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Genre
A Shameful Murder
Cora Harrison
Introducing the Reverend Mother Aquinas in the first of a brand-new historical mystery series.
Cork, Ireland. 1923. When Reverend Mother Aquinas discovers a body at the gate of the convent chapel washed up after a flood, she immediately sends for one of her former pupils, Police Sergeant Patrick Cashman, to investigate. Dead bodies are not unusual in the poverty-stricken slums of Cork city, but this one is dressed in evening finery; with a midnight ticket for the Liverpool ferry.
Against the backdrop of a country in the midst of Ireland's Civil War, the Reverend Mother, together with Sergeant Cashman and Dr Sher, seek out the truth as to the identity of the victim - and her killer.
UK edition
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Publication Date: 29 May 2015
ISBN: 9780727885111
Price: £20.99
Dimensions: 222 x 141
Extent: 256 pages
US edition
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Publication Date: 1 Sep 2015
ISBN: 9780727885111
Price: $32.95
Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.25
Extent: 256 pages
Winter of Despair
November, 1853. Inspector Field has summoned his friends Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins to examine a body found in an attic studio, its throat cut. Around the body lie the lacerated fragments of canvas of a painting titled A Winter of Despair. On closer examination, Wilkie realizes he recognizes the victim, for he had been due to dine with him that very evening. The dead man is Edwin Milton-Hayes, one of Wilkie's brother Charley's artist friends. But what is the significance of the strange series of faceless paintings Milton-Hayes had been worked on when he died? And why is Charley acting so strangely? With his own brother under suspicion of murder, Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens set out to uncover the truth. What secrets lie among the close-knit group of Pre-Raphaelite painters who were the dead man's friends? And who is the killer in their midst?
Season of Darkness
When Inspector Field shows his friend Charles Dickens the body of a young woman dragged from the River Thames, he cannot have foreseen that the famous author would immediately recognize the victim as Isabella Gordon, a housemaid he had tried to help through his charity. Nor that Dickens and his fellow writer Wilkie Collins would determine to find out who killed her. Who was Isabella blackmailing, and why? Led on by fragments of a journal discovered by Isabella's friend Sesina, the two men track the murdered girl's journeys from Greenwich to Snow Hill, from Smithfield Market to St Bartholomews, and put their wits to work on uncovering her past. But what does Sesina know that she's choosing not to tell them? And is she doomed to follow in the footsteps of the unfortunate Isabella ...?
Murder at the Queen's Old Castle
On her first visit for fifty years to Cork's main department store, the Queen's Old Castle, the Reverend Mother is struck by how little has changed. But when the store's owner staggers from his office and topples over the railings to his death, Mother Aquinas is once again drawn into a baffling murder investigation.
Death of a Novice
The Reverend Mother is delighted with her new entrant to the convent. Young Sister Gertrude is well-educated, with an appealing sense of humour. But when she is found dead one autumn morning, the Reverend Mother delves more deeply into Sister Gertrude's background - and uncovers some puzzling anomalies.
A Gruesome Discovery
On opening an evil-smelling trunk labelled 'old books', the Reverend Mother is horrified to discover the dead body of one of Cork's richest merchants. Many had reason to loathe the hides and skins merchant, but when suspicion falls on a former lay sister from her convent, the Reverend Mother decides to help find the real killer.
Beyond Absolution
Ireland. 1925. The body of the priest is found wedged in a confessional cubicle. Loved by all, Father Dominic had lent a listening ear to sinners of all kinds, but who inserted a deadly weapon into that listening ear? The Reverend Mother Aquinas can do nothing for Father Dominic, but find out who killed him, and why.
An Unjust Judge
It was a macabre ending for an unjust judge: his throat slit by a sharp knife; his body stuffed into a lobster pot and left beneath a powerful jet of water shooting up through the cliffs. When Mara investigates, she suspects five men who had received harsh sentences for minor crimes. But who was it who was seen that night by the elderly Fergus?
A Shocking Assassination
Reverend Mother Aquinas is asked to prove a young man's innocence in the second of this atmospheric new Irish historical mystery series.
Ireland. 1924. Reverend Mother Aquinas is in Cork when the city engineer is assassinated. Although no one saw the killing, a reporter named Sam is found standing near the body, a pistol in his hand. After a desperate appeal from Sam's mother, the Reverend Mother investigates - and, in this war-torn city, uncovers several other key suspects.
A Fatal Inheritance
Mara, Brehon of the Burren, must battle superstitious beliefs and fears as she sets out to solve a brutal murder.
When a woman's body is found strangled and bound with rope to the stone torso of Far Briege, the ancient stone god which stands sentinel above the Atlantic cliffs, the locals believe it was the god who killed her. Ignoring the ancient legends, Mara, Brehon of the Burren, is more concerned to bring a mortal killer to justice.
Condemned to Death
When Mara is summoned to the western fringe of the kingdom to see a dead man lying in a boat with no oars, her scholars immediately jump to the conclusion that the man has been found guilty of kin-murder. But Mara notices something odd about the body and soon she has embarked on a full-scale murder investigation . . .
Verdict of The Court
A festive celebration turns into a fight for survival when Mara and her clan come under attack...
Christmas 1519: in the midst of celebrations, the Brehon of Thomond is found dead and it is Mara's difficult task to investigate the murder. Then suddenly the castle is attacked: how will Mara's husband answer the call for surrender?
Cross of Vengeance
When a holy relic is destroyed and a community threatened, it is up to Mara to uphold the law of the land...
September, 1517: when fire destroys the famous relic of the Holy Cross in Kilnaboy church and then a pilgrim is found murdered, it is up to Mara, as Brehon of the Burren, and her law students, to find out who did such a thing - and why.
Chain of Evidence
"Harrison, like Peter Tremayne in his Sister Fidelma series, provides a superior brand of historical mystery"- Booklist
When clan leader Garrett MacNamara's dead body is found on the road after a herd of cows has escaped, what was initially assumed to be a tragic case of him being squashed to a pulp by livestock becomes more sinister when a local claims they saw a chain attached to the mutilated body - which has now disappeared. Mara and her scholars must now investigate: was Slaney, Garrett's wife, threatened by two new arrivals, or is she being blamed for his murder to clear the way for a new leader?
Laws in Conflict
"Harrison, like Peter Tremayne in his Sister Fidelma series, provides a superior brand of historical mystery"- Booklist
February, 1512. Mara, Brehon of the Burren, judge and lawgiver, has been invited to the magnificent city state of Galway, which is ruled by English laws and a royal charter originally granted by Richard III. Mara wonders whether she can use her legal knowledge to save the life of a man from the Burren who has been caught stealing a meat pie, but events soon take an even more dramatic turn when the mayor's son is charged with a heinous crime. Sure there is more to the case than meets the eye, Mara investigates...
Deed of Murder
An enthralling Burren mystery.
April 1511, Ireland. Mara, Brehon of the Burren, is celebrating the christening of her son when she notices that three of her law students have disappeared from the party. The next morning, one of them is found dead on a lone mountain pass with suspicious wounds. He was carrying an important legal document that has now disappeared. But why did he choose to deliver it during the night, and what of the two other missing students? Mara must uncover the truth - and it at first seems that the stolen deed holds all the answers...
Writ in Stone
A Mystery of Medieval Ireland - Christmas, 1509
Mara, the investigating judge of the Burren, has accepted the offer of marriage made by King Turlough. But on the eve of the marriage festivities, a man kneeling in prayer in the abbey church is violently murdered. Who could have planned to kill the king? Cut off from the outside world by heavy snow, Mara must act quickly to catch the assassin before a second death occurs...
Scales of Retribution
June, 1510: the Burren, west coast of Ireland.
Upon going unexpectedly into an early labour, Mara is alerted to the disappearance of Malachy, the local physician. Mystery follows birth, as shortly after the entrance of her son into the world the body of Malachy is discovered. But who stands to profit from this death, and who therefore are Mara's lead suspects?
Eye of the Law
A Mystery of Medieval Ireland.
1510. A great feast is being held. Into a crowd listening to the story of Balor, the one-eyed god, come two strangers. The younger of the two, Iarla, bears a letter that claims that the wealthy Ardal O'Lochlainn is his true father which Ardal vociferously denies. So when Iarla is found dead, with one eye missing, some think he was killed by the god but most suspect Ardal. Mara, the Brehon 'or lawgiver' of the Burren, is called to investigate.