A confession closed the case. The money reopens it.
At Christmas, a closed case resurfaces—and privacy becomes a weapon.
Cork is decorating itself for Christmas, but the River Lee won’t let Cassandra O’Neill’s murder fade into paperwork. When a missing laptop resurfaces in pieces and a quiet threat lands in the wrong hands, the case claws back into the light—along with everyone who thought they’d finally escaped it.
Mason Maloney has spent years surviving by shrinking: a reclusive coder with a life built from rituals and grief that never learned to soften after his brother Matt’s suicide. Only just beginning to step out of his self-imposed prison, he’s trying to build something steady with Dr Timothy Button. But in a city that remembers too much, attention is dangerous, and the closer Mason gets to steadiness, the more his privacy becomes leverage.
Detective Sergeant Bria Friday won’t look away. With Senan Bunsi at her side, she follows fresh statements, old money, and a disturbing trail of art and favours that suggests Cassandra’s death touched more than one closed door. Evidence slips, memory fractures, and loyalty has a price. As pressure tightens, Mason, Tim, and Bria must decide what they’ll risk to keep the truth from being buried. When the next move could cost a life, who gets to decide what stays “solved”?
For readers who like:
- Irish-set crime with emotional bite
- Queer romance under pressure
- Grief-and-recovery character arcs
- Morally messy investigations and art-world unease
