A holiday in Howth turns into a bit of busman's business in the third mystery to feature the kindly RUC superintendant Cecil Megarry, a man who drinks too much, smokes too much and cares - well, cares a good deal about the fate of ordinary folk. The narrative, lean and taut as the waistline of its hero will never be again, moves briskly along and the book, despite its violent subject matter, is suffused with an attractive gentleness which partly derives from the character of Megarry and partly from the spectacular beauty of its Dublin Bay setting.