Tangled Web UK Review May 2007
Second Burial by
Andrew Nugent
hbk out March 07
Published by Headline
at £19.99
It may sound odd to suggest that a murder novel could be 'charming'; but
this second book by a remarkable Irish author has a warm humanity about
it that goes with the nature of the writer. Andrew Nugent was a barrister
in Dublin, but then became a Benedictine monk and headmaster of the
school in Glenstal Abbey, Limerick, and has now actually become its
Prior. In between, he spent nine years in a monastery in Nigeria, from
which experience this book has undoubtedly sprung.
The story concerns the black community in Dublin, a small and self-
contained enclave known as 'Little Africa', north of the Liffey. A young
African, Shad, who runs an ethnic café there, has been found dumped in
the Wicklow Mountains, severely mutilated with a leg missing, and dies
after crawling to a nearby house. Gardai detectives Inspector Quilligan
and Sergeant Molly Power, who were in Nugent's previous novel, The
Four Courts Murder, are clueless about this bizarre murder. It is left to
the Nigerians to ferret out facts that get the investigation going, as Shad's
younger brother Jude devotes his life to avenging his sibling's death –
and a young orphan boy helps him by patient observations in the
unknown country south of the river.
At one stage, Quilligan goes to Nigeria to visit the victim's family to try
to discover if any tribal or ritual factors might be involved – this is a good
chance for the author to air his undoubted knowledge of that country,
which he does with his usual sympathy and compassion.
The dénouement is extraordinary, but little more can be said without
giving the game away, except to hope that Andrew Nugent (whose
monastic life has in no way has cut him off from the seamier aspects of
humanity) will continue to produce such splendid and memorable books.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
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