Pious Deception

by Susan Dunlap

Overview

Former medical examiner Kiernan O’Shaughnessy investigates a scandalous suicide in a Catholic church  
Quick-witted, precise, and comfortable with corpses, Kiernan O’Shaughnessy was perfectly suited to life as a medical examiner. In her four years with the coroner’s office, she never had one unhappy shift until the day they let her go. Enraged and adrift, she made her way to La Jolla, California, to set up a high-class private investigation service for medically suspicious deaths. She works only the cases she wants, and charges a steep enough fee that she can afford a cherry red Triumph and a former NFL player as a houseman. Her latest client is one of the biggest moneymakers on the planet: the Roman Catholic Church.
 
A troubled young priest is found hanged in Mission San Leo in Phoenix, Arizona. Hoping to avoid scandal, the bishop bypasses the police, and hires Kiernan to determine whether the death was an accident or a suicide. They ask her to be quiet, but the secrets she uncovers will make her want to sing louder than any church choir.

Pious Deception is the 1st book in the Kiernan O'Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781453253953
Publisher:	Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
Publication date:	05/08/2012
Series:	The Kiernan O'Shaughnessy Mysteries , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Susan Dunlap (b. 1943) is a prolific author of mystery novels. Born in the suburbs of New York, Dunlap majored in English at Bucknell College and earned a masters in teaching from the University of North Carolina. She was a social worker before an Agatha Christie novel inspired her to try her hand writing mysteries. Five attempts and five years later, she published Karma (1981), which began a ten book series about brash Berkeley cop Jill Smith.
  Since then, Dunlap has published more than twenty novels and numerous short stories. Her other ongoing characters include the meter-reading detective Vejay Haskell, medical examiner Kiernan O’Shaugnessy, and Zen student turned detective Darcy Loft. In addition to writing, Dunlap has taught yoga, worked as a paralegal, and helped found the women’s mystery organization Sisters In Crime. She lives in San Francisco.

Editorial Reviews

"[A] promising start to a new detective series. . . . Feisty Kiernan has appeal.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“Kiernan O’Shaughnessy is no fluff.” —The New York Times
 
“As long as writers like Dunlap continue to play with the form, genre fans need not lament the mystery’s demise.” —San Francisco Chronicle

From the Publisher