William Brodrick

When a suspected Nazi war criminal demands sanctuary from his church, Father Anselm finds his subsequent investigation paralleled by a search by Lucy Aubret, whose grandmother was betrayed by the Nazi criminal when she secretly worked to rescue Jewish children. A first novel. 50,000 first printing.

A Novel

The Sixth Lamentation

Investigating the death of an attorney whose demise has been marked by bizarre puzzles, barrister detective Father Anselm discovers a link between the dead woman and his own choices in a difficult case that he won two years earlier. By the author of The 6th Lamentation.

The Gardens of the Dead

'All you have to do is find out why Harry is prepared to blame an innocent man. That's the thread. Follow it. You'll reach the Silent Ones. This is your way - our way - of making a difference.' With this challenge from Father Edmund Littlemore, Anselm returns to the Old Bailey to fight the most difficult and troubling case of his life. The man in the dock is Littlemore himself. He is charged with grave offences against Harry Brandwell who, it seems, is both a victim and a liar. But he's the only link to these others who've chosen silence over their right to justice. Unknown to Anselm, Robert Saunders, a journalist, has been investigating Littlemore's background. And he's a man with a troubled past, always on the move, from Boston in the USA to Freetown in Sierra Leone, finally running from a London police station rather than explain himself. More disturbingly, Robert uncovers details of a carefully planned scheme to entice Anselm back into court, exploiting his reputation for honesty to secure a shock acquittal. Meanwhile Harry Brandwell - abused, abandoned and betrayed - has decided to take matters into his own hands. The Silent Ones examines the one crime that Church, State and Family thought they could hide in their own best interests; Anselm's return is a compelling novel about the anatomy of silence, the courage of victims and the redemptive power of public justice.

The silent ones

An anonymous letter sent to Larkwood's Prior accuses Peter Henderson, an academic celebrity renowned for daring ideas, of a grotesque murder: the calculated killing of Jenny, his disabled partner, believed by everyone to have died peacefully two years previously from a sudden attack of cancer. But for this letter there is no evidence, no suspect and no crime. Time has moved on. Lives have been rebuilt. Grief and loss are tempered by a comforting thought: a paralysed woman, once an acclaimed dancer, had died quickly and painlessly, spared a drawn out illness; a life marked by agonising misfortune had come to a merciful end. But now Anselm has been told the truth behind the soothing lie. He must move cautiously to expose the killer and the killing. He must think of young Timothy, Jenny and Peter's son. A boy who is still learning to live without his mother. And so Anselm begins his most delicate investigation yet, unaware that Jenny's adoring father is also thinking of Timothy's future; that this urbane former army officer is haunted by the memory of torture and shoot-to-kill operations in Northern Ireland; that he remains capable of anything, if he thinks it's for the best; that he has set out to execute Peter Henderson. Death, dying and killing, however, were never so complicated.

The discourtesy of death

The Day of the Lie

a novel

A whispered name

They came for me in November nineteen fifty-one and took me to Mokotow prison. Cambridge, the present day. And out of the past, a cry for help: Father Anselm, the brilliant Benedictine, receives a visit from an old friend with a dangerous story to tell - the story of a woman betrayed by time, fate, and someone close to her . . . someone still unknown. As a young woman, Roza Mojeska was part of an underground resistance group in Communist Poland. But after her arrest, an agent of the secret police makes her a devil's bargain - and in the dark of a government prison, a terrible choice is made. Now, fifty years later, Anselm is called upon to investigate both Roza's story and a mystery dating back to the early 1980s, in the icy grip of the Cold War. And as he peels back years of history, decades of secrets, a half-century of lies, he exposes a truth that victim and torturer would keep hidden...

Father Anselm investigates the atrocities of war in this gripping mystery, proving that no one can truly escape the darkness of their past.

A Father Anselm Thriller

A Whispered Name

An anonymous letter accuses a prominent academic, Peter Henderson, of a grotesque murder: the calculated killing of Jenny, his disabled partner, believed by everyone to have died peacefully two years ago. Time has moved on. Grief and loss were tempered by a comforting thought: Jenny was spared a long and painful illness. Knowing the truth behind the soothing lie, Father Anselm—former barrister, current clergyman—must move cautiously to expose the killer and the killing without harming young Timothy, Jenny and Peter’s son. But Jenny’s father is looking out for his grandson, and he is capable of anything if he thinks it’s for the best. He has set out to execute Peter Henderson. Death, dying, and killing have never been so complicated.

A Father Anselm Novel

The Discourtesy of Death

When he receives an anonymous note accusing Peter, an academic celebrity, of murdering his disabled partner, Jenny, two years earlier, Father Anselm embarks on his most delicate investigation yet, while, unbeknownst to him, Jenny's father, a former army officer, sets out to execute Peter.

The 6th Lamentation

Forced Confessions

Gold Dagger Award Winner: “This complex thriller . . . explores some of life’s biggest moral questions and puts a human face on the war to end all wars.” —Kirkus Reviews A Wall Street Journal Best Mystery of the Year In the Larkwood Priory, secrets are rare. So Father Anselm is deeply dismayed by an allegation against the late Herbert Moore, one of the founding fathers of the Priory and the man who shaped his own vocation. The claim is inconceivable, but Anselm soon learns that Herbert did indeed have secrets in his past that he kept hidden all his life. While investigating the accusation, former lawyer Father Anselm discovers the horrors of a long-buried secret of war involving the young Captain Moore. A novel of moral complexity, superb characterization and, above all, profound humanity, A Whispered Name is fit to stand with the finest thrillers inspired by the First World War. “A Whispered Name holds its own?in moral purpose and expressive prose?with the best of Graham Greene.” —The Wall Street Journal “Poignant . . . with incredible pacing . . . a thought-provoking, nuanced story.” —Publishers Weekly “William Brodrick’s crime novels have the great (and unusual) merit of being unlike anyone else’s.” —Spectator

To keep quiet about something so important . . . well, it's almost a lie, wouldn't you say?' When Father Anselm meets Kate Seymour in the cemetery at Larkwood, he is dismayed to hear her allegation. Herbert Moore had been one of the founding fathers of the Priory, revered by all who met him, a man who'd shaped Anselm's own vocation. The idea that someone could look on his grave and speak of a lie is inconceivable. But Anselm soon learns that Herbert did indeed have secrets in his past that he kept hidden all his life. In 1917, during the terrible slaughter of the Passchendaele campaign, a soldier faced a court martial for desertion. Herbert, charged with a responsibility that would change the course of his life, sat upon the panel that judged him. In coming to understand the court martial, Anselm discovers its true significance: a secret victory that transformed the young Captain Moore and shone a light upon the horror of war.

Elizabeth Glendinning QC has lost faith in the legal system. In an attempt to restore it, she has secretly devised a scheme to bring back to court a guilty man - Graham Riley - whom she had successfully defended some ten years before. As part of an elaborate contingency plan, Elizabeth leaves the unsuspecting Father Anselm with a key to a safety deposit box, to be opened in the event of her death. Three weeks later she is found dead in the East End of London and, once the box has been opened, a chain of events is triggered as if from beyond the grave, leading Anselm to fulfil what Elizabeth has begun. A powerful portrait of the dark heart of London and a tense thriller, THE GARDENS OF THE DEAD confirms William Brodrick's growing critical reputation.

William Brodrick

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