BLEED A RIVER DEEP

A gold mine has been established 20 miles or so east of Lifford, County Donegal in the Irish Republic, just across the River Liffey which divides it from Strabane, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. Preparations are in hand for the official opening of the goldmine to be performed by Cathal Hagan, a US Senator of Republican sympathies and doubtful reputation. Inspector Benedict Devlin is responsible for the associated security operation. A body is found at the mine which turns out to be an Iron Age 'bog body' of a young woman who was apparently sacrificed. This brings archaeologists hotfoot from Dublin and the professor in charge turns out to be a childhood neighbour and university drinking buddy of Devlin's. Meanwhile a man shot during an unsuccessful bank raid in Lifford proves to be an illegal immigrant from Chechnya. At the mine a shanty camp is growing on the banks of a nearby river after the discovery of a nugget in the riverbed triggers a mini gold rush. When the controversial US diplomat is attacked the gunman turns out to be a young environmentalist related to an old friend of Devlin's. Then Devlin's friend is found dead near the mine and he begins to suspect that the business is a front for something far more sinister than mere mining. 'A mystery of labyrinthine complexity' - Sunday Telegraph, it is a tale of big business, the new Europe and the dispossessed. 276pp, paperback.