Fenian Street by Anne Emery takes us to Dublin street tenements where Shay Rynne grows up with a strong desire to become a police officer. He is driven by the loss of his friend who’s murder is unsolved.

This suspenseful novel takes us on a journey of Shay’s world where he faces harassment within his own police force, violence, the inner workings of Garda, and a connection to the Mob of NYC.

This book does not disappoint!

FENIAN STREET

This is a really terrific historical fiction set in Dublin Ireland in the early 1970s. It centers around Shay Ryanne, a young man from Fenian Street in Corporation Flats, who joins the police force - The Garda Síochána. Encouraged to enter law enforcement due to an unsatisfactorily resolved murder of a childhood friend, Ryanne works hard and smart to prove himself.

Through this case and others, one involving local political figures, Ryanne learns the ways of policing in a major Irish city. With the help of family friends Father Brennen Burke (of the Collins-Burke Mystery Series) and mentor Detective Sergeant Colm Griffiths, Ryanne matures into an upstanding and sensitive man. His close relationships with his family and love interest give insight into his developing character.

Although this is at heart a mystery and a police procedural, interwoven is much information on Irish history, English rule, the IRA, political prisoners and the conflicts within Northern Ireland in the 1970s. It is the time of the Monaghan and Dublin car bombings, and with intense love of his country, these events color many of Ryanne’s decisions and test his moral standards. There are many Guinness and whiskey filled discussions at local pubs, and the complexities of the crimes require a great deal of creative research and methods of policing. It is realistic, detailed, and intelligent.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Anne Emery, and ECW Press for the opportunity to read and review this book.

It’s 1970 in Dublin. After the young woman Shay has always been a little in love with dies suddenly, and whose death is ruled an accident by police, despite evidence to the contrary, he decides to join the Garda.

Shay digs into the happenings that night, and after finding answers, gets to work on bigger and more important cases. After a local politician is murdered and his dad is seemingly connected, Shay needs a solution, and possible answers take him to New York City and the intersection of Irish immigrants and crime.


This is my first book by Anne Emery, and I was impressed by the complexities and layers of beliefs and political and familial loyalties that intersect amongst the population during The Troubles. This is a story of bigotry, crime, but also of the tension of living in a place riven by many years of war and internal conflict.

Being both an officer of the law, and skirting the rules himself occasionally, Shay embodies the many different and sometimes opposing desires and views of most of the people in this book. Emery's "Fenian Street" is a wonderful portrait of several things: a character often at odds with his duty as a police officer and the expectations of his community, a city still recovering from a years past civil war, politics, and Dublin's complicated people in a densely written but engaging book.

Thank you to Netgalley and to ECW Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Fenian Street is an historical fiction that takes us to Dublin, Ireland of the early 1970s. Shay Rynne is a young man who grew up in the city’s tenements, Corporation Flats, Corp Flats to locals, wants to join the police, the Garda Siochana. This is a difficult move for people with his background, but he is fueled by his wish to look into the unsolved death of a friend.

This novel follows the workings of the Garda, the inner politics of the station when new officers join up, family life, the famous pub life of Dublin, and, having a vague shadow over everything, the Troubles over the northern border. But these Troubles don’t remain over the border.

We see the events of these times largely through Shay’s eyes though occasionally we get the view through a friend such as Brennan, Father Burke, actually a priest in New York City, who has extended family in Dublin and visits regularly.

I found this to be an exciting story where I wondered about outcomes and occasionally questioned methods. I learned a lot about the Irish and the Mob in NYC, the ongoing and developing problems with the Provos of the North. It’s also a pleasure to watch as a character matures.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

The author paints a very vivid picture with her words. Each character becomes real. Every location is right in front of you. This investment in detail pays off when it comes to immersing yourself in the story as you really become part of it.

Fenian Street by Anne Emery was an engaging story of the life of a boy from the Dublin slums who became a garda and proved himself worthy of the title. Seamus (Shay) Rynne lived in a tenement with his parents and his sister and her child. He was a typical little boy, swiping things and doing random acts of illegal mischief but he was lucky enough to have garnered the notice of a garda detective who kept him on the straight and narrow. It was not a popular occupation in his neighborhood, but his peers liked and respected him and so it worked out. He had a friend named Rosie McGinn who was several years older than he and his friends, but she was always nice to them, bringing them treats from the store she worked in and such. As she got older, she got a better job, as the front desk person at a hotel. It was while doing this job she met her accidental death. None of them believed it had been accidental but when Shay became a garda he worked hard to investigate what had happened. It took several years and some help from friends, but eventually he proved it was murder, and who had done it. It did not earn him points with the garda detective who had originally investigated.

Shay was a good guy. He managed to overcome his upbringing, which really had not been so bad. He da was a drunk, but he never hit the kids or his ma, unlike many on the streets. Shay did a good job, and did it with sense, going easy when it was called for and working hard to follow up on crime when necessary. It was a hard time, the early 70s when car bombs and other acts of violence were rampant on the streets of Dublin. The republicans and the government were at odds. It seemed to be a true depiction of those times for this one young man. It was more a slice of life than a plot with several smaller plots happening during the retelling. Emery did a wonderful job, bring this life to the people.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Fenian Street by ECW Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #ECWPress #AnneEmery #FenianStreet

Seamus 'Shay' Rynne is a young man who has grown up in the impoverished Fenian Street in Dublin. While he has perhaps wanted for many things a sense of community is not one.

Despite a republican background, Shay makes the decision to join the Garda where with his sympathies he will be very much in the minority. Soon Shay solves the murder of a childhood friend - a girl from the community, he makes a name for himself but also enemies among other officers. When a member of his own family is suspected of murder, Shay needs to clear their name. A task that takes him far from Fenian Street & Dublin to the streets of New York.

From larger than life characters, to locations, to the language this book really brought 1970s Dublin to life. Even my favourite Dublin haunt - Mulligans - got a mention.

A lot of Irish history in this one and though I am fairly well versed I picked up a few things I hadn’t known about. The tensions of the time are really well portrayed and the book has evidently been really well researched.

Probably coud have done with being slightly shorter but compelling and vivid read nontheless

Shay Rynne joins An Garda Síochána partly because he believes his friend Rosaleen’s death was a murder not an accident as the Garda had ruled. His other reason for joining is that, as a lad from the Corporation flats of Dublin, poor and with republican antecedents and sympathies, he is a rarity in the force, and determined to prove that he is as good as, if not better than, the usual class of recruit. In Dublin at that time, late 1960s and early 70s, there is significant prejudice against people of that background. Despite being looked down on by some of his fellow officers, he undertakes a private investigation of her death and proves his suspicions to be correct. This earns him praise and esteem from many but also an enemy in the shape of Sergeant McCleery who had botched the original investigation. He will prove a thorn in Shay’s side. Continuing to improve his reputation, Shay becomes involved in a much more complex murder investigation, with serious political overtones – but also with personal issues as his father is implicated. Part of this involves a visit, undercover, to New York, facilitated in part by Father Brennan Burke a friend who splits his time between, NY, Dublin and Rome and who has useful contacts. While this investigation proceeds slowly, over a couple of years, Shay continues with his normal police duties, much of which is influenced by the rising “Troubles” in Northern Ireland and their overspill into the UVF bombings in Dublin in the 70s. Will his persistence succeed in resolving this crime, removing any suspicion from his father, and possibly putting him in line for promotion?
This is the twelfth book in a series featuring Father Burke, but you wouldn’t know it from the story which is the perfectly set-up stand-alone tale of Shay and, by extension, life in the poorer parts of Dublin at the time and the political and social history of the Irish-British duality. The use of dialect and idiom is excellent (I can hear my Uncle Jim in every word of it) and is part of the enjoyment of the book. It is also, I think, the reason why there seems to be a lot of repetition and reiteration of the events – the characters are all loquacious (indeed Shay’s father’s nickname is ‘Talkie’). The actual mystery and the procedural elements are subservient to the wider ambience. I score this at 4.5 so 5 after rounding.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I have read and reviewed several of Anne Emery’s book on this blog. I have always found them enjoyable and interesting reads.

So I’ll start this review as I started the review of The Keening. “This book is both a good mystery novel and historical fiction.”

But this is very different, last time I meant 500 years ago as historic. This time historic is more like 50 years. And there is a mystery, well more than 1.

Much of the action takes place in 1970s Dublin. A young man from a poor family in public housing decides to become a policeman (Garda) to solve a mystery about the death of a childhood friend. And other mysteries come-up because of the job he took.

And there are also problems and conflicts on the job because of his background and Irish republican sympathies. A complicated and interesting story. I thank Netgalley for the chance to read Fenian Street by Anne Emery before publication.

The book is not out until Sept 13 but if you enjoy a good mystery, especially one set in Ireland, you might want to add this to your to-be-read list.

This is an intriguing and interesting procedural set in 1970s Dublin that moves to the US as well. Shay joins the Garda to find the truth about his friend's murder but then discovers so much more. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I’m a sucker for books set in Ireland, and this 60/70’s procedural scratched that itch for me! It was gritty and descriptive with well fleshed out characters. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

An excellent book set in the 60s/70s, an age so different that it could be on another planet. Dublin long ago, poverty, the Troubles.
The author did a good job in setting the book in this historical background.
A gripping, dark story, an interesting MC, plenty of twists.
It could be a bit shorted but it was a gripping read.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

True to the times in the late 60"s/early 70"s in Dublin with the troubles in Northern Ireland. Following the mysterious death of a friend Shay Rynne wants to join the Garda to discover what happened to her.
Once solved he is then in the midst of another murder, the investigation takes him around the Dublin Strrets and also the streets of New York.
I found this a long read but enjoyable nonetheless, Anne has encapsulated the tensions of the time.

I really enjoyed this book and I thank Netgalley and the Publisher for allowing me to read this story. The author used both factual people and events, as well as fictional people and events to tell this tale. I liked some of these characters very much and it helped me get a take of what was going on between Ireland and Britian in these sometimes violent times. Anne Emery, let you get to know all the main characters and you grew to love and understand them. It's hard to imagine that this was going on in the 70's, which was only 52 years ago. We still have murders gangs, bombings, the mob, wars, prostitution etc. So while things are different as far as technology and science, what happened in Ireland in the 70's, at least you knew who your enemy was. Now a days, it could be anyone. I give this story a 4 out of 5. I also love that this is written by a Canadian author.

Shay Rynne joins the Dublin police force in the early 70’s. Raised in a Corporation flat, he ran wild in his youth but dreamed of being a member of the Garda. His decision is met with mixed reaction: a family pride but also a suspicion among the neighbors. Being a local, he is looked down upon by his fellow officers. It is a time of violence in the North of Ireland that echoes through the counties of the South. Shay works hard to solve the death of a young woman from his neighborhood. He, in turn, investigates the death of a local politician. The two crimes are not related yet they are bound by his desire to help families find answers to their questions. Pursuing these answers leads him to work both Dublin and New York with the help of his friend, an Irish-born American priest. Anne Emery provides history for both cities along with many anecdotes and supporting characters. For this reader there are too many details and at times the plot takes detours that confuse and take away from the protagonist’s storyline.

Anne Emery has brightened my appetite (which was wavering) for reading again with this book.
There is nothing that I disliked about Fenian Street it was a true to life storyline set in Dublin, linked to New York mobsters and also included some of the troubles in Ireland in the 1970s.
Shay Rynne is an officer in Dublins’ Garda but having been brought up in the tenements where life was hard. He learned,to secretly sympathise with the IRA - obviously not a trait shared by his fellow workers.
There are so many aspects of life at that time including murder, bombings, spies, suffering, threats, prostitution, political strife and loyalty.
I recommend you read this with an open mind and make of it as you will but I can assure you it is well worth your time.

I am not Irish but I married into an Irish family with branches in the north and south of the beautiful, tragic island of Ireland and to this reader Fenian Street is told with a wholly authentic Irish voice. The characters, both real and imagined, are well described and easy to identify and empathise with or to rail against, depending on your perspective. The lead characters are wonderfully drawn with depth and detail. The various elements that make up the book - history, politics, murder, gangsterism and associated shenanigans - are superbly well mixed and well balanced to provide a very rewarding read. The murder mystery which provides the spine of this complex book turns into a real “who dunnit” and the denouement is both clever and credible. Highly recommended.

Took me a while to get into this book, but in the end really enjoyed it. An interesting read although dark at times. It feels like a story that is true to it's time and events that happened.

Thanks to Netgalley the author and publisher for allowing me to read this

Seamus ‘Shay’ Rynne was born and brought up in Fenian Street, Dublin, the wrong side of the tracks for someone who wants to join the Garda Siochana. But when the death of a childhood friend is deemed to be accidental he knows he needs to get justice for her.

This is an interesting mix of Dublin in the ‘70s, how religion was tearing communities apart and how there are events that happen that do really change lives. At times this came over as a dark, almost depressing read, but it felt so authentic the author could have lived through it all. The sense of camaraderie between the main characters comes across very well and whatever side you come down on, it makes for a thought provoking read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I decided I wanted a change of book and the title of this caught my eye. It starts off when he is a young lad in 70’s Ireland and after the death of his friend he decides to join the garda and find out who killed her. He wants to help the victims of poverty of which he himself was raised and ends up entangled with the Irish Mafia in New York.
Thank you to Netgalley & Anne Emery for the advanced copy of this book. Also for the memories of iced caramels.