A Hunt in Winter by Conor Brady is a murder mystery that is short on mystery and heavy on political intrigue and injustice.

Detective Inspector Joe Swallow is living something of a charmed life at the moment. Respected in his work, engaged to a woman he loves and with a baby on the way, Swallow seems to be doing very well. But soon the times will change and Swallow will see everything he has worked for be threatened. A murderer has come to the streets of Dublin and Swallow must hunt this killer down. But superstition and poverty get in his way as this killer, dressed in a long overcoat reeks of death and decay. These murders happen along the same time as those in Whitechapel, has the Ripper come to Dublin?

My problem with this book is that the mystery gets lost behind the political machinations of the English and the Irish. That in itself is a story and what Swallow loses in this battle is far more intriguing than the murders of the young woman and that overshadowing of what would thought to have been the main subject of this book leaves the tale somewhat disjointed.

In the end the mystery is solved almost by happenstance with the politics of the story, something that perhaps should have been in the background taking a much larger role.

Not sure how I feel about it. Good characters but confusing storyline.

I expected more from this story, especially considering there are so many things in here that I normally enjoy a lot.

The set out was great: two murders and one attack on women in 1880s Dublin. This kind of violence was very rare at that time in that city, especially on women. It curiously echoed what was happening in London at the same time: someone, who the press had named Jack the Ripper, was attacking and murdering women and the police seemed pretty powerless. All the first part of the novel plays on this parallel between the two cities and I found it pretty cool.

Irish political situation takes a strong stand in the story. It touches on Charles Parnell and the attempt to discredit him in the British courts which I assume to be an historical event. I’ve always been interested in Irish history, so I really enjoyed this thread at the beginning.

Then there was Joe Swallow’s personal life, going through quite an important evolution. I like it when a mystery also gives attention to other elements then the bare-bones mystery.

So I thought there were more then enough for me to enjoy this story. But I soon realised the story dagged. In the first half of the novel there's absolutely no progress on the three attacks. Parnell’s affair creates tension and gives the possibility to see how the Irish police worked for and with (not to mention sometime against) the British authority. Although I found it interesting and quite realistic, it seems to go in circles and after a while I started to wonder what was the point of this thread.
Swallow’s personal thread was maybe the slowest and hardly seemed to go anywhere. Long scenes with many repetitions stretched one simple fact (like Swallow’s marriage) unnecessarily for many pages.
This different threads pulled my attention in different directions and because none of them seemed to move towards a definite goal, I had a hard time focusing on them and also on getting a clear impression of the structure of the story.

Halfway through the story picked. The Parnell thread created personal problems for Swallow. Then he went to Berlin pursuing a suspect, and returned to a personally tragedy in Dublin. It all sounded very exciting. I particularly enjoyed the part taking place in Berlin. It was a glimpse in the history of a city that - in the late 1800s - was very different from the one we know. It also depicted the meeting of two very similar men belonging to two very different cultures and a realistic, sympathetic way. I really liked it.
But excited as it sounded, it then all died out once the action gets back to Dublin. In the end, Swallow’s thread was the one that gave more satisfaction. Parnell’s thread resolved in nothing and the solution of the mystery was also very disappointed… at least for me.

But in spite of this, I still enjoyed many aspects of the novel.
The setting was fantastic. This is not my usual era - my reads tend to hover between WWI and the late 1920s. It was different from what I’m familiar with in so many ways, but I loved reading about the infancy of police detection. The procedures of investigation were described in details and sounded and felt so different from what we are accustomed today. But even I – who know nothing about them – could feel the research and passion that created such vivid depiction.
The city of Dublin and life in it also came to life with a strong feel. It was so easy to imagine to be there.
The political setting was also very clearly depicted, which goes to the author’s credit. Irish politic was everything but simple, especially at that time, and I’ve seen so many authors making a mess of politics because they were not familiar enough with it.

On the whole, I had the impression the author owned the setting, since he wrote about it with great ease. I just wished the story itself would have been as compelling.

I am for reals through with mysteries that begin with the death of, or violence done to, an unknown woman, especially those in which you are in that woman's shoes. It's lazy and cliche and, at this point in my reading life, prejudices me against the book. A Hunt in Winter starts with just such a scene and gets to a be a slog after that. A hard pass.

3.5 Late 1800's, Dublin Swallows life is looking up both professionally and personally. Yet soon he will be involved in a case of the murder, as young women are being attacked, and very few clues are available. The political situation in Ireland is also at play, Fenians, Land Leaguers, Home rulers are all in a political fight that is proving to be a powder keg for violence. The Irish police, like Swallow against those of the British. So many different things at play here, and now young women are at risk, and some are comparing the murders to those of the Ripper.

Very slow moving, detailed and atmospheric, definitely not an edge of your seat mystery, but a slow unveiling of all issues. Definitely receive a thorough immersion into the situation and various factions, a look at how difficult it was for the police to investigate crimes in the days before computers and data bases made it must easier to track people. Took so much patience, painstaking investigation, interviewing people, checking and double checking. The power of the Catholic Church and the untouchable reputation of their priests. This is a book that contains much and takes patience. Events unravel so slowly, but I found it interesting and thought their was a good mix of the personal, professional and political.

ARC from Netgalley.

A fearful winter!

1888 'Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow (now promoted to detective inspector)' is faced with the murders of three young women sending the residents of Dublin into a frantic state of fear and panic. Are the murders linked or not? Is this a Jack the Ripper copycat or has the Ripper come across the Irish Sea?
Swallow is part of the Dublin G-Dividion. 'Fifty-odd detectives investigated crime across the city, and were also the administration’s first and principal bulwark against political subversion. Their responsibilities ran from protecting the chief men who governed Ireland for the Crown to keeping watch on Fenians ... and the ever-multiplying groups that wanted, for one reason or another, to overthrow the established order.'
At this moment the G-Men are needed to come up with answers to the murders. Not be diverted by the wishes of those whose sole motivation is to keep tabs on various Irish groups at the behest of the Crown. The G-Men are at odds with the Secret Service officers, mainly men with a military background, who are currently looking for anything to get on the leader of the Irish Party at Westminster, Charles Stewart Parnell. Their lines of enquiry are looking to blacken Parnell's character in the hope to end the bid for Irish home rule. They want the G-Men's official note books. And that looking for notes leads to a personal tragedy for Swallow.
His bête noir is Major Nigel Kelly. Swallow thought him a fraud and a poseur.
Swallow's boss, John Mallon, the chief superintendent describes Kelly as, 'a sour bastard, and a dangerous one [with] a face like a wolf, and the instincts of one.'
I absolutely disliked Kelly at a gut level. The adversarial position between the two law enforcement branches runs deep. The tension between them is palpable. As is that between Kelly and Swallow.
How those tensions run through the criminal investigation and color the political investigations gives legs to this vivid drama that grabs this particular historical period with a rawness that's both particular and defining.

A NetGalley ARC
(October 2017)

1888 Dublin and D.I. Joe Swallow is tasked with investigating the death of a young female. But this will not be the last attack, is there a connection between them.
There is quite a bit in the book concerning Irish politics at the time, fine if you don't know history from an Irish viewpoint, but not really enough story concerning a mystery, but enjoyable enough with a variety of characters.

A Hunt for Winter by Conor Bradey is the 3rd book set in Victorian Ireland and featuring Jack Swallow, of the Dublin Police Force. Swallow has been the newly promoted to the position of Detective Inspector despite the fact that most of the top positions were reserved for Protestants.

On a Friday night, Alice Flannery, a young waitress is murdered while on her way home from the New Vienna restaurant where she was a waitress. The police are worried that the population will panic after the murder is reported, particularly since Jack the Ripper has been murdering young women in London. Detective Inspector Swallow takes the lead in this investigation which intensifies as a second woman and then a third are found murdered in a matter of weeks. Meanwhile the British security office is more intent upon discrediting Charles Stewart Parnell, a Protestant Irish Nationalist politician who served in the British House of Commons. They have demanded that Swallow’s chief, John Malon, turn over materials that their squad has on him. The two men agree to “lose” them, believing that if Parnell is thrown out of Parliament, it will boost the popularity of the the Fenians who promote violence to end British Rule in Ireland.

Swallow follows leads to Alice Flannery’s death and is in Berlin when British Major Kelly breaks into the home he shares with his wife above the public house she owns and trashes it in search of the papers.

The blending of the political turmoil of the period with the intensity of solving three murders during the cold Dublin December nights adds up to a wonderful read. Added to this is the intensity with which Swallow proclaims he is Irish, not English, yet he works for British. This tension helps make Joe Swallow real; he works for the people of Dublin and has to put up with the British. I love historical fiction and mysteries, and A Hunt for Winter which is both kept me glued to the page. I now have a new series to follow and will have to read the first two books, though A Hunt for Winter does stand on its own.

Patterns of violence
This is the third of Brady’s Joe Swallow crime novels. I had already read the first. Set in late Nineteenth Century Dublin, Joe Swallow is an Irish detective working for the British establishment. There is a gathering movement towards national self determination, on the one hand through peaceful methods as evidenced by Parnell, on the other through violence. Swallow’s position is an increasingly difficult one. A real strength of the novel is the portrayal of such parlous times, the machinations of Parnell’s political enemies in Dublin Castle, and the effects of political differences in Swallow’s own family.
The central plot is woven around a series of Jack the Ripper type killings in a Dublin normally safe from such awful murders. The solution to this mystery is the least successful aspect of what is otherwise a very well written and entertaining story.

It took me so long to read this book, the pace was so slow … It just went on forever.

I would like to thank NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a review. When a young girl is murdered in 1888 Dublin, it falls to Detective Inspector Joe Swallow to find her killer. With London in a panic with the Ripper murders, his investigation is conducted quietly. When a second young woman is murdered it can no longer be kept from the public.

Conor Brady has written a story that is more than a mystery. It also reflects the political climate in Victorian Ireland. As Swallow tracks a murderer, he must also contend with English agents. As Charles Stuart Parnell pursues home rule, the English are trying to discredit him. Swallow receives a demand to turn over surveillance logs on Parnell's activities, but his refusal adds animosity to an already tense situation.

While murder and politics play out there are also developments in Swallow's personal life. A wedding and a tragedy show another side of the devoted investigator. This is his third appearance and I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.

"A Hunt in Winter" was an amazing read if you would like to know what Dublin, Ireland, was like back in 1800's.

I loved the very detailed descriptions of the weather to religious and politic influences in Dublin back then. It was the time when Protestants (Church of Ireland) and Catholics (including Fenian and Hibernian) were hating and disrespecting one another. It was the time when the religion you belonged to affected your day to day life and career (your position) significantly. From what I know according to the book, the Protestants seemed to have the better job positions than someone who was Catholic. For example, the higher ranks in law enforcement were predominantly Protestant, and there were very few Catholic judges. Moreover, politics were even in a constant struggle. The Fenian and Irish Nationalists were having rebellions against the UK, so Ireland could establish a nation by itself rather than the Northern part being taken control by the crown.  The story features the time of difficulty and confusion in Dublin, and everyone in the story seemed to have a very strong identity(ideology) of what religion and ethnicity they were a part of. It was like reading a detailed Irish history book. I liked that I could feel the tension, hate, and pride being exchanged among the people from different groups. 

To be honest, before I had read this book, I thought the whole Ireland was a part of the UK lol I didn't know the only Northern Ireland was a part of the UK. So this book literally taught me a very important history lesson, not only Irish history but also the world around it, and I wouldn't have known if I hadn't read this book.

The story itself was very intriguing also. It begins with a murder of Alice Flannery. In Dublin, murder is a very rare crime (in the book). However, within a month, 3 women have ended up either being murdered or severely injured while in England, the infamous Jack the Ripper has been targeting and frightening women who are lower class. So, naturally, the press made a big deal out of it by trying to connect the incidents to the infamous killer. I was excited when the book mentioned Jack the Ripper. My first thought was this is going to be an awesome detective story! As you keep reading, you'll find some great mystery and investigative work elements that leave you wanting to know more and more. As a whole, it was a very well thought out detective story (which I always love to read) and it was also very thrilling! I do got to say, though, that I was a bit unsatisfied how things ended. Just wanted a different outcome, I guess. However, overall, I enjoyed it and so will you!

So if you want the aha moment like " I didn't know that was coming!" in the end, or if you like the Sherlock Holmes kind of smart deductions, maybe this is not the book for you.

However, if you would like to read about what and how a detective inspector's life would look like in 1800's Ireland, living among the power struggles between religion, politics, and the ranks, (and of course if you are interested in 1800's Ireland history!) I recommend you to read it. 

I rate this book 3.5 stars based on the rating below.

(1 star: couldn’t finish, 2 stars: made myself finish it, 3 stars: I liked it, 4 stars: I loved it, 5 stars: loved enough to reread it!!)