• My first novel.
• A literary murder mystery (78,000 words).
• Professionally edited by Katherine V. Forrest, author of the Kate Delafield Series (Putnam-Berkley).
• Ruth Rendell meets Janet Evanovich. Meet Bree McNamara, a strong, persistent, funny sleuth, a modern-day Miss Marple. Bree is the thirty-two-year-old daughter of Mike McNamara, a recently deceased Scranton Police Detective and Reba Davin, an Irish Traveller. Meet the characters of Saint Brigid's Parish in Barra, Pennsylvania.
• A classic Whodunit. On Saint Patrick's Day, Bree finds the body of Father Francis Coyne, St. Brigid's parish priest.
• Relevant Themes
  • Women's issues. Bree struggles to establish her life against the pull of family and traditional religion.
  • Gay issues. Tim Mangan, Bree's best friend and a Scranton Police Detective is a closeted gay man. Sara Doyle, a nineteen-year-old lesbian who works for Bree at Mac's Café, is out. Whisper Singing looks at being gay in rural America.
  • Socio-economic issues. Crosses economic boundaries between the fictional blue collar workers of Barra and American's upper class.
• Takes place in Scranton, Pennsylvania (population approximately 74,000). The Scranton Police Department, the Scranton Historical Society, the Scranton Public Library, The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and a member of the Scranton District Attorney's office provided valuable information in the development of Whisper Singing. Scranton's yearly Saint Patrick's Day parade attracts hundreds of thousands. Hotels are booked a year in advance.
• Contains several phrases translated into Slang Gaelic by an Irish Traveller.
• The first of a series.

Click here to read Chapter One - Whisper Singing