I’ll be honest. As much as I enjoy Irish history, Anne Emery’s historical mystery, The Keening was slow going. However, readers who appreciate Cora Harrison’s Burren mysteries, set in 16th century Ireland, might want to try this mystery with two timeframes, the late 1500s, early 1600s in Ireland where the mystery is set, and 2017 where the answers are found.

Brigid Tierney’s family has had a questhouse for the past 200 years in Enniskillen in northern Ireland. In 1595, the Irish still boast of their hospitality. And, the Maguires, the lords of Enniskillen Castle, open the castle for a feast to celebrate their latest victory over the English. But, the night of that feast, Socha O’Cassidy, a physician and seer, is killed with two arrows. Before her death, her ex-husband, Father O’Moylan, hears her prophesize a tragedy for Ireland, the loss of Ireland’s chieftains, famine in the country, and defeat by the English.

In 2017, the Tierney family still own a guesthouse in the shadow of Enniskillen Castle. They’ve always used their view of the castle as a draw for tourists, but now that view is threatened. Mick Tierney, his father, Liam, and his daughter, Roisin, hatch a plan that might thwart planned development all around their guesthouse. They’re going to bring in archaeologists, and ask them to dig on the site. They hope they’ll find something historic that will prevent an American from destroying their view. Liam’s aged mother, Cait, warns there might be disaster if they dig up secrets from the Tierney family’s past.

Most of this enthralling book is set from 1595 to the early 1600s, with short chapters inserted set in 2017. Although the story was engrossing, the accounts of early Irish life, the songs of the bards, the legal trials, the lives and wars, the accounts of famine, are so detailed that I bogged down at times. However, it was riveting to see the Tierney family connection, and to find the solution centuries later to the crime. Who killed Socha O’Cassidy, the prophetess?

The Keening is not an easy book, but if you’re interested in Gaelic Ireland and its tragic history, it’s worth delving into the past.

Anne Emery’s website is http://anneemery.com/

The Keening by Anne Emery. ECW, 2021. ISBN 9781770415843 (hardcover), 394p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I reviewed a .PDF for a journal.