"Tag, bag and bury the bastard, Crowe..."

An August bank holiday should be about relaxation, taking time out to see family and friends and enjoying a beer or two. But when former gonzo journalist, Aonghus Hanafin is found hanging along a desolate estuary, the nearest SIO to the incident, Garda Inspector Pius John Crowe, is called to examine the scene.

Crowe has seen enough dead bodies in his time to suspect that Aonghus Hanafin wasn't the hanging kind. He discovers a puzzling detail too; the late journalist had MS.

So how could Hanafin hang himself from a tree along a desolate estuary between two rural parishes?

Directed by his superiors to close off the former journalist's death as a suicide, Crowe delves deeper and finds Hanafins death leads to a retired Chief Justice who is slated to take a prestigious appointment in Europe. Crowe gets to learn of a Swiss bank account, with over a million Euros in it that may be fuelling a lifestyle that the retired Chief Justice, Barry Gartland can barely afford.

In this contemporary neo-noir thriller, in Crowe's investigation into how Hanafin died, loyalties blur and justice and truth are not always what they seem, placing him in the line of fire with a powerful elite...

... and may end up costing him his life.

Goodreads Reviews

"In Malign Intent, author Robert Craven delivers an atmospheric police procedural set in a quiet Irish backwater. The characters are nicely fleshed out and while it is a sequel to A Kind of Drowning, the first book in the series, the story stands nicely on its own. In short, it's a good read from a seasoned writer. Recommended for fans of Peter Robinson and Reginald Hill."

"Malign Intent does not allow the typical murder mystery trope of a troubled detective taking poor care of his health, being hushed up by people with powerful friends, to cause the story to suffer. Rather, Inspector Crowe makes inroads into your good graces. Refusing to sign off on a suicide that begs for investigation, Inspector Crowe will not be swayed by the powerful, the charming, or the intimidating. He will follow the leads all the way to the realistically, bitter end."