Showing results by narrator "Caroline Lennon" in All Categories

As the leading churchmen and women gather at the Synod of Whitby in AD 664 to debate the rival merits of the Celtic and Roman Churches, tempers begin to fray. Conspirators plot an assassination, while mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda. When the Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered, suspicion inevitably rests on the Roman faction. Attending the Synod is Fidelma, of the community of St Brigid of Kildare.

Two years ago Freya had no boyfriend, no bank balance and was barely employed as a bad waitress. Then she got BBest, a lifestyle app that knows you better than you know yourself. It calculates your likes and dislikes, gives you best options and streamlines your life.

Now Freya has the perfect life - she's officially in love and her floristry business is thriving. But if she's so in love, why doesn't it feel exactly right? And who is that mysterious man in her grandfather's bookshop with soulful eyes that leave her unstitched?

Robinswood, Co. Waterford, 1939. The once grand house is home to two very different families. Despite delusions of grandeur, Lord and Lady Kenefick and their adult children live a life of decayed opulence as the money needed to keep such a large house and grounds ever dwindles. Meanwhile, the Murphy family, Dermot, Isabella and their three almost grown-up girls, live and work on the estate and do their best to keep everything running smoothly.

Tabitha Thomas gave up on a happy family life with Michael, her absent, high-flying husband, long ago. Instead, she pooled all her energies into their daughter, Rosie, and her career as headteacher at a local primary school. However, trouble is looming all around her. Unbeknown to Tabitha, Rosie is having a crisis of confidence with the most important exams of her life, and best friend Clodagh, a top TV news broadcaster, is being edged out by an ambitious younger model. And Tabitha’s eco-warrior mother is protesting outside the school over a development.

Whispers of the Dead is a sumptuously rich feast of 15 short mystery tales, featuring the brilliant and beguiling Sister Fidelma, the 17th-century sleuth of the Celtic Church. Sister Fidelma originally made her debut as one of crime fiction's most interesting sleuths in short story form. The sharp-witted religieuse captured the hearts of many readers as she successfully tackled the most baffling of crimes in her other role as advocate of the law courts of Ireland, using the ancient Brehon Law system.

When Kate O’Hare discovers she’s about to become a mother, she packs up her life in France to return home to regroup and put down some roots. Home is where the heart is, right? On her return to Ireland, Kate is surprised to find her best friend Flora’s marriage and self-esteem is in tatters following her husband’s rather public betrayal. With no marriage, home, or future, can Kate empower Flora to rediscover herself and reignite the career she put on hold to marry the man she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with?

Rabbit Hayes loves her life, ordinary as it is, and the extraordinary people in it. She loves her spirited daughter, Juliet; her colourful, unruly family; the only man in her big heart, Johnny Faye. But it turns out the world has other plans for Rabbit, and she's OK with that. Because she has plans for the world too, and only a handful of days left to make them happen.

Hemlock at Vespers is Peter Tremayne's anthology of Celtic mysteries featuring the ever-popular 7th-century super-sleuth Sister Fidelma. Sister Fidelma originally made her debut as one of the decade's most interesting sleuths in short story form. The sharp-witted and astonishingly wise religieuse captured the hearts of many as she successfully tackled the most baffling of crimes in her other role as advocate of the law courts of Ireland, using the ancient Brehon Law system.

After 10 years in London, working in a stressful City firm, Liv O’Neill returns home to Sandycove, a picturesque seaside village, just outside Dublin to care for her mother after a fall. Whilst Liv reconnects with friends and family, she is amazed by Sandycove’s thriving community spirit with its artisan shops, delis and cafes - it’s not quite the place she left behind. As village life begins to creep under her skin, Liv is forced to confront the things that drove her away. Can Liv balance her past, present and future and find her own happy place?

There wasn't one major reason that Kate Gunn decided to give up alcohol, more a few minor ones. She had an inkling that alcohol was holding her back from getting on top of her life. Plus the hangovers were getting worse. No longer just a dull headache throughout the day. At the worst times, entire weekends wiped out by one fun night she could hardly remember.

Sent away to convent school at the age of six, Irini McGuire has never really known her celebrated archaeologist mother, Bridget, who lives on the paradise island of Santorini. So, when Irini receives news that Bridget has been injured at a dig and is in coma she knows it is time to return to the island of her birth. Discovering her mother's notes, and driven by rumours that her mother's injury was no accident, Irini starts to reveal the dark secrets behind her family's separation. Can she unearth the truth about her parents and her past before it is too late?

When the body of a murdered young noble is discovered not far from Cashel, the King calls upon Sister Fildema and her companion Eadulf to investigate. The only clue to the noble's identity is an emblem originating from the nearby kingdom of Laign. Could the murder be somehow related to the violence erupting in the west of the kingdom? The turmoil is led by a fanatical figure claiming to have been summoned by 'the seventh angel' to remove the 'impure of faith' from the land, and Fidelma and Eadulf soon find themselves struggling with a tangled skein of murder and intrigue.

Siobhán is looking forward to visiting the new bookshop and curling up with an exciting novel - only to discover the shelves contain nothing but Literature with a capital L. Despite the owner deliberately limiting his clientele, he’s hosting a reading and autographing event featuring up-and-coming Irish writers. Among them is indie author Deirdre Walsh, whose body is found the next day in the back of the store.

As the daughter of a well-known matchmaker, Catríona Daly is no stranger to the business of love—and sees it as her ticket away from the sleepy village that only comes alive during the annual matchmaking festival. When Andrew, son of Lord Osborne, returns to the festival after being disappointed by a rival matchmaker’s failed setup, Catríona seizes the opportunity to make a better match for the handsome man—and for herself! Cattle farmer Donal Bunratty is in desperate need of a wife after loss left him to handle the farm and raise his daughter on his own.

One cold spring morning in County Cork, two fishermen find a bundle of rags floating in the Blackwater River. It is the mutilated corpse of a retired music teacher. His hands and feet are bound, and his neck bears the mark of a garrotting wire. The Garda want to wrap this case up before the press get hold of it. But when a second man is found murdered, the body bearing all the same marks as the first, it looks like the hallmark of a serial killer...

Arriving home from a pilgrim voyage, Sister Fidelma hears that her faithful Saxon companion, Brother Eadulf, is under sentence of death for murder. She hastens to the capital of Laigin, where he is being held, determined to appeal against the sentence. The crime took place at the abbey of Fearna, where Fidelma clashes with the sinister Abbess Fainder. The evidence against Eadulf seems overwhelming - can he actually be guilty? Will Fidelma's emotional involvement blind her in her desperate search for the truth?

As they are preparing to return to Ireland, Fidelma and Brother Eadulf receive a mysterious summons. Eadulf's childhood friend, Brother Botulf, has requested their presence at Aldred's Abbey at midnight on the old pagan feast of Yule. Fidelma and Eadulf battle against the harsh winter storms to arrive in time, only to find they are too late. Botulf is dead - killed by an unknown hand. As they struggle to comprehend this staggering news, it soon becomes clear that the murder of this young monk is not the only trouble facing the abbey.

Sister Fidelma has been sent by her brother, king of Cashel, to Laisre, chieftain of Gleann Geis - the 'forbidden valley' - to negotiate permission to build a Christian church and school in his territory, replacing the pagan Druidic sanctuaries. Laisre is known to be hostile to the new religion, and Fidelma knows her mission will be no easy task. Entering Gleann Geis with the Saxon Brother Eadulf, she comes across the naked, slain bodies of thirty-three young men, positioned in a sunwise circle. 

In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Natalie's Bistro has always been warm and welcoming. Nowadays 22-year-old Siobhan O'Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago. It's been a rough year for the O'Sullivans, but it's about to get rougher. One morning, as they're opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table with a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.

Liverpool, 1925. Fourteen-year-old Lillian Taylor has spent her childhood in a loveless orphanage after the death of her mother. When a well-dressed young woman claiming to be her aunt arrives and whisks her away to her large townhouse, Lillian hopes it signals a change in her fortunes. However there's more to Aunt Joan than meets the eye and when Joan discovers Lillian's budding romance with one of her coworkers she swiftly threatens his family. Events take a tragic turn when Joan becomes ill and reveals the secrets she's been keeping that will change Lillian's life forever....