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Shay Rynne grew up in the Corporation Flats — public housing — in Fenian Street, Dublin. He has always toyed with the idea of joining the Garda Síochána, the Irish police. But in the early 1970s, young lads from the tenements of Dublin have not been welcomed in the police force. When his friend Rosaleen is killed and the case goes unsolved, Shay decides to put on the uniform of a Dublin garda and sets out to find the killer.

The murder inquiry makes an enemy of the detective who failed in the first investigation. Shay knows Detective McCreevy is just waiting for the chance to get revenge. But the violent death of a prominent politician gives Shay the opportunity to prove himself, perhaps even be promoted. Shay works with the lead detective on the murder inquiry and his star is rising, until suspicion falls on a member of Shay’s own family. So Shay is off the case. Officially. Determined to clear his family name, his under-the-radar investigation takes him from an opulent mansion in Dublin to Hell’s Kitchen in New York. And his good friend Father Brennan Burke has some surprising contacts for Shay in the shadowy world of New York’s Irish mob.

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Gripping mystery. . . . Emery does a fine job integrating Shay’s personal story with the larger Irish political issues of the period. Adrian McKinty fans will want to check this out.

Fenian Street is historical crime fiction at its finest.

Anne Emery brings us an unforgettable hero in the guise of Seamus Rynne, or Shay, as he’s known to the lads. Though Father Brennan Burke makes his usual charming appearances, this is Shay’s book.

Emery doesn’t shy away from discussing “The Troubles” — the politics of the time, given that her main characters are Republicans, and some are I.R.A. Emery combines real historical personages with fictional characters to ground her story in fact.

These unforgettable characters, with hearts of gold and tongues that spin stories like a seanchaí (shanachie), will take you pub-crawling in Dublin where you’ll have to throw back a pint or two just to keep up with the cracking dialogue. Then, in part two, you’ll be transported to 1970s New York to brush up against the likes of Mickey Spillane and certain Irish gangsters.

Uniting Shay with her favourite protagonist Father Brennan Burke, brilliant Halifax author Anne Emery has produced an absolute gem of a murder mystery in Fenian Street 

 Over the past two decades Canadian novelist Anne Emery has cemented her reputation as one of the

strongest and most original crime writers at work today. . . .  A lawyer herself, Emery’s research is impeccable, as is her ear for Irish dialogue, and the result is a series of novels that both captivate and inform her many readers on both sides of the water.

. . .

 Drawing on her many talents as a gifted storyteller, Anne Emery’s words leap off the page and draw

the reader into life in Dublin, with engaging characters set against a troubled past. Fenian street is a

fine addition to an already-strong series.

Impeccably researched, richly atmospheric, and with a spellbinding plot.

The audio is enhanced by the skills of narrator Ashley O’Connell, who employs excellent renditions of Irish and New York accents.  . . .  this book should appeal to readers who appreciate atmospheric, historical mysteries. Recommend to fans of Tana French’s “Dublin Murder Squad” series.

ITS A TEN FROM ME! Seriously, though, this meander through the history of Ireland is so well detailed and researched you’d feel you were immersed in it yourself. While it’s most definitely a thriller, it’s a thriller with heart. The journey through young Shay’s life from growing up in the poverty of the corpos right through to joining the garda, every tiny detail is perfect and it was a joy to watch the making of the man so to speak. Father Brennan is written so well, I’m sure I’ve confessed my sins to him at some point. The narration deserves huge applause as it was beautifully done. Again I can’t express how beautifully written and researched this is covering the troubles of the times with a real heart and firm question marks on the British involvement in Ireland and the north. I wonder was the author there?!

I’m not a big mystery reader myself, but the reason I was drawn to this was the setting. Emery’s writing is lush and vivid, filled with the joy of a true storyteller. There are lots of details and threads that don’t always make it to the main story, but do great work in establishing the settings and creating the fullness of life — Shay, his family, friends, and other involved acquaintances are much more realistic because of the little side scenes.  . . . 

Fenian Street is a thoroughly enjoyable read. Full of bright characters with very human motives, it was a fun, intriguing read, with an excellent historical setting. No parts of it drag, and it was a wonderfully compelling mystery, with all of the messy realities of crime and poverty.

As someone who was born just after the events in this novel, not in Ireland but in Scotland but who was nonetheless keenly aware of the “Troubles”, this was a fascinating and at times salutary lesson in Irish history.

Shay is an engaging protagonist to follow through this tale with myriad ups and downs through the vagaries of the troubled second half of the 20th century in the Irish Republic. Shamefully, I was not fully aware of the Dublin bombings in the 70s. This is in part an indictment of the UK education system and the media. I learned a great deal, I was gripped and moved and I would thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who loves Ireland, the Irish and wants to get a greater understanding of the shaping of the modern nation.

[A]n engrossing story about a young man's ambition and seemingly unattainable goals. . . .    Fans will be delighted to see the return of such characters as Father Brennan Burke from earlier books in the series, and she adds depth to Fenian Street by depicting the politics of the era, giving a full sense of the Irish community.

Anne Emery’s latest novel, Fenian Street, is a fascinating read that occurs in the late 1960s through to the mid 1970s. . . .   Once again Emery has combined a riveting story with captivating characters resulting in a novel that demands your attention.

I really enjoyed this book and I thank Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read this story. The author used both factual people and events, as well as fictional people and events to tell this tale. I liked some of these characters very much and it helped me get a take of what was going on between Ireland and Britian in these sometimes violent times. Anne Emery let you get to know all the main characters and you grew to love and understand them. . . . I also love that this is written by a Canadian author.

An excellent book set in the 60s/70s, an age so different that it could be on another planet. Dublin long ago, poverty, the Troubles. The author did a good job in setting the book in this historical background. A gripping, dark story, an interesting MC, plenty of twists.  . . .  a gripping read.  

Being of Irish Descent this was such an interesting but emotive read for me and gave me a lot to talk to my grandparents about. I really enjoyed it, it was well written with a compelling and somewhat brutal storyline that highlighted courage in the face of discrimination. The characters were well developed and believable. I enjoyed it. 

I am not Irish but I married into an Irish family with branches in the north and south of the beautiful, tragic island of Ireland and to this reader Fenian Street is told with a wholly authentic voice. The characters, both real and imagined, are well described and easy to identify and empathise with or to rail against, depending on your perspective. The various elements that make up the book - history, politics, murder, gangsterism and associated shenanigans - are well mixed and well balanced to provide a very rewarding read. 

Anne Emery has brightened my appetite (which was wavering) for reading again with this book. There is nothing that I disliked about Fenian Street it was a true to life storyline set in Dublin, linked to New York mobsters and also included some of the troubles in Ireland in the 1970s. 

I recommend you read this with an open mind and make of it as you will but I can assure you it is well worth your time.

Intrguing read. I didn’t want to finish the book because it was so good. I enjoyed the story set in 1970s Dublin and New York. The characters are drawn out well. I would look out for other Anne Emery Books. 

I have read and reviewed several of Anne Emery’s book on this blog. I have always found them enjoyable and interesting reads. So I’ll start this review as I started the review of The Keening. “This book is both a good mystery novel and historical fiction.” . . .  A complicated and interesting story. . . . if you enjoy a good mystery, especially one set in Ireland, you might want to add this to your to-be-read list.

From larger than life characters, to locations, to the language this book really brought 1970s Dublin to life. Even my favourite Dublin haunt - Mulligans - got a mention.

A lot of Irish history in this one and though I am fairly well versed I picked up a few things I hadn’t known about. The tensions of the time are really well portrayed and the book has evidently been really well researched. . . . a compelling and vivid read.  

Fenian Street by Anne Emery was an engaging story of the life of a boy from the Dublin slums who became a garda and proved himself worthy of the title. . . .   It was more a slice of life than a plot with several smaller plots happening during the retelling. Emery did a wonderful job, bring this life to the people. 

This is the twelfth book in a series featuring Father Burke, but you wouldn’t know it from the story which is the perfectly set-up stand-alone tale of Shay and, by extension, life in the poorer parts of Dublin at the time and the political and social history of the Irish-British duality. The use of dialect and idiom is excellent (I can hear my Uncle Jim in every word of it) and is part of the enjoyment of the book.  . . . the characters are all loquacious (indeed Shay’s father’s nickname is ‘Talkie’). The actual mystery and the procedural elements are subservient to the wider ambience.

Impeccably researched, richly atmospheric, and with a spellbinding plot.