Life
Irish crime writer and author of Death Without Trace (Collins Press 2005), a debut novel;
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Vincent Banville, reviewing Death Without Trace, in The Irish Times (16 April 2005), Weekend, p.13: ‘[...] Murphy’s fine first excursion into crime fiction, Death without Trace. Following the American rather than the English tradition, his protagonist is an amiable private detective, who sidelines as a brewery foreman - considering the amount that - fictional gumshoes drink, this is not too hard to swallow. Mike Madigan is his name and seeking out errant husbands is his game. The glamorous wife of a university professor hires him to keep an eye on hubby, whom he suspects of having an affair. Taking on the chore catapults Mike into more trouble than he’s ever had before, and he nearly loses his life before coming out more or less safely at the other end. Murphy writes an in-your-face, wisecracking prose style that never flags as regards pace or delivery, and his cast of characters is as believable as the constituent parts are weird. Madigan is a finely realised anti-hero - among other things he listens to the news in Irish because he doesn’t want to know what’s going on in the world - and I look forward to his future adventures. Death without Trace is a cracking good read, and the one-liners at times approach the best of those of the master, Raymond Chandler.’
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