Plano Reads: “The Scholar”

For May’s meeting of the Mystery Book Club, we are reading The Scholar by Dervla McTiernan. Join us as we discuss the latest installment of this series on May 19 at 7pm both at Haggard Library and virtually through Zoom. To join us virtually, register here.

“When Dr. Emma Sweeney stumbles across the victim of a hit and run outside Galway University late one evening, she calls her partner, Detective Cormac Reilly, bringing him first to the scene of a murder that would otherwise never have been assigned to him.

A security card in the dead woman’s pocket identifies her as Carline Darcy, a gifted student and heir apparent to Irish pharmaceutical giant Darcy Therapeutics. The multi-billion-dollar company, founded by her grandfather, has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy – it has funded Emma’s own ground-breaking research. The enquiry into Carline’s death promises to be high profile and high pressure.

As Cormac investigates, evidence mounts that the death is linked to a Darcy laboratory and, increasingly, to Emma herself. Cormac is sure she couldn’t be involved, but as his running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question his own objectivity. Could his loyalty to Emma have led him to overlook evidence? Has it made him a liability?” – From Author’s website

Available formats: Print | eBook | eAudiobook

[other option – Checkout through Library Catalog or OverDrive]

“In McTiernan’s solid second police procedural featuring Galway’s Det. Cormac Reilly, …the characters nearest to Carline are a bit too stereotyped, and the solution to the mystery is telegraphed too soon; [however,] the complexities of the relationships within the [police] department, and the tensions between Reilly and Emma, are rich enough to carry the reader through this story and into the next one. McTiernan’s cautionary tale about money, prestige, and the secretive world of pharmaceutical research will resonate with many.” – Publisher’s Weekly

“Internationally bestselling and critically acclaimed writer, Dervla McTiernan is the author of The Ruin, The Scholar and The Good Turn. The Ruin, published in 2018, is the first in the detective Cormac Reilly series and has been optioned for TV by Hopscotch Features. Dervla spent twelve years working as a lawyer. Following the global financial crisis, she moved from Ireland to Australia and turned her hand to writing. Dervla is a member of the Sisters in Crime and Crime Writers Association, and lives in Perth, Australia, with her husband and two children.”

From the author’s website.

Read-alikes available through our library catalog and Overdrive:

• Memory Man (Amos Decker series) by David Baldacci eBook | eAudiobook
• The Long Call (Two Rivers series) by Ann Cleeves eBook
• The Black Echo (Harry Bosch series) by Michael Connelly eBook
• In the Woods (Dublin Murder Squad series) by Tana French eBook | eAudiobook
• The Dry (Aaron Falk series) by Jane Harper eBook | eAudiobook
• Too Close to Breathe (Frankie Sheehan series) by Olivia Kiernan eBook
• The Dark Winter (Detective Sergeant McAvoy series) by David John Mark eAudiobook
• With Our Blessing (Inspector Tom Reynolds series) by Jo Spain