Room 122

Is there a connection between the unsolved fatal stabbing of an Irish criminal in a west of Ireland hotel in 1971 and the murder of a CIA operative in a Dublin City hotel during US President Reagan’s 1984 visit to Ireland?

In the summer of 1972, eighteen-year-old Tommy Walsh takes a holiday bar job in the Swan Hotel. There he meets Marian, an eighteen-year-old art student, who moved south with her mother after her dad died when the family’s Belfast pub was firebombed during a sectarian riot. Tommy instantly falls in love, and remains in love even though Marian proves elusive and doesn’t stay in touch after her career as a globe-trotting photo journalist takes off.

Tommy initially thrives in the hospitality industry, and while working in Limerick, Dublin and Galway, sometimes encounters Mike Horgan – a former colleague at the Swan hotel – who has become a Garda. As a person of interest in the Dublin murder, Tommy Walsh’s life descends into chaos just as Horgan’s police career sees him achieve the rank of Detective Inspector. Horgan continues to play a pivotal role as the plot develops towards its climax.

This is a story of friendship, love, loss, revenge, murder and international politics, which spans a quarter century of Tommy Walsh’s life. It deals the personal and professional cost to Tommy Walsh through years of hounding by the American secret service, and Irish and international media, to a backdrop of the Irish Troubles, and decades of far-flung international conflicts.

Warm Regards,

Neil Brosnan

Listowel, Kerry, Republic of Ireland