Chief Inspector Peter McGarr is back, this time to investigate a double homicide in Leixleap, a village on the River Shannon. The murder takes place in a fancy inn owned by Tim Tallon, a loudmouth who bullied McGarr when they were boys. Tallon calls McGarr to the murder scene to beg a favor of his old friend--that McGarr keep the murder investigation hush-hush. The naked victims--so intimately entwined that one bullet seems to have killed them both--were officers in Leixleap's Eel Division, a department with a directive to hunt down poachers. The female officer was a belle, recently married but not to her partner in death. The male is her boss and twice her age, a local tomcat. Beneath a moody winter sky, author Bartholomew Gill brings to life this engaging Irish fishing village, where I.R.A. thugs routinely steal eels from harvesters. A charismatic but cunning bartender clues McGarr in on the scene. The villagers all know each other's business, so gossip penetrates fact in interesting ways. McGarr weaves together fragments--observations, opinions, guesswork--and has a knack for knowing when people lie or tell less than they know. Fans of the Peter McGarr mystery series already know that they can expect a vivid portrait of contemporary Ireland, at once realistic and just far enough removed from reality to feel like a vacation. Newcomers will be happy to enter the lives of McGarr and his familiars. Death of an Irish Lover is an entertaining good time. -