take for granted in the later novels are just hinted at here, the character of McGarr is outlined but not fully developed, and the role of Noreen, McGarr's wife, and her involvement in his career are much stronger here.

The mystery is straightforward. When a battered, unconscious, and nearly drowned boat captain is pulled from shallow water at the Killiney Bay Yacht Club, McGarr and his staff--Hugh Ward, Liam O'Shaughnessy, Bernie McKeon, and others who become regulars in the series--find themselves involved in a mystery involving a politician, his promiscuous wife, the influence of the IRA on local politics, gun-smuggling from the U.S., and plots to discredit McGarr. The mystery is not very complex, and some readers may find that their primary interest is in seeing how Gill develops and presents his plot here, as opposed to his later, more fully developed novels.

Unlike the much smoother and subtler style in the later novels, Gill's foreshadowing here is still a bit clumsy. ("Very shortly, McGarr would need every friend inside the Castle he could muster.") He sometimes states the obvious: "The stakes [McGarr] was gambling with were his reputation, career and spotless criminal record." He tells the reader what is important, rather than letting the reader discover for himself: "Little could Hubbard have known how important the play was to McGarr." The wry and sometimes dark humor which we take for granted in the later novels are not much in evidence here, while the wild flights of Irish good spirits and camaraderie, and the fine description which gives color and depth to the Irish settings, while present in a few scenes, are not yet fully incorporated. The novel may fascinate long-time fans of the series who want see how the series started, while newcomers may prefer to start with one of the later novels. Mary Whipple