Father Ambrose Granchelli hasn’t been late for Mass at St. Jude’s in fifty years. The congregation, understandably concerned, is horrified when he finally appears, toppling out of the confessional with a bloody bandage around his head and a screwdriver sticking out of his neck!

The city’s Chief of Detectives has his own suspicions and at the top of the list is Shane Hawley, an ex-soldier with PTSD who doesn’t have an alibi for the time of the murder. Father Leo Quinn, St. Jude’s pastor, is Hawley’s uncle. With assistance from his niece Rosie and an ex-Scotland Yard detective, Father Leo embarks on a quest to both clear his nephew’s name and avenge Father Granchelli’s murder—uncovering a mountain of secrets, lies and skulduggery along the way.

Confession Can Be Murder is a classic cat-and-mouse murder mystery set in the fictional metropolis of Old Port City, Cape Breton.

Patricia O'Neil's profile page

Patricia (Lonergan) O’Neil has worked for thirty-five years in the writing/publishing industry as a writer, editor, copywriter and publisher, and was Managing Editor and principal writer for The Cape Bretoner Magazine for six years. She has written travel guides and hiking books and other non-fiction works, the most recent of which are Aqua: Waterways of Cape Breton, and Beaches of Cape Breton, published by Boularderie Island Press. Confession Can Be Murder is her first work of fiction.