Showing results by narrator "Stanley Townsend" in All Categories

1950s Dublin, in a lock-up garage in the city, the body of a young woman is discovered, an apparent suicide. But pathologist Dr Quirke and Detective Inspector Strafford soon suspect foul play. The victim's sister, a newspaper reporter from London, returns to Dublin to join the two men in their quest to uncover the truth. But, as they explore her links to a wealthy German family in County Wicklow, and to investigative work she may have been doing in Israel, they are confronted with an ever-deepening mystery.

When Dublin pathologist Quirke glimpses a familiar face while on holiday with his wife, it's hard, at first, to tell whether his imagination is just running away with him. Could she really be who he thinks she is, and have a connection with a crime that nearly brought ruin to an Irish political dynasty? Unable to ignore his instincts, Quirke makes a call back home, and Detective St John Strafford is soon dispatched to Spain. But he's not the only one on route: as a terrifying hitman hunts down his prey, they are all set for a brutal showdown.

1950s, rural Ireland. A loner comes across a mysteriously empty car in a field. Knowing he shouldn't approach, but unable to hold back, he soon finds himself embroiled in a troubling missing person's case, as a husband claims his wife may have thrown herself into the sea. Called in from Dublin to investigate is Detective Inspector Strafford, who soon turns to his old ally - the flawed but brilliant pathologist Quirke - a man he is linked to in increasingly complicated ways.

Following the discovery of the body of a well-loved parish priest at Ballyglass House - the Co Wexford family seat of the aristocratic, secretive Osborne family - Detective Inspector St John Strafford is called in from Dublin to investigate. Facing obstruction from all angles, Strafford is determined to identify the murderer. But, as the snow continues to fall over this ever expanding mystery, the people of Ballyglass are equally determined to keep their secrets.

1973. In a close-knit community on Ireland’s west coast, a baby is found abandoned on the beach. Named Brendan Bonnar by Ambrose, the fisherman who adopts him, Brendan will become a source of fascination and hope for a town caught in the storm of a rapidly changing world. Ambrose, a man more comfortable at sea than on land, brings Brendan into his home out of love. But it’s a decision that will fracture his family and force him to try to understand himself and those he cares for.

Ed Loy hasn't been back to Dublin for 20 years. Now his mother is dead and he has returned home to bury her. He soon realises that the world waiting for him is very different from the one he left behind all those years ago. An old classmate, Linda Dawson, pleads with him to find her missing husband, Peter. She doesn't want the police involved.

Private Investigator Ed Loy is working on what looks like an open and shut case: the disappearance of dentist Shane Howard's daughter, Emily. Little does Loy realise that this seemingly simple case will involve delving into the world of blackmail, organised crime, and the very murky secrets of the Howard family.

Edna O'Brien depicts James Joyce as a man hammered by Church, State and family, yet from such adversities he wrote works 'to bestir the hearts of men and angels'. The journey begins with Joyce the arrogant youth, his lofty courtship of Nora Barnacle, their hectic sexuality, children, wanderings, debt and profligacy and Joyce's obsession with the city of Dublin, which he would re-render through his words.

Ed Loy has made some changes. He has moved into a flat in Dublin’s city centre, leaving the family home behind. Maybe now he can break free from the ghosts of his past – the drinking, the dirty deals, the sleazy underworld. But when a 15-year-old murder case is reopened, Loy is hired by the victim’s daughter to investigate the suspects ignored by the first investigation: a rich property developer, an ex-IRA man and Loy’s least favourite sociopath, George Halligan.

A book celebrating one of Europe's greatest cities, moving from its founding to its huge growth in the 19th century and to the lives of Gaudi, Miro, Picasso, Casals and Dali. In this fascinating and comprehensive biography of a city, Tóibin examines the story of Catalan, the horrors of the Civil War, Franco's rule and the eventual rise of democracy. Reflecting the city's own truly cosmopolitan nature, Tóibin's writing covers Barcelona's art and architecture, its great churches and museums, its cafes, port life, restaurant's and fashionable nightclubs.

Between 1990 and 1994, Colm Tóibín made a series of trips through Catholic Europe. His journey led him into close contact with people from all walks of life, from priests to politicians, from the intellectually open to the spiritually bigoted. He then set down his impressions in The Sign of the Cross, a beautifully written book filled with personal detail set within its historical context.

Even the best private eye needs more than a name to find a missing person, but that's all that Father Vincent Tyrrell, the brother of prominent racehorse trainer F. X. Tyrrell, will offer Loy when he comes to him for help. A dwindling bank account convinces Loy to delve into the deadly underworld of horse racing, but fortune soon smiles on him: while working another case, he discovers a phone number linked to F. X. on a badly beaten body left at an illegal dump.

In LA there’s a killer on the loose. He kills young and rootless girls and he always kills in threes. Back in Dublin, Ed Loy is reunited with Jack Donovan, a film director friend from LA. When the victims of the “Three-in-One Killer” are discovered in LA at locations Jack used for his movies, Loy begins to suspect Jack. He flies to LA, hoping that whatever he finds will point away from his old friend. And then, when he finally unearths the truth, it looks like it may be too late. In Dublin, the killer has broken his pattern.