Irish Mystery Fiction

Tony, Hugh and Karen thought they'd seen the last of each other 30 years ago. Half a lifetime has passed, and memories have been buried. But when they are asked to reunite—to lay ghosts to rest for the good of the future—they all have their own reasons to agree. As they take the ferry from Northern Ireland to Scotland, the past is brought into terrible focus—some things are impossible to leave behind.

Dermot Michael Coyne of Chicago goes to Ireland to uncover the true story of his grandparents, who left Ireland under a veil of mystery in the 1920s. There, Coyne meets Nuala Anne McGreal, a college student who helps him translate his grandmother's diaries. His grandparents, the O'Riadas, and the bloody history of Ireland from 1919 to 1923 are mysteriously linked to present-day peace talks between the Irish and English.

In a town full of liars, who can you trust? When Detective Finnegan Beck is demoted from his high-powered job in Dublin and relocated in disgrace to the small Irish town of Cross Beg, he predicts boredom will be his biggest threat. But then a beautiful local teenage girl is found strangled in the cold, dark woods a mile from town. The prime suspect is the seemingly gentle drifter who found Tanya’s body. Beck seems to be the only person who can’t escape the feeling that Tanya wasn’t killed at random.

One of the best-known collections of W. B. Yeats' prose, The Celtic Twilight explores the old connection between the Irish people and the magical world of fairies. Yeats, by traveling the land in the early 20th century and talking to the common people about their experiences with the creatures, yielded a colorful overview of Celtic fairy folklore.

April in Florida and Benedicta (Ben) O'Keeffe is enjoying balmy temperatures during the last few days of a six month stint with a US law firm. A week later, she returns to Glendara, Inishowen, where a charity cycle event is taking place. The town is abuzz with excitement, but it starts to rain, causing the cyclists to postpone the start of their event. The rain doesn't stop—it becomes relentless, torrential. In the middle of the night, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy is called out to Mamore Gap, where a body, dislodged from a high bank by the heavy rain, has fallen onto a passing vehicle.

Jack Irish has no shortage of friends: jockeys and journos, lawyers and standover men, people in nameless occupations who aren't in the phone book. These days, though, the only family he sees are Irish men in faded football team photographs on the pub wall.So when Des Connors, the last link to his father, calls to ask for help in the matter of a missing son, Jack is happy to lend a hand. But sometimes prodigal sons go missing for a reason.

When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, in a small Irish seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, she doesn't expect to find a distressed two-year-old girl sobbing on the floor. Abandoned in a local supermarket, the child tells them her name is Casey. All Alana and her team have to go on is a crumpled note begging for someone to look after the little girl. This mother doesn't want to be found.

How can a dead woman avenge herself on her killer 20 years after her murder? This is the puzzle facing Ben Devlin in his latest case. He is called to the scene of a murder - a man has been stabbed to death in his rented room, and when his identity is discovered, Devlin feels a ghost walk over his grave, as he knows the name Brooklyn Harris well. As a teenager, Harris beat his then-girlfriend Hannah Row to death, and then spent 12 years in prison for the murder.

Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born-though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran. In the pub, she's swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly 100-year-old body in a nearby bog.

In this new installment of Ken Bruen's beloved Jack Taylor series, the whiskey-swigging Irish detective investigates a series of violent attacks on the local convent's nuns.

Ireland, AD 671. On the eve of the pagan feast of Samhain, Brother Eadulf and the warrior Aidan discover a man murdered in an unlit pyre in the heart of Cashel. He has been dressed in the robes of a religieux and killed by the ritualistic 'three deaths'. When a strange woman known as Brancheó appears in a raven-feather cloak foretelling of ancient gods returning to exact revenge upon the mortal world, she is quickly branded a suspect. But in their search for the killer, Sister Fidelma and Eadulf will soon discover a darker shadow looming over the fortress.

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.

Meet Jack Irish, criminal lawyer, debt collector, football lover, turf watcher, trainee cabinetmaker, and the best Australian crime character we've seen in years. When Jack receives a puzzling message from a jailed ex-client, he's too deep in misery over Fitzroy's latest loss to take much notice. Next thing Jack knows, the ex-client's dead and he's been drawn into a life-threatening investigation involving high-level corruption, dark sexual secrets, shonky property deals and murder.

The Aldens visit Ireland and stay in a beautiful castle that's now a hotel! But the caretaker seems very superstitious, and at night they see a mysterious figure who walks the halls carrying a lantern. Could it be one of the banshees of ancient legend? The Boxcar Children must discover the secret that Duncarraig castle is hiding!

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.

Released in our new Young Adult Classics format, Henry James's classic ghost story is a masterpiece of the supernatural. The tale is taken from the diary of a governess, who describes her mounting sense of paranoia at the relationship between her two wards and the ghostly figures that haunt the estate.

As 1995 dawns in the North of Ireland, Belfast is a city of army patrols, bombed-out buildings, and “peace walls” segregating one community from the other. But the IRA has called a ceasefire. So, it’s as good a time as any for Monty Collins and Father Brennan Burke to visit the city: Monty to do a short gig in a law firm, and Brennan to reconnect with family. And it’s a good time for Brennan’s cousin Ronan to lay down arms and campaign for election in a future peacetime government. But then a man goes off a bridge on a dark, lonely road; a rogue IRA enforcer is shot; and a series of car bombs remains an unsolved crime.

Rodeo Drive bridalwear designer Rayne McGrath expected her 30th birthday to start with a power lunch and end with champagne, lobster, and a diamond engagement ring from her fiancé. Instead, flat-broke and busted, she’s on a plane to Ireland—she’s inherited a run-down family castle....

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.

A man is found in his car, having met a painful death. Another man is found in the woods, clearly murdered. DI Aidan Burke seeks to establish the connection between these deaths. The first man is a wealthy property developer. Little is known about the second victim. Burke's sergeant, DS Fiona Moore, sets to work gathering evidence. But the investigation turns up some unusual findings that point to serious organized criminal activity.