Irish Mystery Fiction

Rose Hawthorne is a celebrity author in her early seventies, who dislikes the spotlight but has a penchant for Hermes scarfs, round violet sunglasses, and old colonial hotels. One day, she receives a strange letter asking her to visit Newgrange, Ireland and look for something that has been hidden there for a thousand years. She asks her granddaughter to accompany her, but she hadn’t expected Samantha to continually be posting photos of their progress on her Instagram account. An encounter with an old love and an unexpected discovery leads Rose further and further into the past, and she ...

For one week, everything in Luke Miller's life is perfect. Surprised with a belated honeymoon by his wife, Rose, he's had seven days with her in a Caribbean paradise. It's more than he ever thought he'd deserve. But as they pack their bags, Rose breaks down, confessing that on the day they left London, a violent man from her past tracked her down and broke into their home. He wasn't expecting her to fight back. And, in her terror, Rose killed him. Now there's a dead body in Luke's apartment, and only one person he can think to turn to.

Kate Doyle has spent her life making lists. But her pleasure in planning comes to an abrupt end in the wake of a family tragedy. For the first time in two decades, she is living back in Brooklyn Heights, a neighborhood she discovers has not changed nearly as much as reports of hipster Brooklyn had led her to believe. Her discovery of a family heirloom teaches her that the Heights and its surrounding neighborhoods have been sustaining Doyles for well over a century.

When Mariana Rivas arrives from Spain to work as an au pair in the Dublin home of the Mac Converys, Garda Inspector Fionn Mac Convery tries to seduce her. In the course of avoiding Fionn, Mariana experiences the mean streets of Dublin city and meets some of the characters who, in his ambitious rise in the police force, have been damaged by him.

Eddie Sutherland is dead. Normally, Detective Wes O'Brien wouldn't care about another dead drug dealer, but he may just be the man who killed him. Thrown off the force and under investigation, Wes is called upon privately to look into a cheating spouse case.

After mom's death, it's just me and my dad running the family pub - and I've got big plans for it once dad retires. But everything changes when he shows up in the middle of the night. Daniel Kelly. When he tells me he's back for good, I have half a mind to throw his arrogantly handsome arse out and send him back to Dublin. But his visit isn't just a coincidence. No, it's very much intentional. Because our parents have been conspiring, and it seems that Daniel is back...for me.

If you see him it’s already too late.... Some secrets can’t be hidden. The Fullers are the picture-perfect family, a wealthy couple with a grand home in the middle of remote woodland. But even they have something to hide - and it will prove fatal. Some crimes can’t be forgotten. Psychologist Dr Jessie Flynn and DI Marilyn Simmons arrive at the Fullers' home to find a suburban nightmare. A crime scene more disturbing than anything they have ever encountered. Some killers can’t be stopped.

Amy jumps at the opportunity when she's offered a nannying job in picturesque West Cork. The assignment is for the welcoming Carroll family, whose stunning house is situated on a stretch of remote and rugged coastline. It's the perfect chance for Amy to start over - far away from her life in Dublin she is trying to escape. With two adorable children to oversee, a pair of generous employers and a lavish new home, everything seems wonderful. So why can't Amy shake a creeping sense of unease?

Sue Hearn is planting a herb garden on the site of her grandfather's old greenhouse. She's spent the morning digging up all sorts of odds and ends already. But she doesn't expect this grisly find. A skull. Could it be the remains of her mother, Monica, who went missing thirty years ago? Sue's father, in hospital with dementia, insinuates that a police officer was involved in her mother's disappearance. But can he be trusted?

In May 1653, young Frederica (Freddy) O'Brennan and her sister Aileen trust a stranger on an empty beach in western Ireland, inadvertently placing themselves in the crosshairs of Cromwell's notorious Reign of Terror. Freddy awakens in the crammed hold of a slave ship bound for Barbados. She and Aileen endure the gruesome voyage only to be wrenched apart when purchased at auction by sugar plantation owners from different islands.

On the day of Henry and Keelin Kinsella's wild party at their big house, a violent storm engulfed the island of Inisrun, cutting it off from the mainland. When morning broke, Nessa Crowley's lifeless body lay in the garden, her last breath silenced by the music and the thunder. The killer couldn't have escaped Inisrun, but no-one was charged with the murder. The mystery that surrounded the death of Nessa remained hidden. But the islanders knew who to blame for the crime that changed them forever.

The opening story in this collection follows Vinny, Kevin, and a mourning family from Liverpool on a journey to Wales. What should be a simple trip turns into something much darker. A cross between Roddy Doyle and Ken Follett, this political storytelling meets you wherever you are on life’s journey, and stays with you.

Dr Terry O'Brien has recently arrived in Ireland from Scotland to take up a position as state pathologist. Soon after, a body is found in Dublin's Phoenix Park. Rachel Reece, host of the popular true crime podcast Ireland's Missing Women, has been brutally murdered. As Terry gathers evidence to help with the police investigation, she becomes convinced that they are following the wrong line of inquiry and begins her own research. She soon finds herself in the thick of cold cases of murdered Irish women, with questions mounting.

Aurnia O’Clery believes in science, facts, and what she can see with her own eyes. And that belief has served her well over the past twenty-seven years. It sealed her off from trusting the airy-fairy tales of enchantment and powerful legends her Irish granddad spun to convince her everything would be all right. Even after her mother’s suicide. After her dad abandoned her. Growing up on the family’s horse breeding farm she learned life’s lessons the hard way: bad things happen, and the world isn’t fair. Only she secretly wishes it were.

In this gothic, virtuoso debut collection, Mike McCormack dispenses nightmares both stylish and macabre. "A Is for Ax" offers alphabetized look at the killing of a parent, while the title story tracks a chilling sibling rivalry. Other works here offer multiple-quiz on the road to Calvary, a door-to-door saleswoman trafficking in strange and menacing feats, and a self-mutilating artist pushing himself to the limit. These sly and dangerous stories show us a young writer who was already a master of wicked formal play, and whose sly takes on life and death remain profoundly unsettling.

With Sherlock out of the city on a case, it is up to Dr. John Watson and his new patient to help Victoria with the investigation—which may build to a fatal confrontation on a foggy Halloween night.

It was only a kiss – or was it? 19-year-old Vanessa is a passionate and talented violinist, but she doesn’t have a clue about boys and matters of the heart. Her friend Lizzie thinks it’s time Vanessa experiences her first kiss, and a beach party at the imposing Augharourke Castle is the perfect opportunity. A chance encounter with a handsome stranger leads to the desired outcome, but Vanessa walks away from that kiss with a little more than she bargained for... Overture is the opening sequence to the In Time to the Music series of cosy mysteries with a supernatural twist.

During an unprecedented heatwave, the body of a young girl is found in a submerged suitcase in Loch Acorrymore on Achill Island. DS Lucy Golden is tasked with identifying her and returning her to her family. With the help of her team, they discover that the girl was a runaway, who had spent some time in a homeless shelter. She has been murdered and an investigation is launched. Despite some promising leads, Lucy's enquiries seem to be going nowhere until another the body with connections to the homeless shelter is discovered in what initially appears to be a suicide.

A woman has been murdered and mutilated in her own home, with her liver cut out and a message left within it. Tasked with leading the case, DI Tudor Manx identifies several suspects, including the victim’s estranged husband. But all trails run cold. Then, another victim dies—and from the modus operandi. It seems that North Wales Police are dealing with a serial killer. But who would target the inhabitants of such a peaceful island?

Being summoned to the home of a woman she despises, has upset the Dowager Duchess of Ashby's well-ordered life. Curiosity drives her to accept and find the house in chaos. Lady Honoria Huntington, also known as the notorious Lady Secrets, a much-hated gossip writer, has been murdered is a decidedly grisly way. Blythe Armstrong and her "nephew" Owen Kennedy take on the herculean task of finding the killer, among the hundreds of members of the ton who she has worked to destroy with her poison pen. Meanwhile, Owen must contend with his headstrong sister, who has turned his world on it's head.