THE NOVELS
INFORMATION ON THE FIRST HARDCOVER AND PAPERBACK EDITIONS IN THE UK AND USA
ABSOLUTION BY MURDER, Headline Book Publishing, London, September 1994. Hardcover, ISBN 0 7472 1106 X, £16.99 Headline Paperback ISBN 0-7472-4602-5, 1995, £4.99; reprint in new jacket November 1998. USA St Martin’s Press New York, hardcover ISBN 0-312-13918-7, January 5, 1996, with additional material “Sister Fidelma’s World” (an historical note), $21.95 USA Signet Books, New York, September 1997, ISBN 0-451- 19299-0 $5.99
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, greedy for power, plot the assassination of King Oswy of Northumbria. And mysterious, violent death stalks the shadowy cloisters of the Abbey of St Hilda, while outside the abbey walls, the pestilence of the Yellow Plague devastates the countryside. When Abbess Etain, a leading speaker for the Celtic Church, is found murdered at the start of the Synod, suspicion inevitably rests on the Roman faction. Attending the Synod is Fidelma, of the community of St Brigid of Kildare. Sister Fidelma, an advocate of the Brehon Court, is called upon to investigate the murder. But, because of the acute political tension of the situation, a member of the Roman faction must work with her. Brother Eadulf, a Saxon, is of a family of hereditary magistrates, so he too is eminently qualified for the task. However, the two are so unlike in temperament and cultural concepts that King Oswy describes their partnership as that of a wolf and a fox. But which is which? More violent deaths follow and the friction among the clerics is beginning to split the kingdom into civil war. Can the solution to the mysteries avert such a disastrous conflict?
SHROUD FOR THE ARCHBISHOP, Headline Book Publishing, London, January, 1995. Hardback, ISBN 0 7472 1140 X. £16.99 Headline Paperback, September, 1995 ISBN 0 7427 4848 6 £4.99; reprinted with new jacket November, 1998 USA St Martin’s Press, New York, Hardcover, September, 1996. Price $23.95 ISBN 0-312-14734 1 USA Paperback Signet Books, New York, July, 1998, $5.99. ISBN 0 451 19300 8.
Wighard, archbishop of Canterbury, has been discovered garroted in his chambers in the Lateran Palace in Rome in the autumn of AD 664. The solution to this terrible crime appears simple as the palace custodes, its guards, have arrested an Irish religieux, Brother Ronan Ragallah, as he fled from Wighard’s chambers. Although the Irish monk denies responsibility, Bishop Gelasius, the nomenclator in charge of running affairs at the Lateran Palace, is convinced the crime is political; Wighard was slain in pique at the triumph of the pro Roman Anglo-Saxon clergy in their debate with the pro-Coloumba Irish clergy at Whitby. There is also a matter of missing treasure; the goodwill gifts Wighard had brought with him to Rome and the priceless chalices sent for the Holy Father Vitalian’s blessing have all been stolen. Bishop Gelasius realises that Wighard’s murder could lead to war between the Saxon and Irish kingdoms if Ronan is accused without independent evidence. So he invites Sister Fidelma of Kildare and Brother Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham to investigate. They are assisted by a young Roman officer of the Lateran Palace custodes, Furius Licinius. But more deaths must follow before Fidelma is finally able to put together the strange jigsaw in this tale of evil and vengeance.
SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN, Headline Book Publishing, London, October, 1995. Hardcover, ISBN 0 7472 1340 2, £16.99 Headline Paperback, June 13, 1996; ISBN 0-7427 4849 4, £5.99; reprinted with new jacket June, 1998 USA St Martin’s Press, New York, ISBN 0 312 15665 0, August, 1997. $23.95. USA Paperback Signet Books, new York, ISBN 0 451 19557 4. February, 1999, $5.99
In the mid 7th century AD the Venerable Dacan, a much respected and beloved scholar of the Celtic Church, has been found murdered while on a visit to the Abbey of Ros Ailithir in the Irish kingdom of Muman. The Venerable Dacan was a man of Laigin, the brother of its equally beloved Abbot Noe of Fearna, close confident to its newly crowned and impetuous young King. For centuries there has been enmity and tension between the kingdoms of Laigin and Muman and central to their quarrel is the control of the border lands of Osraige. In compensation for the death of Dacan, the young king of Laigin has demanded the land of Osraige – and that will mean bloody war. Summoned by Muman’s dying king to investigate, Sister Fidelma’s task is both to solve the mystery of the brutal killing and also somehow to prevent the inevitable war breaking out between the two opposing kingdoms. She sets out for the remote abbey of Ros Ailithir with a warrior named Cass and very little time. But there are more sinister forces at work behind Dacan’s death than just political intrigue. Through a haunting, melancholy atmosphere, Sister Fidelma follows a trail that is as suspenseful as it is tortuous, as complicated as it is surprising.
THE SUBTLE SERPENT, Headline Book Publishing, London, July, 1996. Hardcover, ISBN 0 7472 1651 7. £16.99 Headline Paperback, December, 1996, £5.99, ISBN 0 7472 52866; reprinted with new jacket June, 1998 USA Hardcover, St Martin’s Press, New York, June, 1998, $23.95 ISBN 0-312-186703 USA Paperback, Signet Books, New York, October, 1999, ISBN 0-451-19558-2 $5.99
A headless female corpse is found in the drinking well of a remote abbey in south-west Ireland. One hand clasps a crucifix; tied to the other arm is a pagan death symbol … A merchant ship is encountered under full sail on the high seas off the Irish coast. But the crew and its cargo have vanished – as if by sorcery … Whose is the body in the well? Where is the crew of the vessel? Are these bizarre events connected? And if so, who is responsible? The year is AD 666 and Sister Fidelma of Kildare, a religieuse and advocate of the Brehon law courts of the five kingdoms of Ireland, is thrown into another sinister mystery. The intrigue, danger and violence of ancient Ireland are proved palpitatingly real as Fidelma follows a trail of clues to a host of enigmatic suspects; the autocratic Abbess Draigen who has much to hide; the timid Sister Bronach, obviously escaping from something; the sly Brother Febal; and Adna, a petty chieftain with ruthless ambition, amongst many others. As Fidelma slowly begins to unravel the puzzle, the solution appears as complex as it is stunning.
THE SPIDER’S WEB, Headline Book Publishing, London, April, 1997. Hardcover. ISBN 0-7472-1652-5, £16.99 Headline Paperback, September, 1997, ISBN 0-7472-5287-4, £5.99: reprinted with new jacket June, 1998 USA Hardcover, St Martin’s Press, New York, May, 1999, $23.95, ISBN 0-312-20589-9. US Paperback Signet Books, October, 2000, ISBN 0-451-19559-0, £5.99
Eber is not a man to make enemies. He is a chieftain with a reputation for kindliness and generosity. Yet, one night, his household is aroused by a scream from his chamber. The servants burst in to find Moen, a young man to whom Eber had extended his protection, crouched over the bloody body of the chieftain. Moen’s clothes are drenched in Eber’s blood and he is clutching a bloodstained knife in his hand.
There seems no doubt of culpability, but why did Moen kill the gentle an courteous Eber? The problem is made more difficult by the fact that Moen himself cannot tell them – for he is deaf, dumb and blind …
The case proves to be anything but simple. That is when Sister Fidelma, advocate of the ancient Irish law courts, begins her investigation of the killing in order to present an argument on Moen’s behalf before he is condemned. Assisted by the faithful Brother Eadulf, and confronting many enigmatic, intriguing characters, Fidelma finds himself tackling her most difficult case yet. her path to the truth twists and turns with the sinister forces of primitive passions and subtle ambitions – and leads inexorably to a final, stunning denouement.
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW, Headline Book Publishing, London, 1998. Hardcover. ISBN 0-7472-2016-6. £16.99 Headline Paperback, August, 1998, £5.99 ISBN 0-7472-5780-9. USA Hardcover St Martin’s Press, New York, March, 2000, $23.95 ISBN 0 32-20939-8. Paperback edition Signet July, 2001 $5.99 ISBN 0-451-20330-8
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 Druidic sanctuaries. In some remote corners of seventh century Ireland, Christianity has still not displaced the ancient pagan religion, and Laisre’s clan is known to be hostile to the new religion, fiercely adhering to the old. Knowing her mission will be no easy task, Fidelma, accompanied by the Saxon brother Eadulf, enters Gleann Geis. Here they come across the naked, slain bodies of thirty-three young men, curiously placed as if in a sun-wise circle. Each body bears the marks of stabbing and garrotting; every skull has been smashed in. Is this some ritual sacrifice? It bears the hallmark of the ancient threefold death of pagan times. The number thirty-three bears mystical symbolism. What evil lies here? And who is responsible if not the heathens of Gleann Geis? The solution to the many mysteries Fidelma encounters is not easily arrived at. And as she proceeds through the “forbidden valley” = the valley of the shadow – she embarks on an inquiry fraught with more evil and personal danger than any she has encountered before.
THE MONK WHO VANISHED, Headline Book Publishing, London, February, 1999. Hardcover, ISBN 0-7472-2017-4 £16.99. Headline Paperback, August, 1999, £5.99, ISBN 0-7472-5781-7. USA Hardcover, St Martin’s Press, New York, $23.95, ISBN 0-312-24219-0.
The Abbey of Imleach, in the south west Irish kingdom of Muman, now rivals Armagh as the centre of the faith in Ireland. For the founder of the abbey was none other than St Ailbe, the man who brought Christianity to Muman, converted its King Oengus and, together with St Patrick, baptised him at Cashel in AD 448. But now, calamity has struck the community of the Abbey of Imleach. not only has an elderly brother suddenly disappeared, but, almost worse for the harassed Abbot, the holy relics of St Ailbe have also vanished. St Ailbe’s sacred relics are not just the concern of the abbey’s community but are a price icon and political symbol of the entire kingdom. So who would have dared to take them? Both relics and the monk must be found! Sister Fidelma, together with Saxon brother Eadulf, on a visit to Imleach, are asked to investigate. It seems there is more to the disappearances than meets the eye; much more. Fidelma gradually uncovers one of the most sinister conspiracies she has yet encountered, in which the participators will stop at nothing – even murder – to achieve their aims…
ACT OF MERCY, Headline Book Publishing, London, November, 1999. Hardcover, ISBN 0-7472-2018-2. £17.99. Headline Paperback, Spring, 2000, ISBN 0-7472- 5782-5, £5.99. USA, St Martins Press, New York, hardcover ISBN 0-312-26864-5, $23.95. USA, Signet Books, New York, June, 2003, ISBN 0-451-20908-7, $6.50.
When Sister Fidelma sets out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Shrine of St James in the late autumn of AD 666, her main preoccupation is to reflect on her commitment to the religious life and her relationship with the Saxon monk, Eadulf, whom she has left behind. The arrival, among the small band of pilgrims, of her first love, a man who had deserted her, complicates matters, stirring up memories she would rather forget. But there are more complications to come. During the first night out, with the ship tossed about by a tempestuous sea, one of the pilgrims disappears, apparently washed overboard. The discovery of a bloodstained robe raises question; was the pilgrim murdered and thrown into the sea? With the bless of the captain, Fidelma finds herself having to overcome her emotional ties and focus all her abilities on solving the mystery. But death dogs the tiny band of pilgrims in the close confines of the ship. Fidelma finds herself not only battling against the antagonism of her fellow pilgrims but struggling to survive the turbulent elements of the storm-tossed sea, as she attempts to solver a perplexing puzzle. It is not until the Holy Shrine is almost reached – and time is running out – that the amazing truth is uncovered…
HEMLOCK AT VESPERS – Fifteen Sister Fidelma Mysteries, Headline Book Publishing, London, March, 2000. Hardcover. ISBN 0-7472 7119 4. £17.99. USA Trade Paperback: St Martin’s Minotaur, St Martin’s Press, New York, March, 2000. ISBN 0-312-25288-9 $15.95. Headline paperback, November, 2000, ISBN 0-7472-6432-5, £5.99
Sister Fidelma originally made her debut as one of the decade’s most interesting sleuths in short story form. The red-haired, sharp witted and astonishingly wise religieuse captured the hearts of many readers as she successfully tackled the most baffling of crimes in her other role as dalaigh – or advocate – of the law courts of Ireland, using the ancient Brehon Law system. It was the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to these stories which launched Fidelma as the heroine of a bestselling series of Celtic crime novels set during the mid seventh century AD, Hemlock At Vespers is the first collection of these stories ever to be published. With its breathtaking range of settings and crimes, it is guaranteed to entertain and intrigue – and is an anthology that no lover of Celtic culture or historical crime should be without.
OUR LADY OF DARKNESS, Headline Book Publishing, London, September, 2000. ISBN 0-7472-7120-8. £17.99. Headline paperback, May, 2001, ISBN 0-7472-6433-3, £5.99. St Martin’s Press, September, 2002. ISBN 0-312-27295-2 at $23.95. USA Signet Books, New York, publication date June 1, 2004, price $6.50 ISBN 0-451-21221-5
Arriving home from a pilgrim voyage, Sister Fidelma is told that her faithful Saxon companion, Brother Eadulf, has been found guilty of murdering a young girl. She hastens to the capital of the neighbouring kingdom of Laigin, where he is being held, determined to prove his innocence. The crime took place at the abbey of Fearna where Fidelma clashes with the equally strong-willed but sinister Abbess Fainder. The evidence against Eadulf seems overwhelming; a terrible sordid story of sex, shame and murder. is it conceivable that Eadulf is actually guilty? Even Fidelma is forced to ask the question. She has little time to discover the truth, however, for the King of Laigin is determined to make Eadulf an example. He has decided to give in to Abbess Fainder’s demand that the ecclesiastical Penitentials from Rome be used and not the native law system, which would have simply meant loss of rights and payment of compensation to the victim’s family. Ecclesiastical law demands “an eye for an eye” – Eadulf is due to be hanged. In the gloomy atmosphere of the menacing abbey, Fidelma, struggling to put aside her emotional involvement, begins the desperate search for the truth; a search that will inspire sheer terror as her toughest investigation yet leads to shocking revelations.
SMOKE IN THE WIND, Headline Book Publishing, London, September, 2001, ISBN 0-7472-7121-6. £17.99; St. Martin’s Press, NYC, July, 2003, ISBN 0-312-28780-01, $23.95; Paperback, Headline Book Publishing, March 4, 2002, ISBN 0-7472-6434-1, Price £5.99.Signet, New York, ISBN 0-451-21553-2, June 7, 2005, $6.99
There seemed no disarray anywhere to account for why the meal appeared to have been deserted halfway through the eating of it. Stools and benches were pushed back as if everyone had risen but he saw nothing that indicated any confusion or panic. At a given moment, before the meal had ended, the brethren had simply stood up, leaving everything in an orderly manner, and / and vanished! En route from Ireland to visit the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sister Fidelma and her faithful Saxon companion, Brother Eadulf, find themselves on the coast of the Welsh kingdom of Dyfed when their ship is blown off course by a storm. The elderly King Gwlyddien is quick to offer hospitality, not last because the famous Irish dálaigh may be the only person capable of solving the mystery which has baffled the wisest of men – the entire monastic community of nearby Llanpadern, to which Gwlyddie’s eldest son belongs, has vanished into thin air. Who, or what, is behind the disappearance of the monks? Is it sorcery or some sinister plot – and what does the perpetrator hope to achieve? But before Fidelma and Eadulf can begin to answer these questions, they must contend with the shocking and seemingly unrelated murder of a local girl – a death whose consequences will be more tragic and more far-reaching than anyone can imagine. Sister Fidelma’s tenth full-length mystery takes her to a new Celtic land, where she finds herself embroiled in a case as perplexing as it is spine-chilling.
THE HAUNTED ABBOT, Headline Book Publishing, London, September 2, 2002, in hardback. ISBN 0-7472-7122-4 at £17.99. February, 2003, Headline, London. Paperback. ISBN 0-7472-6435-X £5.99; St Martin Minotaur, New York, ISBN 0-312-28769-0, May, 2003, $24.95. Paperback. ISBN 0-451-21716-0. $6.99. December 2005, Signet, New York.
As with all current HEADLINE editions, the artist is Lee Gibbons who has turned, as usual, to a genuine Celtic motif for the central illustration. The goose was a symbol of the Celtic gods of war. This motif was used on the war helmet worn by a figure of a Celtic war goddess or female warrior from the 1st Century BC, founded at Kerguilly en Dinault in Brittany. It needed little medical knowledge to realise that Brother Botulf’s skull had been smashed in by some heavy, blunt instrument. The realisation came to Eadulf that such wounds could only have bee inflicted by someone whose strength lay in malice. That his friend had been murdered and the event must have occurred scarcely more than a few hours before. At that moment, the wind rose again, shrieking like a chorus of souls in torment shrieking like a presage of evil. Their business with the Archbishop of Canterbury now complete, Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf must make one final journey before returning home to Ireland – to the village of Seaxmund’s Ham in the land of the South Folk – where Eadulf grew up. But a mysterious message from his childhood friend, Brother Botulf, finds them making an unexpected detour to the nearby Aldred’s Abbey, where Botulf has requested their presence at a very particular time on a very particular day – midnight on the old pagan feast of Yule. Puzzled and intrigued by their summons, Fidelma and Eadulf battle against the harsh winter storms to make their appointment, only to find they have, nevertheless, arrived too late. Botulf is dead – killed by an unknown hand. And 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. Another less tangible danger threatens – the ghost of a young woman haunts the cloister shadows – a woman some say bears a startling likeness to the Abbot Cild’s dead wife. But can Fidelma and Eadulf discover the truth before they themselves fall victim to the danger which pervades the abbey walls?
BADGER’S MOON, Headline Book Publishing, London. Hardback. September, 2003. ISBN 0-7553-0223-0. £18.99. Headline, London. Paperback. ISBN 0-7553 0334 9. £6.99. March, 2004. St Martin’s Minotaur, New York, ISBN 0-312-32341-7, March, 2005, $23.95.Signet, New York, due July, 2006, $6.99
A series of horrific murders has brought terror to the Kingdom of Muman. Three young girls have been slaughtered with unspeakable violence on the nights of consecutive full moons. Suspicion falls on three dark strangers from the distant land of Aksum (Ethiopia), who are guests at the Abbey of Finbarr, and a panic-stricken mob attacks the community, leaving the religious in fear for their lives. Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf are called in to restore order and it soon becomes clear that while the three mysterious strangers are definitely hiding something, there are other more likely suspects for the murders. What about the ageing Laig, a hermit-like apothecary, who is known to have instructed all three victims about the magic and power of the moon; what sinister truths are hidden in his dark woodland dwelling? As Fidelma struggles to repair her faltering relationship with Eadulf, can she uncover the truth before the next full moon, when the killer will strike again?
WHISPERS OF THE DEAD – A Collection of Ancient Irish Mysteries, Headline Book Publishing, London. Hardback. ISBN 0-7553-0229-X. £18.99. US edition – St Martin’s Minotaur (trade paperback), St Martin’s Press, New York, 370pp, ISBN 0-312-30382-3. Price $14.95. Pub. date May, 2004. Headline Books, paperback, London, ISBN 0-7553-0230-5, September, 2004. £6.99
“The dead always whisper to us. It is our task to listen to the whispers of the dead.” Whispers of the Dead is a sumptuously rich feast of fifteen short mystery tales, never before published in book form, featuring the brilliant and beguiling Sister Fidelma. Although the heroine of a series of bestselling novels, Sister Fidelma, the seventh-century sleuth of the Celtic Church, made her debut in short story form. Hemlock at Vespers was the first collection of fifteen early tales. Now Whispers of the Dead brings entirely new adventures. This collection contains an astonishing range of crimes and misdemeanors and seamlessly blends historical detail, character and story into mysteries that will confound and surprise. Whispers of the Dead is Sister Fidelma at her very best. “In the simultaneously sharp-witted and full womanly figure of Sister Fidelma, Tremayne has created a heroine whom many readers will willingly follow” Kirkus Reviews
THE LEPER’S BELL, Headline Book Publishing, London, September 6, 2004, in hardback. ISBN 0-7553-0225-7at £18.99. St. Martin’s Minotaur, NYC, hardcover, January, 2006, ISBN 0-312-32343-3. $23.95. Headline UK paperback, March 5, 2005, £6.99, ISBN 0-7553-0336-5. US paperback, St Martin’s Minotaur, October, 2006, $13.95, 0-312-36275-7.
THE LEPER’S BELL sees Sister Fidelma set out to solve one of her most dangerous and personal crimes yet.
A servant has been murdered. The baby in her charge has been abducted. Fidelma of Cashel has solved even more horrendous crimes in her career as an advocate of the ancient Brehon Courts of Ireland. But this case is different. For both Sister Fidelma and her companion, Brother Eadulf of Saxmund’s Ham, the case is unique because of the personal emotions involved. The baby who has been abducted is their son. What is the motive for their crime? Could someone seeking vengeance on Fidelma and Eadulf have done the deed?
They have made a lot of enemies in their pursuit of justice. Fidelma and Eadulf, ignoring protests that they are too emotionally involved to undertake the investigation, set out on what proves to be one of the most dangerous cases they have ever undertaken…
MASTER OF SOULS, Headline Book Publishing, London, ISBN 0-7553-0227-3, price Str£18.99, Pub.date September 5, 2005. US hardback, St Martin’s Minotaur, November 14, 2006, $24.94, ISBN 0-312-34832-0. UK paperback, Headline, ISBN 0-7553-0228-1, March, 2006, £6.99. US paperback: St Martins Minotaur, New York, ISBN 0-312-37467-4, Price $13.95, September, 2007.
A storm-driven night. Wreckers deliberately drive a helpless merchant ship on to a rocky shire on the west coast of Ireland. Abbess Faife, leading a pilgrimage to a holy mountain, is slaughtered, and her six companions, young female religieuse, are abducted. An ageing ecclesiastical scholar is murdered in the oratory of the Abbey of Ard Fhearta. Do these bizarre events have a connection?
Sister Fidelma and her companion, Brother Eadulf, are asked to go to Ard Fhearta to examine the mystery at the request of Abbess Faife’s nephew.
But the Abbey of Ard Fhearta stands in the territory of the Uí Fidgente, blood enemies of Fidelma and her brother, Colgú, King of Cashel, for the nephew of Abbess Faife, is none other than Conrí, warlord of the Uí Fidgente.
Many dangers threaten Fidelma and Eadulf from the time of their arrival at the gates of the abbey.
Who is the mysterious `master of souls’? Has the evil Uaman the Leper, Lord of the Passes, returned from what was presumed his watery grave? Is he the shadowy `master’ spreading death and corruption across the land? Or is the bombastic chieftain, Slébáne of the Corco Duibhne, playing some malevolent power game of his own? What malicious hazards await Fidelma and her companion on the tiny, storm-blown Seanach’s Island, where only a small group of hermits are supposed to dwell?
In a brutal and unforgiving seventh-century Irish landscape, Fidelma and Eadulf face one of their most perilous undertakings yet!
A PRAYER FOR THE DAMNED, Headline Book Publishing, London, September, 2006. Hardcover, ISBN 0 7553 2836 1, £19.99; Headline paperback, published February 5, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7553-2837-6, Price £6.99. US hardcover: St Martins Minotaur, New York, ISBN 0-312-34833-5, Price $24.95, November, 2007. St Martin’s Minotaur, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, paperback ISBN 13-978-0-312-37789-2. Pub. date, September, 2008, Price $11.99.
February, AD 668, and Cashel is full of distinguished visitors. The reason Under the old Irish custom, Fidelma of Cashel and Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham, having been joined together for a year and a day, are to be married. But on the eve of the ceremony, the pious Abbot Ultan, who has travelled from the far north to attend, is found murdered in his chamber. Worst still – one of the most distinguished guests, the King of Connacht, has been seen fleeing from the scene and is charged with the murder. He demands his right to appoint Fidelma in his defence. Quickly Fidelma discovers that Abbot Ultan is not the pious man he was thought to be — indeed, many of the guests have cause to hate him. It is a long weekend of suspicion, fear and more death before Fidelma and Eadulf are able to reveal to their restless and querulous guests the truth behind Ultan’s murder.
DANCING WITH DEMONS, Headline Book Publishing, London, hardcover, 274pp. ISBN 978-0-7553-2838-3, September, 2007, £19.99. Headline paperback, ISBN 978-0-7553-2839-0, £7.99, March, 2008. St Martin’s Minotaur, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA. hardcover. ISBN 0-312-37564-0, Pub. date October 28, 2008. Price $24.95. St Martin’s Minotaur, New York, paperback, November 2009, ISBN 978-0-312-58741-3. $13.99.
When Sechnssach, High King of Ireland, is found dead in his bedchamber with his throat cut, all clues point to Dubh Duin, the chieftain of the clan Cinál Cairpre. For he was found with the murder weapon in his hand when the High King’s guards entered the royal chamber. But rather than surrender, or protest his innocence, Dubh Duin took his own life. The Chief Brehon of Ireland asks Sister Fidelma to find out what possible motives could have driven Dubh Duin to assassinate the High King. Everyone seems to have an opinion on this shocking murder but the Chief believes that the real truth is yet to be uncovered. Fidelma, assisted by her trusted partner, Brother Eadulf and accompanied by two Cashel warriors, sets out for the High King’s palace at Tara. Their investigation reveals an intricate web of conspiracy and deception that surrounded Sechnussach while he was alive and one that has only grown more entangled since his death. If those responsible are not discovered in time these intrigues threaten to unbalance the five kingdoms and send them spiralling into a violent and bloody civil war.
COUNCIL OF THE CURSED, Headline Book Publishing, London, hardcover, 320pp. ISBN 978-0755328406, July 2008, £19.99. Headline, London, A Format paperback, March 5, 2009, £6.99 ISBN 978-0-7553-49180, Headline, London B Format paperback, March 5, 2009, £7.99, ISBN 978-0-7553-2841-3. St Martins Minotaur, New York, hardcover, ISBN 978-0-312-37565-2. $24.99. Pub. date, November, 2009. US paperback edition, St Martins Minotaur, ISBN 978-0-312-60493, November 23, 2010, $14.99.
When Bishop Leodegar of Autun calls upon the church leaders from western Europe to attend a council, it is to be a meeting haunted by sudden death and intrigue. It’s AD 670, and the Council of Autun is meeting to discuss serving a final devastating blow to the Celtic Church. But when a conflict between two delegate results in the murder of the chief delegate from Hibernia, the entire Council is in danger. Sister Fidelma and her companion, Brother Eadulf, arrive in Autun to act as advisors to the Irish delegation. Between the autocratic Bishop Leodegar and the malignant abbess, Mother Audofleda, a web of sinister intrigue soon spreads. The theft of a priceless reliquary box, the disappearance of women and children and rumours of a slave trade make this one of the most sinister puzzles that Fidelma and Eadulf have ever faced…
THE DOVE OF DEATH, Headline Book Publishing, London, hardcover, 384pp. ISBN978-0755347230, July 2009, £19.99.UK paperback (A Format), 434pp, ISBN 978-0-7553-4724-7, pub. date February 4, 2010, Price Str£6.99 and UK paperback (B Format), 434pp, ISBN 978-7553-5762-8, pub. date February 4, 2010, Price Str£7.99. US hardcover edition St Martins Minotaur, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. ISBN 978-0-312-55120-9. Pub. October 26, 2010, $25.99. US paperback, Minotaur Books, St. Martins Publishing Group, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA. September 27, 2011. ISBN 978-0-312-60927-6. Price $14.99.
AD 670. An Irish merchant ship is attacked by a pirate vessel off the coast of the Breton peninsular. Murchad, the captain, and a prince from the kingdom of Muman, are killed in cold blood after they have surrendered. Among the other passengers who manage to escape the slaughter are Sister Fidelma of Cashel and her faithful companion, Brother Eadulf. The prince was Fidelma’s cousin and she is determined to bring the killers to justice…
THE CHALICE OF BLOOD, Headline Book Publishing, London, Pub. July 8, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7553-4725-4. Price £19.99; UK paperback (B format), 433pp, March 2, 2011, ISBN 978-0-7553-5776-5. £7.99; UK paperback, Headline Publishing, 338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH, UK. ISBN 978-0-7553-5776-5. Price £7.99. February, 2011; USA hardcover, Minotaur Books, St Martins Publishing Group, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA, October 25, 2011. ISBN 978-0-312-55152-6. Price $25.99; USA paperback, Minotaur Books, St Martins Press, ISBN 978-1-250-00407-9, August, 2012 $14.99.
Ireland, AD 670. When an eminent scholar is found murdered in his cell in the abbey of Lios Mór, fear spreads among his brethren: his door was secured from the inside, with no other means of entrance or exit. How did his murderer escape? And what was the content of the manuscripts apparently stolen from the scholar’s room? Abbot Iarnla insists on sending for Sister Fidelma and her companion Brother Eadulf, to investigate the killing. But even before they reach the abbey, there is an attempt on their lives. As the mystery deepens, Fidelma and Eadulf must wrestle with problems of their own, which threatens to separate them forever…
BEHOLD A PALE HORSE, Headline Book Publishing,338 Euston Road, London, ISBN 978-0-7553-7747-3, July 7, 2011, £19.99. Headline Publishing, UK paperback, March 1, 2012, £7.99, ISBN 978-0-7553-7748-0; USA hardcover, Minotaur Books, St Martins Publishing Co., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA. ISBN 978-0-312-65863-2. July 15, 2012, $25.99; US paperback, St Martins Minotaur, June 25, 2013, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-230-02997-3.
It is AD 664 and Sister Fidelma finds herself in the seaport of Genua, en route from Rome back to her native Cashel. Her old teacher, Brother Ruadán, lies dying in the abbey of Bobium – an isolated abbey in a disturbed country where even the Christians are in blood conflict with one another and the worship of the pagan gods often prevails.
Fidelma is determined to see Brother Ruadán before he dies. But from the moment she enters the beautiful valley of the Trebbia, there is danger on every side. Her dying teacher’s last words send her off on her most dangerous adventure where murder follows murder and a vicious civil war threatens before an extraordinary conspiracy is revealed. And from the start, Fidelma is on her own.
*This story is a chronological sequel to Shroud for the Archbishop. Readers have noted – and asked about – this “break” in the “timeline” of the novels, as Behold A Pale Horse immediately follows the events of Shroud For The Archbishop. The IN PUBLICATION ORDER chronology we give on the News page is that of the book release dates. Behold A Pale Horse is the only novel that the author has published out of chronological story sequence. However, the problem lies in Hemlock at Vespers and Whispers of the Dead and, indeed, Die Wahrheit ist der Lüge Tod (a German language volume of previously uncollected Fidelma stories) which contain a number of short stories that pre-date Eadulf – and some of the later ones are set in Fidelma’s first years at Brehon Morann’s law school.
THE DEVIL’S SEAL, 
NIGHT OF THE LIGHTBRINGER, Headline hardcover, Headline Publishing, Carmelite House, Victoria Ebankment, London EC4. ISBN 1472238699 June 29, 2017. £19.99. Headline UK paperback, ISBN 978-1-4722-3870-2, March, 2018, Price £9.99; USA edition Severn House, Tennessee, May 1, 2018, Hardback ISBN 0-7278-88174 Price $28.99. Severn House Paperback August 4, 2020 ISBN 13-978-184751-928-3. $17.95
Ireland, 671 AD. 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.’
THE SHAPESHIFTER’S LAIR, Headline UK, July 2020, ISBN 9781472265371, hardcover £20.99. Headline UK paperback February 2021, ISBN 978-1-4722-6538-8. Str£9.99; Severn House USA, July 2020, ISBN 978 07278 8964 5, hardcover $28.99. Severn House USA, 26 July 2021, trade paperback $17.95.
