A Collins-Burke Mystery

The latest mystery from a two-time winner of the Arthur Ellis Award Father Brennan Burke is struggling, and he's been coping the only way he knows how: self-medicating with drink. He's barely managing, but his troubles intensify when the body of one of his parishioners washes up on the coast of Halifax. Meika Keller came to Canada after escaping past a checkpoint in the Berlin Wall. An army colonel is charged with her murder, and defence lawyer Monty argues that Meika's death was a suicide, which is the last thing Father Burke wants to hear. Guilty of neglecting his duties as a priest when Meika needed him most, Brennan feels compelled to uncover whatever instigated her cry for help and led to her death. The story takes us from the historic Navy town of Halifax, Nova Scotia, to the history-laden city of Berlin, as Brennan and his brother Terry head to Germany in search of answers. And while Brennan will stop at nothing to find what, or who, is responsible for Meika's death, nothing could have prepared the priest for the events that unfold. About the Collins-Burke Mysteries This thrilling mystery series centers around two unlikely colleagues with very different pasts: Monty Collins, a sharp-tongued public defender who dabbles in solving mysteries himself, and Father Brennan Burke, an Irish Catholic priest who is well-read but with a "holier than thou" attitude that belies darker secrets. Set in locations around the world - including Nova Scotia, New York City, Saudi Arabia, the Arctic's Ellesmere Island, and Dublin - the Collins-Burke Mysteries follow the pair on a harrowing series of fast-paced and nail-biting murder cases. Written by acclaimed author Anne Emery, the series starts with Sign of the Cross (2006) and continues to the most recent installment, Postmark Berlin (2020).

Winner of the 2019 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novel 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 the past is never past in Belfast, and it rises up to haunt them all: 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. The trouble is compounded by a breakdown in communication: Brennan knows nothing about the secrets in a file on Monty's desk. And Monty has no idea what lies behind a late-night warning from the IRA. With a smoking gun at the center of it all, Brennan and Monty are on a collision course and will learn more than they ever wanted to know about what passes for law in 1995 Belfast. An inscription on a building south of the Irish border says it all: "Let justice be done though the heavens fall."