The Price of Blood

✍ Scribed by Hughes, Declan

• Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 196 KB
• Edition: Reprint
• Category: Fiction

✦ Synopsis

What's in a name? Apparently everything for Ed Loy, because that's the only information Father Vincent Tyrrell, brother of prominent racehorse trainer F. X. Tyrrell, offers when he asks for Ed's help in finding a missing person. Even the best private eye needs more than just a name, but hard times and a dwindling bank account make it difficult for Loy to say no.

He is not without luck, however. While working another case, Loy discovers a phone number that seems linked to F.X. found on an unidentified body. Thinking it more than a coincidence, he begins digging into the history of the Tyrrellsa history consumed with trading and dealing, gambling and horse breedingand soon realizes there is more to the family than meets the eye, a suspicion confirmed when two more people with connections to the Tyrrells are killed.

On the eve of one of Ireland's most anticipated sporting events, the four-day Leopardstown Race-course Christmas Festival, all bets are off as Loy pursues a twisted killer on the final leg of a reckless master plan.

In The Price of Blood, Declan Hughes once again paints an arresting portrait of an Ireland not found in any guidebooks. Deadly passions beget dark secrets in a chilling story that will have readers on edge right up to its shocking conclusion.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Hired by Father Vincent Tyrrell to find Patrick Hutton, a jockey missing for 10 years, Ed Loy quickly finds himself investigating not one but two grisly murders in playwright Hughes's stellar third novel to feature the Dublin PI (after 2007's The Color of Blood). At the same time, Loy must stay on his guard against members of the Halligan family, who blame him for the incarceration of one of their own. An innocent fling with the mysterious Miranda Hart leads Loy ever deeper into the heart of a complex drama that spans decades and involves several members of the powerful Tyrrell family. At least one murder turns out not to be what it seems. Beaten up, warned off and yet undaunted, Loy uncovers a horrible series of secrets, leading to a violent and labyrinthine conclusion at a famous Irish horse-racing festival. This intelligent, often brutal thriller will have readers' hearts racing from start to finish. (Mar.)
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Review

PRAISE FOR THE DYING BREED -- ** 'A very fine writer' -- Sunday Telegraph 'Hughes is not afraid to take his references and run with them, he is not afraid to have a good time. Above all, he is not afraid of writing well' -- Anne Enright, Guardian 'A deeply atmospheric writer ... [Hughes'] keen ear for the demotic, his sharp eye for the damning detail, makes The Dying Breed a vivid, gripping, and ... chilling read.' -- Claire Kilroy, Irish Times 'Hughes is an impressive talent' -- Irish Independent 'The book is rich in character and strong in narration and will keep the reader glued right through to the last line' -- Expressit 'This intelligent, often brutal thriller will have readers' hearts racing from start to finish.' -- Publishers Weekly starred review 'As crisply written as his previous books, Hughes is definitely onto another winner' -- Dublin Evening Herald 'Well-written and sharp' -- Irish Sunday Independent '...Rising Irish crime star Declan Hughes turns his acerbic eye on the Irish horseracing scene' -- Observer 'Think of Ed Loy books as contemporary Chandleresque but with an Irish setting and a more interesting, humane and sympathetic PI' -- CrimeFest PRAISE FOR DECLAN HUGHES: -- * 'To call Declan Hughes "a natural" is to engage in understatement. Here is a crime novel that's both deftly plotted and truly character-driven. Like Chandler's Los Angeles, Hughes's Dublin is brilliantly atmospheric. The dialogue crackles and the characters have a truly lived-in authenticity. A great read' -- Douglas Kennedy 'Declan Hughes breathes new life into the private detective story with The Wrong Kind of Blood. This thrilling ride of deception brilliantly teaches us that the past is never far behind us, that it can reach out and grab us at any time' -- Michael Connelly 'Finally Ireland gets a hardboiled detective worthy of the name...- it's not hard to see why [Declan Hughes'] publisher placed so much faith in such a relative newcomer' - Robert Mayes -- Ireland on Sunday 20060416 'Top class ... Fast moving, and paced with acutely observed dialogue, Hughes draws an accurate and decidedly dark picture of the changes wrought by Celtic Tiger Ireland on Seaview and its inhabitants. Highly recommended' -- Irish Independent Review 20060415 'Hughes is in his element describing the sites and sounds of the places Loy visits' - Ken Griffin -- Sunday Tribune 20060416 'Declan Hughes manages the extremely difficult trick of not only locating a credible thriller in Ireland but also casting an eye on the way this society has changed utterly in the past two decades ... Hughes laces his plot with razor-sharp and frequently hilarious comments on Irish society' -- Herald AM and Evening Herald 20060401 'Declan Hughes has written a thriller that is a hell of a good read... there's an energy to his writing that suggests he's in it for the long haul' -- Irish Sunday Independent 20060430 'I'd be prepared to swear that there has never been a character in Irish crime fiction with a name so taut, muscular and slyly tongue in cheek as Ed Loy ...' -- Irish Times 20060501

Library : General
Universes : Ed Loy [03]
Formats : EPUB
ISBN : 0061763586