The Naming of the Birds

Something is troubling Inspector Henry Cutter. Sergeant Gideon Bliss is accustomed to his ill-tempered outbursts, but lately the inspector has grown silent and withdrawn.

Then, the murders begin. The first to die is the elderly Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated but obscure civil servant who long ago retired to tend his orchids. If the motive for his killing is a mystery, the manner of his death is more bewildering still. The victims that follow suffer similar fates, their deaths gruesome but immaculately orchestrated. The murderer comes and goes like a ghost, leaving only carefully considered traces. As the hunt for this implacable adversary mounts, the inspector's gloom deepens, and to Sergeant Bliss, his methods seem as mystifying as the crimes themselves.

Why is he digging through dusty archives while the murderer stalks further victims? And as hints of past wrongdoing emerge--and with them the faint promise of a motive--why does Cutter seem haunted by some long-ago failing of his own?

To find the answers, the meek and hapless sergeant must step out of the inspector's shadow. Aided by Octavia Hillingdon, a steely and resourceful journalist, Bliss will uncover truths that test his deepest beliefs.

Hypnotic and twisty, Paraic O'Donnell's The Naming of the Birds will ensnare you until the final pages and leave you questioning what matters most--solving a case or serving justice.

Author: Paraic O'Donnell
Publisher: Tin House Books
Published: 01/07/2025
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.04lbs
Size: 8.78h x 5.87w x 1.18d
ISBN: 9781963108033


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 12/02/2024
Library Journal 12/13/2024 pg. 1
BookPage 01/01/2025