`Nuns, thugs and rock stars jostle in the corridors . . . " proclaims the blurb; Finbar's Hotel has been refurbished, and if its smoke-filled snugs have been replaced by white leather couches and chrome-and-glass tables, the guests are still up to all kinds of everything in those freshly-painted bedrooms. From the opening story/chapter, "Touchy Subjects", a blackly hilarious tale involving a single woman, her best friend's husband, a jar of sperm and a turkey baster, to the barely-controlled zaniness of "Tarzan's Irish Rose", in which a Celtic Tiger goes on the rampage in the penthouse suite, it's clear that Maeve Binchy, Clare Boylan, Emma Donoghue, Anne Haverty, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, Kate O'Riordan and Deirdre Purcell are writing from the over-stimulated heart of contemporary Dublin. You can turn this into a literary whodunnit by matching writers with chapters, or just lie back and enjoy the fun - either way, Finbar's Hotel is a pretty good place to chill out for the weekend.
