The Scholar

DI Cormac Reilly, Book 2

By: Dervla McTiernan

Narrated by: Aoife McMahon

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

The dead girl is carrying an ID that will put this crime at the centre of a scandal – her card identifies her as Carline Darcy, heir apparent to Darcy Therapeutics, Ireland's most successful pharmaceutical company.

Darcy Therapeutics has a finger in every pie, from sponsoring university research facilities to funding political parties to philanthropy – it has even funded Emma's own groundbreaking research.

As the murder investigation twists in unexpected ways and Cormac's running of the case comes under scrutiny from the department and his colleagues, he is forced to question himself and the beliefs that he has long held as truths. Who really is Emma? And who is Carline Darcy?

©2019 Dervla McTiernan (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

'Another thrilling tale that delivers on all the promise of McTiernan's debut – not to be missed.' (Readings Monthly)

'Ms. McTiernan fills "The Scholar" with a full cast of sharply etched characters: nightmarish parents, loving siblings, backstabbing colleagues and loyal allies. The police-procedural form seems ideally suited to the gifted Ms. McTiernan, who pulls off an unexpected piece of offstage violence so audacious it may make you gasp.' (The Wall Street Journal)

'Atmospheric and beautifully paced, with nuanced characters and a gripping plot – The Scholar has it all.' (Chris Hammer, author of Scrublands)