St Ernan's Blues · An Inspector Starrett Mystery

A lone building on a small island off Ireland’s Donegal coast, St Ernan’s is politely known as a “retirement home” for priests. The exiled residents are guilty of such serious offenses as entrepreneurship, criticizing the church, or getting too friendly with the flock. But things take a turn when Fr Matthew McKaye is found dead in the kitchen, a pot of potatoes boiling on the range. Has one of these isolated outcasts committed murder? The case is assigned to Inspector Starrett and his tenacious team at the Serious Crimes Unit, who find the unexplainable cause of death to be the first in a string of oddities. Starrett soon discovers that ten clergy alone on an island can concoct a great deal of mischief, but what could the young priest have done to get himself murdered? Long-buried grievances are awakened by the ghosts of Starrett’s seminarian past, and though Starrett excels at untangling facts from speculation, this investigation is going to require all the procedural discipline he can muster.