Amid the savage bloodshed of the Irish War of Independence, two reluctant IRA detectives navigate a deadly web of shifting allegiances to find justice for a murdered boy

'A smart and pacy debut' Irish Times

1920, the Irish War of Independence. Amid the turmoil of an emerging nation, two young IRA members assigned to police a rural village discover the body of a young boy, apparently drowned.

One of them, a veteran of the First World War, recognises violence when he sees it – but does one more corpse really matter in this time of bitter conflict?

The reluctant detectives must navigate the vicious bloodshed, murky allegiances and savage complexities of a land defining itself to find justice for the murdered boy. Neither of them realises just how dangerous their task will become.



Aidan McQuade is a writer and independent human rights consultant. He comes from South Armagh in the North of Ireland.

He was director of Anti-Slavery International from 2006 to 2017. Before that he worked in development and humanitarian operations, including leading Oxfam GB's emergency responses to the civil war in Angola. He is a recognised expert on forced labour and trafficking and regularly advises businesses, international organisations and NGOs. In 2017 he received an honorary OBE for his work on the elimination of modern slavery, which he returned in 2024 in protest at the UK government's egregious human rights failures.

He has written another novel, Some Service to the State, which reunites readers with the characters from The Undiscovered Country, and a professional book, Ethical Leadership. He lives in London.



'A cracker read about morality and ethics in a time of conflict'



'A book characterised . . . by a dialogue at once McQuade's own and reminiscent of the late Robert B. Parker. One is struck by its mordant wit and its fierce intelligence as it follows the travails of its main characters, ordinary people confronting a horror that they would rather turn away from but can't'



'A smart and pacy debut'