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.

Reverend Mother Aquinas must discover who murdered a much-loved priest in the third of this compelling new Irish historical mystery series. Ireland. 1925. Pierced through to the brain, the dead body of the priest was found wedged into the small, dark confessional cubicle. Loved by all, Father Dominic had lent a listening ear to sinners of all kinds: gunmen and policemen; prostitutes and nuns; prosperous businessmen and petty swindlers; tradesmen and thieves. But who knelt behind the metal grid and inserted a deadly weapon into that listening ear? The Reverend Mother Aquinas can do nothing for Father Dominic, but for the sake of his brother, her old friend Father Lawrence, she is determined to find out who killed him, and why.

The sudden death of a young novice nun raises a series of puzzling questions in the latest Reverend Mother historical mystery.The Reverend Mother is delighted with her new entrant to the convent. Young Sister Gertrude is well-educated, has worked for an accountant and has an appealing sense of humour. But one autumn morning, Sister Gertrude is found dead inside a small wooden shed, just beside the river. Surely a young nun could not die from alcohol poisoning?But when the Reverend Mother delves more deeply into Sister Gertrude's background, she finds some puzzling anomalies. Why did the young nun not delay her entry to the convent until after her sister's wedding? Is it a coincidence that her father died of a similar illness not long before? And could there be a link between Sister Gertrude's death and the gunpowder explosion on Spike Island? The Reverend Mother must find the answers to these questions if she is to safeguard her community from suspicions of...

It is 1509 and, for the people of the Burren in western Ireland, the Michaelmas Fair is a joyous time for trade and celebration, signaling the start of autumn. It's a chance to gather, buy and sell their wares, and pay tribute to the lord of their clans. But this year is different. The greedy steward of the MacNamara clan has decided to raise the amount demanded for its tribute, and it's not long before tempers are running high.When the steward is found beaten to death in the local churchyard, it falls upon Mara, the Burren's Brehon Judge, to piece the puzzle together. Was it revenge, greed, or something more sinister that motivated the murder? When another body is discovered and alleged a suicide, Mara is unconvinced. And despite the distraction of a surprising offer of marriage, it is up to her to bring the killer to justice before there can be yet another death.

Alfie knew who it was the moment he saw the body under the gas lamp. Joe the chimney sweep.No one else seems to care about the death of a poor boy, but Alfie has reason to believe that Joe was murdered. So he and his gang will risk their lives on the rooftops of London and brave the dark, dangerous world of the chimney sweeps, until they uncover the deadly truth.

In the sixteenth century, as it is now, the Burren, on the western seaboard of Ireland, was a land of gray stone forts, fields of rich green grass, and swirling mountain terraces. It was also home to an independent kingdom that lived peacefully by the ancient Brehon laws of their forebears. On the first eve of May, 1509, hundreds of people from the Burren climbed the gouged-out limestone terraces of Mullaghmore Mountain to celebrate the great May Day festival, lighting a bonfire and singing and dancing through the night, then returning through the gray dawn to the safety of their homes. But one man did not come back down the steeply spiralling path. His body lay exposed to the ravens and wolves on the bare, lonely mountain for two nights . . . and no one spoke of him, or told what they had seen. And when Mara, a woman appointed by King Turlough Don O'Brien to be judge and lawgiver to the stony kingdom, came to investigate, she was met with a wall of silence ....

The Reverend Mother receives a decidedly gruesome gift in this compelling Irish historical mystery.Ireland. 1925. Like all who seek charitable contributions, Reverend Mother Aquinas is used to being gifted some fairly dubious items. But nothing like this. On opening the evil-smelling trunk, labelled 'old books', the Reverend Mother is horrified to discover it contains the dead body of one of Cork's richest merchants, wrapped in decomposing animal hides.Many had reason to loathe the hides and skins merchant: his rebellious, republican son; his frustrated, clever daughter; his neighbours; his business rivals; and those whose unbaptised babies were buried on the site of his new tanning yard. But when suspicion falls on a former lay sister from her convent, the Reverend Mother decides she must help find the real killer.

An unfairly harsh judge meets a gruesome end in the latest intriguing Burren mystery. 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 from the turbulent Atlantic. When Mara, Brehon of the nearby kingdom of the Burren, comes to investigate, she knows that her first suspects have to be the five young men who had received such savage sentences for minor crimes. But there are others in the frame: the nephew of the former Brehon, a man with the power of the Tudor court behind him. The child bride who hated her husband. The ill-treated apprentice. And who was it who was seen on that moonlit night by the confused and elderly Fergus Mac Clancy?

Introducing the Reverend Mother Aquinas in the first of a brand-new historical mystery series.Cork, Ireland. 1923. When, one wet March morning, Reverend Mother Aquinas discovers a body at the gate of the convent chapel washed up after a flood 'like a mermaid in gleaming silver satin', 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; in her handbag is a dance programme for the exclusive Merchant's Ball held the previous evening – and 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, an enlightened physician and friend, seek out the truth as to the identity of the victim – and her killer.

When Mara, Brehon of the Burren, is summoned to the sandy beach of Fanore, on the western fringe of the kingdom of the Burren, she sees a sight that she has never witnessed before during her thirty years as law-enforcer and investigating magistrate: a dead man lying in a boat with no oars. Immediately her scholars jump to the conclusion that the man has been found guilty of kin-murder. The Brehon sentence for this worst of all crimes is that the murderer be towed out to sea and left to the mercy of wind and waves and the ultimate judgement of Almighty God. But Mara notices something odd about the body, something which arouses her suspicions. And something familiar about the boat in which he lies. Soon she has embarked on a full-scale murder investigation. And gradually suspicion dawns that someone near and dear to her is involved in the murder.

When shy Jenny Cooper goes to stay with her cousin Jane Austen, she knows nothing of the world of beautiful dresses, dances, secrets, gossip, and romance that Jane inhabits. At fifteen, Jane is already a sharp observer of the customs of courtship. So when Jenny falls utterly in love with Captain Thomas Williams, who better than Jane to help her win the heart of this dashing man?But is that even possible? After all, Jenny's been harboring a most desperate secret. Should it become known, it would bring scandal not only to her, but also to the wonderful Austen family. What's a poor orphan girl to do?In this delicious dance between truth and fiction, Cora Harrison has crafted Jenny's secret diary by reading everything Jane Austen wrote as a child and an adult, and by researching biographies, critical studies, and family letters. Jenny's diary makes the past spring vividly to life and provides insight into the entire Austen family--especially the beloved...