In a village seven miles north of

Dublin, a group of children find the

body of a man concealed in the ram-

shackle grandstand of a derelict

racecourse. He is clad in moss-

colored trousers and without identi-

fication. Dublin Garda Sergeant

Scan Lynch has no more clue to the

dead man s identity than the chil-

dren do--and speculation among

the residents of Balgriffin runs from

the personal to the political: was he

a drug peddler, a bookie, a gang-

ster? Or is this a crime linked to the

troubles in Northern Ireland, con-

nected to a family who has recently

moved to the village from Belfast?

The murder takes on a distinctly

international flavor, with links to

the United Arab Emirates and a dis-

turbing rumored connection to the