Dublin PI Ed Loy thought he had laid all his ghosts to rest. But when two young women go missing from a film set, he knows his past has caught up with him. Twenty years ago, three girls disappeared while Loy's longtime friend, film director Jack Donovan, was shooting a movie in Malibu. They were never found. Now Donovan's filming an Irish historical epic on location--and production grinds to a halt when two female cast members fail to show up to work. Fearing that Donovan or one of his close associates is responsible, Loy races to uncover the truth before a third girl vanishes--a hunt that's pulling him far from home, back to L.A., leaving a cunning killer free to strike at what's dearest to Ed Loy's heart.

Dublin PI Ed Loy is trying to escape his past--a task easier said than done--in this new novel from Shamus Award-winning author Declan Hughes

Shortly after moving from his childhood home on the outskirts of Dublin to an apartment in the city, Ed Loy is approached by Anne Fogarty, a woman whose father was killed fifteen years ago. She thinks the police nabbed the wrong person, and now she wants Loy to find the truth. At the top of the list of possible suspects are three men Anne's father, a revenue inspector, was preparing claims against for criminal activity: Bobby Doyle, an ex-IRA man turned property developer; Jack Cullen, also ex-IRA, now the head of a gang of disgruntled IRA men; and George Halligan, Loy's underworld nemesis.

At the same time, Loy is asked to look into the death of Paul Delaney, a rising soccer star who may have been connected with Jack Cullen. With the two cases on a collision course, Loy scours the streets of a city divided--where the wounded Celtic Tiger walks hand in hand with the ghosts of a violent past.

With his gripping mysteries in the tradition of Raymond Chandler's and Ross MacDonald's best, a striking portrayal of an Ireland seldom seen, and a classic hero in Ed Loy, Declan Hughes cements his place as one of the most talented new crime writers working today.

"When her husband and two daughters disappear, housewife Clare Taylor discovers that her ordinary domestic life has been built on a lie."
About to turn forty, her youthful dreams of becoming an actress abandoned, there's no doubt in her mind that suburban wife and mother-of-two Clare Taylor has settled. A wild week in Chicago may have shaken things up a bit, but as she turns her key in her Madison, Wisconsin home on the eve of Hallowe'en, she knows that what happened with her ex was nothing more than a distraction, that this is where her life is. Except it's all gone. The furniture gone, the house stripped, her husband Danny, her daughters, all gone; no message; no note, nothing. Outside in the dark, searching for a sign, she steps in one: the eviscerated body of the family dog. By dawn next morning, her supposedly mortgage-free home has been foreclosed against, one of Danny's childhood friends lies dead in her backyard, and Clare is caught up in a nightmare that began with her husband on Hallowe'en night, 1976. A nightmare that reaches its terrifying climax thirty-five years later.

Even the best private eye needs more than a name to find a missing person--but that's all the information Ed Loy gets from Father Vincent Tyrrell, brother of prominent racehorse trainer F. X. Tyrrell. Loy is not without luck, however, and a phone number inadvertently discovered on an unidentified body sends him digging deep into the Tyrrells' family history. But there is more to this revered clan of horse breeders, traders, and gamblers than meets the eye--a fact confirmed by the death of two more people with connections to the Tyrrells. On the eve of one of Ireland's most anticipated sporting events, Loy is betting his life in order to disrupt a twisted killer's master plan.

Deadly passions beget dark secrets in a chilling story that will have readers on edge throughout, as award-winning author Declan Hughes once again paints an arresting portrait of an Ireland not found in any guidebooks.

"When her husband and two daughters disappear, housewife Clare Taylor discovers that her ordinary domestic life has been built on a lie."
About to turn forty, her youthful dreams of becoming an actress abandoned, there's no doubt in her mind that suburban wife and mother-of-two Clare Taylor has settled. A wild week in Chicago may have shaken things up a bit, but as she turns her key in her Madison, Wisconsin home on the eve of Hallowe'en, she knows that what happened with her ex was nothing more than a distraction, that this is where her life is. Except it's all gone. The furniture gone, the house stripped, her husband Danny, her daughters, all gone; no message; no note, nothing. Outside in the dark, searching for a sign, she steps in one: the eviscerated body of the family dog. By dawn next morning, her supposedly mortgage-free home has been foreclosed against, one of Danny's childhood friends lies dead in her backyard, and Clare is caught up in a nightmare that began with her husband on Hallowe'en night, 1976. A nightmare that reaches its terrifying climax thirty-five years later.

Ed Loy has made some changes. He has moved into an apartment in Dublin's city centre, leaving behind his family home: he wants to break free of the ghosts of his own past, to live in the teeming present. But if that's what he wants for his own life, it's not always what his clients will permit: the baggage they bring with him propel him relentlessly into past. The police are working along similar lines with their new Cold Case unit. Looking back over a fifteen-year-old murder, they are satisfied by their original findings - but not so Loy. He has been hired by the victim's daughter to investigate the suspects ignored by the first investigation: a rich property developer, an ex-IRA man and Loy's own nemesis, George Halligan. But Loy has to watch his back: in the murky world into which he has fallen, he can't tell which threats come from the IRA and which from the police protecting their old case. Can Loy persuade his longstanding friend DI Dave Donnelly to help solve the Fogarty case, or does he have to rely on the murderous George Halligan? Does it all go back to the IRA? Are the men who gave the commands now respectable citizens? In his toughest case yet, Ed Loy delves into the dirty side of life in the new Ireland, where progress comes at a price and no one is free of their past.

One of the preeminent Irish playwrights of his generation, published on the Methuen list alongside great contemporary Irish playwrights such as Sebastian Barry and Tom Murphy

Includes his widely acclaimed plays, Digging for Fire "Savagely comic account of a disastrous, booze-fuelled college reunion" (Daily Telegraph), New Morning "This is one of those rare plays that really does have you on the edge of your seat, frantic to know what is going to happen next" (Daily Telegraph), Halloween Night "Declan Hughes's compelling darkly funny reunion drama...has supernatural overtones but a very human message" (Evening Standard); Love in a Bottle (after George Farquhar) "Hughes's dialogue drips with sexual juices...a raunchy treat" (Time Out).

Love in a Bottle and Digging for Fire won the Time Out Award in 1992

Dublin PI Ed Loy tackles a case that takes him back to Los Angeles -- his home of twenty years -- and a past he'd rather forget in this gripping new novel in the Edgar Award-nominated and Shamus Award-winning series.

Ed Loy has laid his ghosts to rest. He's been back in his hometown of Dublin for several years, his work is wearing but steady, and he's in his first loving relationship since the death of his daughter caused the ruin of his marriage six years ago. But when two girls go missing from a Dublin film set, Loy knows his past has caught up with him.

Loy's longtime friend, film director Jack Donovan, is shooting his next movie, an Irish historical epic. Donovan and his three right-hand men -- together, the Gang of Four -- have made numerous movies together spanning several decades, but the new film is primed to be their masterpiece. Production grinds to a halt, though, when not one but two female cast members fail to show up to work. Chances are they're party girls sleeping off a late night, but the circumstances feel familiar to Loy. A little too familiar. Twenty years ago, three girls disappeared from a movie Donovan was shooting in Malibu and their bodies were never found. Today, Loy has a sinking feeling in his heart: Those girls are gone.

Knowing that one of the film crew -- maybe even Jack Donovan himself -- is responsible for the girls' disappearances, Loy races to uncover the truth before a third girl goes missing. And in order to find answers, he must return to L.A. and delve deep into his past. But while he's so far from home, a cunning killer seizes the chance to strike at what's closest to Ed Loy's heart.