It's Dublin in 1986. Kieran Lynch, an off-duty Guard officer is found dead in Phoenix Park, a notorious hot spot for homosexual gatherings. Irish Police Force Officer Gina Considine has to decide whether or not to tell her fellow guards that she had seen and spoken to Kieran outside a gay community Center the same night. It would be certain to reveal her own sexual orientation to her boss, DI Swan and her fellow officers. They have all always had a good working relationship and Swan thinks very highly of his young assistant. She comes across as an intelligent and dedicated officer in the team and, as the only woman, has to put up with a considerable amount of stereotyping, that is just short of bullying, from her male colleagues. As Swan and Considine go about working to discover the circumstances around Kieran’s murder and learning what people he had associated with before his death who might throw light on what occurred, readers learn more about the personal lives of Considine and the DI which has until this, the third book in the series, has only vaguely been touched upon. It had not previously been known that Considine is a lesbian or that Swan’s marriage has been on rocky ground. In this book Swan and his wife separate after his cat dies. What is particularly interesting in this story is that the author seems to focus so much more on the private lives of Swan and Considine but leaves those of the people they work with unexplored. When the others are mentioned, we learn that they have wives or girlfriends who are not spoken about very highly...I would call them "shadow people". The author's depiction of Dublin, the streets and the areas Swan and Considine visit in the course of their investigations will no doubt appeal to anyone wanting a better understanding of this city. The author also acquaints us with Kieran’s eccentric family, his home, which is a large mansion located on a steep rocky outcrop of land above the seashore. There is an unexpected familial links to people Swan and Considine are attempting to track down for questioning. In the conclusion we are no further ahead and actually feel that we were left hanging. Considine is still grappling with her feelings and speculating on her loyalty to the force...which I also began to question.... but we have to remember that the book is set in in 1980's and probably says much about the attitudes that prevailed in Ireland’s police force, as well as elsewhere during that time. ( )