As police procedurals go – and many of them really don’t go anywhere – this first book of Adrian McKinty’s series about detective Sean Duffy has several advantages:

* First, it is set amidst the turbulence of the Troubles, the sectarian violence that plagued Northern Ireland for three decades. Social unrest provides rich fodder for political intrigue and random mayhem, and there’s plenty of both here.

* Second, the text abounds with the linguistic curiosities of the location – bog (toilet), banjaxed (messed up), sleekit (sly), peeler (cop), bonce (head), hallion (worthless fellow), and, my favorite, eejit (idiot). To amuse your American self, say them aloud in a faux accent.

* Third, the action in The Cold Cold Ground gets hot, hot, hotter as the plot progresses – which is a good thing because early on the book wallows in a wee pochle (mess) as Mckinty introduces characters and sets up the story almost exclusively through pages of dialog. In fact, the difference in pacing between the beginning and the ending is so pronounced that it seems like McKinty took note of the slog and deliberately ditched the Prius for a Porsche.

The story itself involves the suspicious death of a young woman and the gruesome murders of two gay men (at a time when homosexuality was illegal in Northern Island). Duffy and his small squad welcome an actual crime as relief from either trying to prevent Catholics and Protestants from killing one another or cleaning up the results when they do. They learn, though, that there’s no escaping the Troubles.

McKinty hangs enough flesh on Duffy’s bones to create a solid character, an officer of the law for whom justice has multiple definitions. He’s the kind of cop we probably don’t want in our own community, but the type that makes for good reading.