A Whispered Name

by William Brodrick

Overview

Father Anselm investigates the atrocities of war in this gripping mystery, proving that no one can truly escape the darkness of their past.

The Golden Dagger Award-winning installment of the Father Anselm thrillers, praised by Jeffery Deaver as “reminiscent of the early works of John le Carré,” A Whispered Name reaches into the mysteries of one man's past and casts light on the long shadows war leaves behind.

In the Larkwood Priory, secrets are rare. So Father Anselm is deeply dismayed by an allegation against Herbert Moore, one of the founding fathers of the Priory and the man who shaped his own vocation. The claim is inconceivable, but Anselm soon learns that Herbert did indeed have secrets in his past that he kept hidden all his life.

While investigating the accusation, Father Anselm discovers the horrors of a long-buried secret of war involving the young Captain Moore. A novel of moral complexity, superb characterization and, above all, profound humanity, A Whispered Name is fit to stand with the finest thrillers inspired by the First World War. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468315615
Publication date:	09/01/2022
Series:	Father Anselm Thrillers
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

William Brodrick was an Augustinian friar before leaving the order to become a barrister. He won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award in 2009, and is the author of six novels featuring Father Anselm, all available or forthcoming from Overlook.

Editorial Reviews

09/01/2017
Father Anselm, concerned about allegations against his mentor Herbert Moore, discovers that Moore's military service during World War I holds dark mysteries involving an Irish deserter. This hardcover reissue of a 2009 Dagger Award winner, the third entry in the "Father Anselm" series, is a complex, thought-provoking historical concerned with morality, mortality, and redemption.—ACT

Library Journal

07/17/2017
At the start of Brodrick’s poignant third Father Anselm mystery (after The Gardens of the Dead), Anselm has an unsettling encounter with a woman in the Larkwood Priory cemetery near Sudbury, England, that raises questions about Fr. Herbert Moore, Anselm’s spiritual mentor, who died in 1985. Charged by his prior with investigating Moore’s involvement in a WWI court martial, Anselm searches through military records and family histories to piece together an event that altered Moore’s life. With impeccable pacing, Brodrick reveals the story of Joseph Flanagan, an Irish soldier whose desertion from and return to the Passchendaele battlefield set the stage for his fateful meeting with Moore. Flashbacks to Flanagan’s hardscrabble childhood provide a poetic contrast to brutal war scenes, and Brodrick’s unflinching depiction of battle serves as a haunting backdrop for the unfolding conflict between Flanagan and the British army. Readers seeking a thought-provoking, nuanced story that engages difficult moral questions will appreciate this tale of courage, sacrifice, and redemption. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Brodrick's exploratory novels are refreshing and restorative, his style is thoughtful and precise; his integrity powerful. You feel better for having read them. Maybe you are.

The Spectator

The horrors of Passchendaele in 1917 run through this exquisite novel. Just how much can a man take before he must simply walk away? And what kind of strength enables one man to lay down his life for another?

The Guardian

2017-08-03
A sleuthing clergyman gets more than he bargained for when he delves into war records to clear the reputation of a fellow monk.Father Anselm, beekeeper of Larkwood Priory and a former barrister, meets distraught Kate Seymour at the grave of his deceased friend, Father Herbert Moore. She impugns Moore's reputation, implying misconduct during the first world war, though in vague terms. Anselm and Herbert were close friends who shared their journeys to Larkwood in a search for life's meaning. Nonagenarian Father Sylvester swears that Herbert never in his life mentioned World War I, but the prior gives Anselm a letter that Herbert was holding next to his heart at the time of his death. Addressed to a Pvt. Harold Shaw of the British Expeditionary Force, it gives Anselm a solid starting point for the investigation the prior gently insists he undertake. From here, the story branches off into two parallel tracks, with Capt. Herbert Moore injured on the front lines in 1917 and Anselm gathering as much intel as he can at the Public Record Office before his planned meeting with Kate Seymour. The picture gets much darker before it clears, with implications of desertion, a military trial, and a fatal relationship. The third of six mysteries in Brodrick's cycle (The Discourtesy of Death, 2017, etc.), this complex thriller, winner of the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award, explores some of life's biggest moral questions and puts a human face on the war to end all wars.

Kirkus Reviews