Free (Kobo/iTunes/ePub) Sign of the Cross [Award-Win Halifax Lawyer/Priest Mystery]

[ATDrake]

Sign of the Cross by Canadian author Anne Emery (SYKM) is the 1st in her Collins-Burke series of contemporary murder mysteries set in Halifax, Nova Scotia, starring the eponymous criminal defense attorney and Roman Catholic priest (two separate people, mind you, despite having a series that's hyphenated like the offspring of a married couple), who together, they fight crime!, this being the installment where they do the crimefighting duo equivalent of Meet Cute (warning: that link goes to TV Tropes) wherein Collins ends up defending Burke from a charge of murder, as so often happens with lawyers and priests who end up teaming up to fight crime!, free courtesy of Canadian independent publisher ECW Press, who incidentally also publish the autobiography cum acting memoir of Cancer Man from the X-Files, which I have on my wishlist for a hopeful future Kobo weekend sale.

This won the 2007 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel, according to SYKM, which is our top national crime writing prize, equivalent to the Edgar Award. It's also part of an iTunes Canada promotion and thus may end up getting further price-matched elsewhere.

Currently free @ Kobo & iTunes & Google Play (all available to Canadians, and at least iTunes seemed to be free in many places worldwide when I spot-checked Japan, Netherlands, and Australia; but not Iceland).

Incidentally, if you happen to enjoy this and wish to read more, the rest of the series is rather low-priced at $4.99 a pop and couponable @ Kobo.

And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because Canadiana. And award-winning Canadiana, at that. Award-winning unlikely crime-fighting duo team-up mystery Canadiana, even. Available (mostly) worldwide.

Enjoy!

Description
Be careful what you wish for, his mother used to say. Yet how many times, in his twenty years defending the underclass, has Monty Collins wished for a client who is intelligent, articulate and tattoo-free? Now he has one, but it’s not long before his mother’s warning comes back to haunt him. Father Brennan Burke was born in Ireland, raised in New York, educated in Rome – he’s equally fluent in Latin and the language of the street. And he is the prime suspect in the killing of a foxy young girl whose body was found carved with a religious sign, a sign that points straight to the priest.

From their first meeting, Monty finds Burke acerbic, arrogant, and evasive about his relationship with the victim. Conflict between lawyer and client simmers all through the ordeal that lies ahead, as evidence piles up and murder charges seem inevitable. With Burke remaining tight-lipped about his past, Monty has no choice but to go behind his back and conduct a probe into the life of his own client. Never in his career has Monty been so lost for answers, until a long-forgotten incident takes on new and ominous meaning . . .