THE UNQUIET GRAVE By DERVLA McTIERNAN

After a five year break, Dervla McTiernan returns to her popular series about Galway detective DS Cormac Reilly with a fourth book in the series, The Unquiet Grave (Harper Collins, 30 April 2025).

When a mutilated corpse is found in a bog, it is initially assumed to be a historical find, but analysis quickly shows that it is a much more recent death. The victim is Thaddeus Grey, a local secondary school principal who disappeared two years prior. There’s nothing in Grey’s past that would explain why he was murdered, or why his body was mutilated in a ritual manner. At first, progress on the case is frustratingly slow and Cormac struggles to keep his mind on the job. His ex-girlfriend, Emma Sweeney, is in trouble, and she’s reached out to him to for help. Her new husband has gone missing in Paris, and the French police are refusing to open an investigation into his disappearance. While in the background a nasty domestic violence case keeps Cormac’s offsider, Peter Fisher, busy, and a pair of ambitious thieves are plotting a clever robbery.

With consummate ease, Dervla keeps these various plot strands nicely bubbling along and the book proceeds at a decent pace as the reader tries to work out how they all link. The writing is assured, and all of the characters are well developed and credible. Most of the story is seen through Cormac’s eyes, but the inclusion of other viewpoints, particularly that of the unpleasant would-be thief Carl Rigney, adds extra interest and suspense.

The descriptions of Galway and the surrounding areas are rich and evocative, and the details of the police investigation are convincing. There are some slow patches, but Dervla keeps the reader interested in the various cases and in Cormac’s and Peter’s personal dramas. The ending is full of surprises, and it is clever how Dervla brings the various elements together in a logical way. An enjoyable and engrossing read.

Warning: intending readers should probably avoid reading the synopsis on the back cover of the Australian edition, which gives away too many incidents that occur quite late in the book.

The Unquiet Grave is released in Australia on 30 April 2025, and in the United Kingdom on Kindle on 14 May 2025.