Sign of the Cross: A Collins-Burke Mystery, Book 1

By: Anne Emery

Narrated by: Christian Rummel

Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Monty Collins is a sharp-tongued public defender who just wants to represent an upstanding character for a change. A priest with something to hide isn't quite what he had hoped for, but when the literate, arrogant, and tight-lipped Father Brennan Burke is implicated in the strange murder of a young woman, Monty doesn't just take the case - the case takes him. When Burke won't come clean, Monty is forced to play private detective, traveling into his client's past.

Things look good for the case until another body is found, marked with the same telltale sign as the first. Burke keeps mum, alternate suspects are ruled out, and the trial looks like it might be lost before deliberation. As if it couldn't get any worse, Monty's wisecracking ex-wife enters the picture, and she seems to know more about Burke than Monty does. Evidence and coincidence pile up, leading to a revelation neither Monty nor the listener see coming.

©2006 Anne Emery (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Halifax writer Emery will keep your already hot blood boiling thanks to this compelling legal drama." (Hour)

"A smart, elegantly written courtroom drama that will, I hope, be the first of many." (Calgary Herald)

Fun romp for a cradle Catholic!

An enjoyable murder-mystery that happens to have the church, it's members both lay and clerical woven into the plot. I enjoyed the story 1st because its a good yarn and next because Emery's use of Catholics and Catholicism taps in to a rich vein of imperfection, humor, joy, sadness, and tragedy without overstated piety or whitewashing of personalities. It's all there in a great mix ... sex, drugs, and the blues. Looking forward to Obit.

Happy to Stumble on This Series

Not sure how I missed this series so far, but glad I found it. The first book in the series accomplishes its most important goal. It introduces us to a cast of characters and uses the plot to help us get to know them. I think Emery did a great job of developing interesting and likable characters the reader wants to know more about. Especially Brennan Burke. Monty and his wife Maura are also intriguing, although I sense their relationship could get tedious in the future.

My only issue is that there was so much time spent getting to know the characters, that there wasn't that much time devoted to the plot. Which may be for the best, because the plot - who actually killed the two women that Brennan is accused of killing and why - was pretty weak. There was not much detecting done and the one piece of evidence everything hinged on didn't seem strong enough to charge Brennan or to actually solve the mystery.

Rummel does a great job with the narration hitting just the right notes on the multiple and varying degrees of Irish accents.

I recommend this book.

Good Enough to Read a Second

I came across this book on my hunt for good mystery series. It was given good (4+ stars) reviews by two people I follow on Audible.

I was hopeful that this would include some local color (it takes place in Halifax, which I've never visited), but alas, the focus was primarily on developing the characters. The defense attorney Collins and the accused priest Burke are the primary characters, and while they are pretty entertaining (Burke in particular, probably because of the Irish accent), and despite the fact that their lives are turned upside down when Burke is accused of murder, their dialogue and relationships with others are just a little too easy and convenient, a little too perfect.

The mystery/whodunit part dragged a little bit, but that didn't matter so much as it took second seat to getting to know Collins and Burke. I felt I knew them just well enough by the end to warrant downloading Book 2 in the series.

I didn't love the narrator, but what saved him from ruining the experience for me was that so much of the dialogue came from Burke and so was delivered in a passable Irish brogue (for whatever reason, to me, audiobooks in English/Irish/Scottish accents just sound better!).

Where has this series been hiding?

I enjoyed every minute, loved the characters, and Mr. Rummel's reading was superb.

Off to Book #2!