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.
Three years after a hit-and-run, Kiernan searches the sea for the missing suspect As Robin Matucci sails under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific, the sea is calm and her deckhand, Carlos, is sober. By the next day, the sky is black and Carlos is passed out drunk. The waves crest higher as Robin fights to reach land, until they finally overwhelm her small ship. Fire springs up from the engine room, and the tiny craft goes to the bottom of the Pacific. When the wreck’s remains surface, Robin is gone, but the police recover samples of her hair. They then discover that the samples match those found at the site of a hit-and-run accident from three years before. The hit-and-run victim’s widow wants Robin found, dead or alive, and hires medical examiner turned private detective Kiernan O’Shaughnessy to find her. The answer to the riddle of the missing mariner will take Kiernan to the depths of the ocean, and back into the arms of a man she thought she had left behind forever. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Susan Dunlap including rare images from the author’s personal collection. Rogue Wave is the 2nd book in the Kiernan O'Shaughnessy Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
When stuntwoman Lark Sondervoil dies while performing a difficult stunt, Kiernan O'Shaughnessy is convinced that her death is the result of foul play and discovers a link between Lark's fatal fall and another movie set accident ten years earlier. Reprint.
Bestselling mystery author Susan Dunlap, acclaimed winner of two Anthony Awards and a Macavity Award, brings us a powerful new novel featuring private detective--and former medical examiner--Kiernan O' Shaughnessy. Betrayed and set up to take the blame for a death caused by a deadly and highly contagious case of Lassa fever, Kiernan gets more than she bargained for when she responds to a call from an old college "friend." She knows that the death she's investigating could have truly dire consequences for the public if its cause is unleashed, inadvertently or otherwise. And the trail of clues she follows--from her base in San Diego to the Nevada desert--is agonizingly complex. Not helping matters is her houseman, the usually affable Brad Tchernak. Tchernak may be a marvelous cook, companion, and dog feeder. But he's feeling overlooked as a detective, and that has created tension between him and his employer. While Kiernan pursues her case, Tchernak takes on one of his own, investigating a hotshot geologist who has just returned from a potentially multimillion-dollar oil find in Central America. Of course, Tchernak's passion for this case may land him in mortal danger. And, as Kiernan investigates the suspicious and alarming death that could portend international disaster, she must grapple with her own demons--especially the stubborn self-reliance that may be her downfall. As the seemingly disparate cases intertwine, it becomes all too clear to Kiernan that she and Tchernak had better find what they're looking for, and fast, before they, too, become "bodies of evidence." From the Hardcover edition.