Holding - graham norton

A New York Times bestseller From Graham Norton--the BAFTA Award-winning and hugely popular BBC America television host--comes a charming debut novel set in an idyllic Irish village where a bumbling investigator has to sort through decades of gossip and secrets to solve a mysterious crime.

With its tale of provincial life, gimlet-eyed spinsters, and thwarted love.

it feels almost like a Miss Marple mystery written by Colm T ib n ( The New York Times ).

The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama, and yet its inhabitants are troubled: Sergeant P.

Collins hasnt always been this overweight; Brid Riordan, a mother of two, hasnt always been an alcoholic; and elegant Evelyn Ross hasnt always felt that her life was a total waste.

So when human remains--suspected to be those of Tommy Burke, a former lover of both Brid and Evelyn--are discovered on an old farm, the villages dark past begins to unravel.

As a frustrated P.

struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his professional life, he unearths a communitys worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regrets.

Darkly comic, at times profoundly sad, and especially inviting because of its tongue-in-cheek wit ( Kirkus Reviews ), Holding is a masterful debut.

Graham Norton employs his acerbic humor to breathe life into a host of lovable characters, and explore--with searing honesty--the complexities and contradictions that make us human.