Collins-Burke Mystery

Winner of the Arthur Ellis Award, Best First Novel Father Brennan Burke is the main suspect in the murder of a young woman. Defense attorney Monty Collins steps up to defend him, but realizes the only way to exonerate him is to dive into the secrets of his past ... Be careful what you wish for, his mother used to say. Yet how many times, in his twenty years defending the underprivileged, has Monty Collins wished for a client who is intelligent, articulate, and tattoo-free? Now he has one, but it's not long before his mother's warning comes back to haunt him. Father Brennan Burke was born in Ireland, raised in New York, and educated in Rome - he's equally fluent in Latin and the language of the street. And he is the prime suspect in the killing of a foxy, young woman whose body was found carved with a religious sign, a sign that points straight to the priest. From their first meeting, Monty finds Burke acerbic, arrogant, and evasive about his relationship with the victim. Conflict between lawyer and client simmers throughout the ordeal that lies ahead, as evidence piles up and murder charges seem inevitable. With Burke remaining tight-lipped about his past, Monty has no choice but to go behind his back and conduct a probe into the life of his own client. Never in his career has Monty been so lost for answers, until a long-forgotten incident takes on new and ominous meaning ...

Declan Burke fled Ireland forty years ago and never looked back. Now settled in New York, he thinks he's put the old country behind him, until he reads the obituary of one Cathal Murphy. The obituary, he sees at once, is not about Murphy at all. It is a coded indictment of Burke's own life - and an announcement of his impending death. Halifax lawyer Monty Collins investigates the obit with its allusions to Burke's IRA past. Collins gets no help from Burke, who - good soldier to the end - keeps the silence of the grave. But Burke's denial becomes harder to maintain following a burst of gunfire at a family wedding. The shooting brings another old soldier back onto the field: Leo Killeen, the commanding officer of Burke's former battalion in Dublin. But he also has secrets to protect. When a body is found in a rundown Brooklyn flat, Collins wonders just how far Killeen will go to keep those secrets under wraps. From the farms of Ireland to the tenements of New York City, Monty is confronted by a cast of enigmatic characters, including the owner of a nightclub frequented by the New York mob; a sultry chanteuse; and Burke's hotheaded son Francis, whose resentment and dubious activities set the family on a road to destruction. Monty isn't the only one who is surprised when he reaches the end of the road. Burke too must now confront the suspicion that he has been manipulated all along by an unseen hand. About the Collins-Burke Mysteries This multi-award-winning series is centred around two main characters who have been described as endearingly flawed: Monty Collins, a criminal defence lawyer who has seen and heard it all, and Father Brennan Burke, a worldly, hard-drinking Irish-born priest. The priest and the lawyer solve mysteries together, but sometimes find themselves at cross-purposes, with secrets they cannot share: secrets of the confessional, and matters covered by solicitor-client confidentiality. The books are notable for their wit and humour, and their depiction of the darker side of human nature — characteristics that are sometimes combined in the same person, be it a lawyer, a witness on the stand, or an Irish ballad singer who doubles as a guerrilla fighter in the Troubles in war-torn Belfast. In addition to their memorable characters, the books have been credited with a strong sense of place and culture, meticulous research, crisp and authentic dialogue, and intriguing plots. The novels are set in Nova Scotia, Ireland, England, Italy, New York, and Germany. The series begins with Sign of the Cross (2006) and continues to the most recent installment, Postmark Berlin (2020).

Two men are found dead outside a bar. Helped by Father Brennan Burke and hindered by his femme fatale law partner, Monty Collins investigates people desperate to cover up a series of parties that got way out of hand. A rich man and a poor man are found dead from gunshot wounds outside a seedy bar on Barrington Street in Halifax. The police declare it a murder-suicide, but bluesman/lawyer Monty Collins - hired to represent the victims' families - suspects it's a double murder. The case gets complicated when the police link the gun to the suspicious death of a high-flying lawyer named Dice Campbell. Helped by his friend Father Brennan Burke, and hindered by his femme fatale law partner Felicia Morgan, Monty explores the dark side of Halifax society: hookers, drug addicts, boozers, gamblers, and people desperate to cover up a series of parties that got way out of hand. Monty's investigations lead him to a ruthless businessman with street connections, a preacher who's been seen cruising for young people, and an oddball psychotherapist who may have overstepped the boundaries of therapy with more than one person in the case. As the story unfolds, Monty finds himself returning again and again to trade barbs with Dice Campbell's hard-drinking widow, Mavis, whose motives are not as clear as they initially seem to be. But the murder isn't the only thing on Monty's mind. A secret from the past and turmoil with his estranged wife Maura have Monty singing the blues, lashing out at his closest friends, and spending far too much time in the bars of Halifax.

Lawyer and bluesman Monty Collins is used to defending murderers, and occasionally investigating murders himself. But he can't round up the usual suspects this time. The blood-drenched body of Reinhold Schellenberg, a world-renowned German theologian, has been found on the altar of an old church in Halifax, Nova Scotia, during Vespers on Saint Cecilia's day. The man has nearly been decapitated. The controversial priest, once a top insider in the Vatican, was known to provoke strong feelings in Catholics of all ideological stripes. Now those feelings have overflowed with horrifying results. His friend Father Brennan Burke has just opened a choir school for priests, monks, nuns, and other Catholics devoted to the glorious music of the Church's past. So Monty has before him an international cast of suspects, including a flamboyant Sicilian priest who left the Vatican under a cloud of suspicion; an eccentric English monk who has penned scathing attacks on Schellenberg's actions during the Second Vatican Council; a disgruntled American ex-priest who can't quite let go; a church lady with a history of violence; a Vatican enforcer; and, most perplexing of all, a police officer from the former East Berlin. The case lifts the lid on fascinating episodes of Church history, thwarted ambitions, old grudges and long-simmering disputes. Monty and Brennan's investigation takes them on a road trip to Italy: to the corridors of power and the glittering museums of the Vatican, the elegant apartments of an operatic diva, and the cloistered grounds of medieval monasteries. Monty immerses himself in a world of ancient chants, votive candles, stained glass, incense, and the music of the spheres. The more he learns, the more questions he has. In the end, he finds himself turning to the saints for answers!

When Beau Delaney, the Halifax hotshot whose exploits are the subject of a new Hollywood film, is charged with the murder of his wife Peggy, it's lawyer and bluesman Monty Collins who takes the case. But when Beau's family dynamics and the appearance of a mysterious childalert Monty that his client iskeeping secrets, others join in to help keep Beau from a life in prison. Monty's pal, Father Brennan Burke, has a hand in the investigation, as does Monty's estranged wife, Maura. Watching all this is Normie, Monty and Maura's daughter, who has the gift of second sight. When she starts having visions that involve Beau, she can't tell whether they reflect something he's done in the past - or something he might do in the future. It then becomes clear that Normie and Monty must rely on each other to discover the truth about Peggy's death.

When spray-painted graffiti appears on the wall of Christy Burke's pub indicating that there's a killer on the premises, his grandson, Father Brennan Burke, is asked to investigate the vandalism. Though not at all keen on probing into the lives of the bar's clientele, he has little choice once a body is found on the property. Issuing orders from a cell in Mountjoy Prison, the pub's current owner wants the problem solved without the police anywhere near his building. Assisted by his pal Monty Collins and fellow priest Michael O'Flaherty, Brennan begins to uncover dark secrets worth killing for in the lives of the pub regulars. In addition to the events surrounding the pub, Brennan's murder investigation becomes overshadowed by ominous events in Belfast that may soon come home to roost in Dublin. Sinister figures are spotted in and around the pub, people are being followed in the street, and Brennan comes to possess explosive information that he cannot reveal to security forces. The situation compels him to take a hard look at Irish history and his family's place in it, and he can't shake the feeling that an act of violence in Northern Ireland is about to be avenged soon - and very close to home.

In the seventh book of the deftly written Collins-Burke Mystery Series, Father Brennan Burke's patience is pushed to the limit when a young woman announces to the world that the Virgin Mary has appeared to her in the churchyard, and hordes of pilgrims, souvenir hawkers, and reporters converge on the scene. But, as unwelcome as these guests may be, they pale in comparison to yet another aggravation in Father BurkeÓ³ life, a controversial talk show host who clashes with Burke upon arriving in town. Events take a darker turn when a body is found at the apparition site, and the talk show host is picked up for the murder. There is enough aggravation to go around, as Monty Collins learns when he takes on the loud-mouthed TV man as a client. Monty and Brennan both have a stake in uncovering the truth about the murder, and they both learn disturbing things about the accused man and other suspects in the case. Neither man can talk to the other about what he has learned, however, due to solicitor/client confidentiality on one side, the seal of the confessional on the other.

It's 1989. The Troubles are raging in Ireland, bombs exploding in England. In this prequel to the Collins-Burke series, Father Brennan Burke is home in New York when news of his sister's arrest in London sends him flying across the ocean. The family troubles deepen when Brennan's cousin Conn is charged with the murder of a Special Branch detective and suspected in a terrorist plot against Westminster Abbey. The Burkes come under surveillance by the murdered cop's partner and are caught in a tangle of buried family memories. From the bullet-riddled bars of Belfast to an elegant English estate, Ruined Abbey combines a whodunit with a war story, love story, and historical novel, while exploring the eternal question: what is fair in love and war? It all starts with a ruined abbey.

The ninth mystery in a series. Twelve-year-old Bonnie MacDonald - the beloved stepdancing, fiddling youngest member of Cape Breton's famed Clan Donnie band - vanishes after a family party. There was no stranger spotted lurking around, but no one thinks for one minute that Bonnie ran away. Maura MacNeil, cousin to Clan Donnie, offers her husband's legal services to the family as the police search for the missing girl. But fame attracts some strange characters and Clan Donnie has groupies. So, it turns out, does lawyer and bluesman Monty Collins. Monty and Maura's daughter, Normie, is much closer to the action as she gets to know her cousins, learns things she wishes she never had, and has nightmares - visions? - that bring her no closer to finding Bonnie. Her spooky great-grandmother makes no secret of the fact that she senses the presence of evil in their village - the kind of evil RCMP Sergeant Pierre Maguire left Montreal to escape. But he finds that vein of darkness running beneath the beauty and vibrant culture of Cape Breton. And he learns that this isn't the only dark passage in the Clan Donnie family history.

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."

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 defense 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. Father Brennan Burke is plagued by guilt when a parishioner he was supposed to meet with ends up floating in the Halifax Harbor. His penitence propels him to travel to Berlin to find out what secrets the murdered woman was carrying, and he'll stop at nothing to find out who is responsible for her death. Anne Emery is a lawyer and the author of the Collins-Burke mystery series, set in Halifax, Cape Breton, Ireland, London, and New York. She has won two Arthur Ellis Awards, an Independent Publisher Book Awards silver medal, and the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction. "And so, because you drank yourself senseless, you weren't here for our parishioner Meika Keller. She came looking for you here at ten o'clock last night. Said you had agreed to see her." What? What was he saying? Meika Keller? Had she been talking to Brennan recently? Yes, of course. It was just . . . when? Yesterday, wasn't it? He tried to clear his head. "What did she say to you?" the bishop asked now. "Say to me? When?" "For the love of God, Brennan, wise up here. What did she want to talk to you about?" "I don't ...." It was coming back to him through the haze now. The woman had been chatting with him at Saint Mary's University, where she was a professor and Brennan a part-time lecturer. As Meika was leaving the campus, she asked if she could come and speak with him. Could she meet him that night after a charity event of some kind that she had to attend. That would have been last night. "What time is it?" Brennan asked now. "It's too late, Brennan. That's what time it is." "No, no, I'll see her. Just let me . . ." "Was it a confession she asked for, Brennan? At least, tell me that." He tried to reconstruct the conversation with Meika Keller. She was usually cheerful, witty, full of personality. She had always struck him as unflappable. Yesterday, though, her manner was different. There was something on her mind and it must have been serious, if she wanted to meet Father Burke at ten o'clock at night. "I'm thinking yes, Dennis, she may have wanted to see me in the confessional. Well, I'll track her down now and apologize and hear what she has to say. Maybe help put her mind at rest." "No, you won't, Brennan." Something in Cronin's manner gave Brennan a chill. "What is it, Dennis?" "At seven thirty-five this morning, Meika Keller's body washed up on the beach at Point Pleasant Park." Short Description Father Brennan Burke is plagued by guilt when a parishioner he was supposed to meet with ends up floating in the Halifax Harbor. His penitence propels him to travel to Berlin to find out what secrets the murdered woman was carrying, and he'll stop at nothing to find out who is responsible for her death.

Shay Rynne grew up in the Corporation Flats-public housing-in Fenian Street, Dublin. He has always toyed with the idea of joining the Garda Síochána, the Irish police. But in the early 1970s, young fellows from the tenements of Dublin have not been welcomed in the police force. When his friend Rosaleen is killed and the case goes unsolved, Shay decides to put on the uniform of a Dublin garda and sets out to find the killer. The murder inquiry makes an enemy of the detective who failed in the first investigation. Shay knows Detective McCreevy is just waiting for the chance to get revenge. But the violent death of a prominent politician gives Shay the opportunity to prove himself, perhaps even be promoted. Shay works with the lead detective on the murder inquiry and his star is rising, until suspicion falls on a member of Shay's own family. So, Shay is off the case. Officially. Determined to clear his family name, his under-the-radar investigation takes him from an opulent mansion in Dublin to Hell's Kitchen in New York. And his good friend Father Brennan Burke has some surprising contacts for Shay in the shadowy world of New York's Irish mob.

Award-winning author Anne Emery is back with another Collins-Burke team-up. The students at Father Brennan Burke's choir school have written a two-act play about the Halifax Explosion of 1917. The last thing Burke expects is a series of threats against his school and his students, designed to make sure they never perform act two. Then the body of a young woman, Trudi Ebbett, is found strangled in Halifax. A junior hockey player, a friend of one of the students, is the last person known to have seen her alive and is suspected of the murder. Lawyer Monty Collins, hired to represent him, cannot find anyone with a motive for killing Trudi. But Monty's daughter Normie, who is a student at the school and one of the authors of the script, joins her dad and Father Burke as they look deeper into the case. And they begin to suspect that the death is somehow linked to the threats against the play and the events of 1917. But how could something that happened so long ago be a motive for murder in the 1990s? The students at Father Brennan Burke's school have written a two-act play about the Halifax Explosion. But somebody doesn't want act two to be performed. The students are threatened, and a young woman is found dead. What, if anything, connects these events and the explosion more than 70 years before?

Go back to the beginning of the Collins-Burke mysteries with this collection, which includes the first three novels in the award-winning series: Sign of the Cross, Obit, and Barrington Street Blues. • Sign of the Cross: This winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel introduces lawyer Monty Collins who meets Father Brennan Burke when he represents him: the priest is the lead suspect in the murder of a young woman. Conflict between lawyer and client simmers, as evidence piles up and murder charges seem inevitable. With Burke remaining tight-lipped about his past, Monty has no choice but to go behind his back and conduct a probe into the life of his own client. Never in his career has Monty been so lost for answers, until a long-forgotten incident takes on new and ominous meaning . . . • Obit: Declan Burke fled Ireland forty years ago and never looked back. Now settled in New York, he thinks he's put the old country behind him, until he reads the obituary of one Cathal Murphy. The obituary, he sees at once, is not about Murphy at all. It is a coded indictment of Burke's own life. And an announcement of his impending death. Halifax lawyer Monty Collins investigates the obit with its allusions to Burke's IRA past. From the farms of Ireland to the tenements of New York City, Collins gets no help from Burke, who - good soldier to the end - keeps the silence of the grave. • Barrington Street Blues: A rich man and a poor man are found dead of gunshot wounds outside a seedy bar on Barrington Street in Halifax. The police declare it a murder-suicide, but bluesman/lawyer Monty Collins - hired to represent the victims' families - suspects it's a double murder. Helped by his friend Father Brennan Burke, and hindered by his femme fatale law partner Felicia Morgan, Monty explores the dark side of Halifax society: hookers, drug addicts, boozers, gamblers, and people desperate to cover up a series of parties that got way out of hand. A secret from the past and turmoil with his estranged wife, Maura, have Monty singing the blues, lashing out at his closest friends, and spending far too much time in the bars of Halifax.