POPULAR FICTION: Fans of Pauline McLynn's thirty-something private detective Leo (short for Leonora) Street won't be disappointed with her latest adventure. A dash of modern romance and a sprinkling of intrigue are all underpinned by the kind of chatty, self-deprecating humour that has seen the former Father Ted housekeeper likened to an Irish Bridget Jones, writes Róisín Ingle.
Right On Time. By Pauline McLynn. Headline, 313 pp. £10.99
This time out, our heroine is pregnant and unsure who the father is. In a nod to biological clocks, her watch has stopped, and each time she mentions the fact - which she does a lot - the reader might wonder why she doesn't just get a new one. (Answer: A handsome man is on hand to sort out her timing problems for her).
The novel skips along in McLynn's breezy style as the heroine's latest case takes her to the heart of Dublin's murky underworld, where she encounters everything from prostitution, drugs and murder to back street abortion. Leaving no vice unturned, she must find a missing country girl who has disappeared up to "the Big Smoke" and got mixed up in some nasty business involving death and bubble bath.
It all ends with a gut-wrenchingly violent twist and enough loose ends tied neatly up to satisfy those who enjoyed the other Leo Street based novels: Something for The Weekend and Better Than A Rest.
This is McLynn's third Street caper, and one wonders how long she will keep sending the daring P.I. out pounding the pavements in search of clues and comedy before trying something new. There are only so many observations on lifts that won't work, mad cleaning ladies (go on), the Irish Mammy and Celtic Tiger Dublin, staples of each of her novels, and McLynn could be in danger of repeating herself for the sake of the successful Leo Street format.
Róisín Ingle is an Irish Times journalist