A strong hook to get started, the mystery reeling me in, a few red herrings, and the culprit caught in the end.

This is a Cormac Reilly murder mystery, (the first being The Ruin), follows the investigation of a hit-and-run which caused the death of a young woman in Galway, Ireland.

“With the amount of money Darcy had donated to this university, if Carline Darcy wanted to do a degree in knitting they would have created one for her.”

“They pulled into the driveway of the house. The curtains in the front room were drawn. Something about the Lambert house was unfriendly.”

“The light was so poor that he was nearly on the body before he could distinguish shape from shadow, and could make out the pool of blood, mahogany dark, spread out from a spill of long blond hair.”

Quotes from the book.

• Readings: “This is another thrilling tale that delivers on all the promise of McTiernan’s debut – not to be missed.”
• Better Reading: “With the The Scholar, McTiernan has not only delivered another complete and deeply satisfying read, but proved that The Ruin was no fluke …”

Author’s website: Dervla McTiernan