In 1970s Ireland the British establishment conducted its struggle with the IRA in the "dirty war". This novel, set around the real-life figure of Captain Nairac, recreates the intrigue, loyalism and violence of a time when friend could turn foe overnight and nothing was ever quite as it seemed.

January 1961. The beaten, stabbed and strangled body of 19-year- old Pearl Gamble is discovered after a dance the previous night in Newry Orange Hall. Returning from London to investigate the case, Detective Eddie McCrink soon suspects that the accused, Robert McGladdery, may struggle to get a fair hearing.

1949. Lance Curran is set to prosecute a young man for a brutal murder, in the 'Robert the Painter' case, one which threatens to tear society apart. In the searing July heat, corruption and justice vie as Harry Ferguson, Judge Curran's fixer, contemplates the souls of men adrift, and his own fall from grace with the beautiful and wilful Patricia. Within three years, Curran will be a judge, his nineteen year old daughter dead, at the hands of a still unknown murderer, and his wife Doris condemned to an asylum for the rest of her days. In Blue Is the Night, it is Doris who finally...