The Parish Record Murder: A Fiona Callahan Irish Village Mystery

A wrong grave. A missing burial map. A parish record that hides murder in plain sight.

Genealogist Fiona Callahan knows better than to trust a tidy record in Kilcarra.

After restoring the names of Rose Mary Devane, Mary Rose Devane Callahan, and Aileen Devane to the village’s tangled history, Fiona is ready for tea, quiet work, and absolutely no more anonymous notes. Then Nora Flynn and Father Eamon Keane arrive from St. Brigid’s with a newly discovered memorandum tied to a long-questioned grave.

The parish record was not mistaken. It was murder made tidy.

The note points to a burial correction made decades earlier, a grave marked for the wrong Rose, and a cemetery map that no longer matches the stones. When the visiting archivist assigned to review St. Brigid’s fragile records is found dead in the churchyard, Fiona must decide whether the old memorandum is a warning, a confession, or a trap.

The clues lead from the parish archive to The Shamrock & Stone, from funeral account books to old bell-ringing logs, and from village gossip to a family secret still sharp enough to wound. Garda Declan Byrne wants evidence, not instinct. Aunt Maeve wants Fiona fed, guarded, and nowhere near suspicious headstones after dusk. Bridie McKenna wants everyone to admit she remembers the old burial rhyme better than the priest does.

But someone in Kilcarra knows exactly which grave is lying.

And if Fiona cannot correct the record, the next entry in St. Brigid’s burial book may be hers.

The Parish Record Murder is the third book in the Kilcarra Irish Village Mysteries, a clean and atmospheric cozy mystery series featuring genealogy, Irish village life, parish records, graveyard secrets, warm pub scenes, slow-burn romance, and a fair-play puzzle rooted in family history.