The Cold Cold Ground by Adrian McKinty

Ulster, Northern Ireland in the early 1980's.  There is rioting as the Catholic men from the IRA who are imprisoned are on a hunger riot demanding their rights as political prisoners and they are starting to die.  With each death, Ulster erupts in riots and men in the streets fighting the police.  Detective Sean Duffy is in the midst of this.   He is one of the few Catholic policeman in the North, and so besides the animosity for all police, faces extra attention as someone who is considered a traitor to his background.  He is also a college graduate at a time when that is rare in the police, someone who majored in psychology.

This background is needed for his next case.  A man is found killed and left in an abandoned car.  He has the marks of the IRA traitor, shots in his knees and his hands removed.  When the man is identified, he is in the paramilitary groups but something else is brewing.  The severed hand left with him is not his and there are indications that this could be a murder done because the victim was homosexual.  There are also indications that the murderer is interested in classical music; opera in particular.  When another victim is found, also a homosexual and with the same forensic indicators, it seems clear that someone is applying violence to the men who are willing to break Irish law to live as gay men.

But of course there are always more cases coming.  The body of a young woman is found hanging in the forest.  She was the ex-wife of one of the prison protesters, and it is clear that she recently gave birth although there is no indication of what happened to the baby.  In the midst of this, Duffy becomes embroiled with the female pathologist who comes with her own baggage.  Can Duffy find the murderer before the violence blows Ulster sky-high?

This is the first book in the Sean Duffy series, of which there are currently six.  Duffy is an interesting character and the methods he uses to find out what is going on are engaging.  He must deal not only with crime but a society that is falling apart and in which he is an anomaly.  I listened to this one and the reader's Irish accent added so much to the narrative.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.