The Cold Cold Ground

McKinty took the hard boiled detective and dropped him into the height of the troubles. The book is set in Northern Ireland during the IRA hunger strikes in 1981. For me, the story itself was overtaken by the background setting - which isn't to say the story was dull, just that I found the presentation of the troubles so very interesting. The protagonist is a man with more flaws, feelings, and depth than your typical detective and kept the story interesting and moving and the plot was well crafted, but I came away wanting to read more about the IRA than anything else. I will probably return to this series in the future.