The Scholar

‘I found a body. A girl. Someone’s killed her.’

Detective Sergeant Cormac Reilly and his partner Emma Sweeney live in Galway, where Emma has obtained a funded position at a prestigious medical research laboratory. The couple first met when Emma was charged with a murder. While Emma was exonerated, the experience has scarred them both. When Emma stumbles across the body of girl, the victim of a hit and run accident, she rings Cormac. He is first to the scene. The dead girl is carrying the ID of Carline Darcy, granddaughter of John Darcy, the owner of Darcy Therapeutics. Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland’s most successful pharmaceutical company has many interests. It is also the sponsor of Emma’s research.

It quickly becomes clear that this was a deliberate and vicious murder. It is going to be a high-profile case and, arguably, one which Cormac Reilly should not be overseeing given that Emma was first on the scene. But the Galway Gardaí are under pressure, and Cormac Reilly has finally been moved off cold cases at the Mill Street Station. He is keen to prove himself.

But who killed this girl and why? And then there’s a second murder. It seems clear that both murders are linked to the laboratory where Emma works. Could she be involved? Cormac doesn’t think so, but doubt starts to creep in as the investigation deepens.

I really enjoyed this novel. While some aspects were (to me) more credible than others, I was too caught up in trying to work out ‘who’ and ‘why’ to be distracted. If you enjoyed Ms McTiernan’s first novel, ‘The Ruin’ then you’ll want to read this. Cormac Reilly is the main character in both. There are some well developed secondary characters as well, including Detective Sergeant Carrie O’Halloran and Garda Peter Fisher.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith