The Polka Dot Girl - Softcover

McManus, Darragh

3.2

5 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1780991819 ISBN 13: 9781780991818

Publisher: Roundfire Books, 2013

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Madeleine Greenhill was rich, beautiful, reckless...now she’s dead, dumped in the water. Her mother Misericordiae is the most feared woman in Hera City, which puts added pressure on investigating detective Eugenie Auf der Maur.

Gutsy, smart and likeable, ‘Genie’ thought she knew the strange, all-female world of Hera inside-out. She was wrong, and gets drawn into a labyrinth of sex and money, power and religion, double-cross and corruption. Nothing is at seems and nobody can be trusted as she becomes obsessed with finding the girl’s killer.

Hard-edged and soft-hearted, The Polka Dot Girl combines a serpentine plot, bristling dialogue and shadowy, sensuous atmosphere to create a classic noir-style mystery: Sam Spade in lipstick and a dress.

In Hera City, the female of the species really can be deadly.

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About the Author:

Darragh McManus is an author and journalist. He has published two crime novels through Roundfire Books: The Polka Dot Girl and Even Flow. His first book, the non-fiction GAA Confidential, was published by Hodder. He also released a comic novel, Cold! Steel! Justice!!!, as an e-book under the name Alexander O'Hara. For more than a decade he has written reviews, features and opinion columns for several papers, including The Irish Independent, The Sunday Times and The Guardian. Several of his short stories have appeared in literary journals, in Ireland and the US. He has also written a Young Adult novel inspired by Irish mythology. He lives in the west of Ireland. See darraghmcmanus.com for articles, updates, book excerpts and more.

Review:

"In a genre dominated by men, and the femmes fatale who existentially torture them, McManus has chosen to make women the sole gender in his latest mystery...has the lingo and tempo down pat...a great touch when it comes to the rhythmic development of pursuit scenes, an edge-of-your-seat narration that really moves the story along...there's a cinematic vibe that is well-wrought and a subtle comic tone that works well: when we do find out whodunit, it comes with a chuckle, which, after all the heart-racing and heartache that came before, is a nice touch." Evening Herald

"McManus has created a fascinating, and richly detailed, alternate all-female universe; you are well into the gripping mystery before you realise there are no men...Eugenie Auf der Maur is a brilliantly evoked amalgam of pulp heroes such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, all hardboiled attitude and wisecracking lip...It's a brilliant idea and McManus carries it off with style." Irish Independent

"Fantastic set-up...normal hardboiled detective setting - the difference is, this is an all-woman cast...very tapped into that Chandler/Hammett style...also brings in elements of classical mythology...Genie is quite endearingly vulnerable...(the book is) a very interesting and intriguing addition to the genre." Arena, RTE Radio 1

"McManus has a wonderfully pronounced sense of quirk...this time he takes us to Hera, a woman-only city with no explanation as to its matriarchal status; it just is...ripples of subtle humour veining the pages...as a detective story I loved it...overall the experiment would make Raymond Chandler's ghost proud due to the quality of the writing and the essence of the story itself." thebookbag.co.uk

"With prose that mimics the style of Chandler and Hamnett, McManus produces a nice double-play: a satire on the masculinist tropes of hardboiled crime fiction at the same time as being an enjoyable hardboiled tale. The story itself rattles along a fair clip with plenty of tension and twists and feints, the dialogue is spot-on and there are some nice observational touches...an interesting and entertaining story that spins a unique take on the genre and is a must for those who enjoy their crime fiction with a satirical twist." The View from the Blue House

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