Malory Fleet's son was killed by bikers and now she's worried about his missing girlfriend, Amanda. But that case was closed shut by the police a year ago and Frank Cain, the private investigator she's hired, is reluctant to take it on. On the sometimes seedy streets of uptown Saint John, no one wants to talk, even fewer have anything to say, and the police have cast a blanket of fog over everything. As Frank searches fruitlessly for clues, he learns more about Malory than about Amanda, and begins to grow wary. Throughout, Detective Stuart Boucher is following Frank and making little effort to hide it, leading Cain to conclude that the officer may have more to do with the case than he's letting on. For Frank Cain, as unmoored as a lost ship in the harbour, in unravelling this case he risks unravelling himself.

Saints Rest is a neo-noir novella set in a gritty and unforgiving Saint John, a town where few people are prepared for its secrets, least of all Frank Cain.

Luke Francis Beirne's profile page

Luke Francis Beirne was born in Donegal, Ireland, and lives on the Wolastoqey land of Saint John, New Brunswick. His first novel, Foxhunt (Baraka Books, 2022), was a finalist for the 2022 Foreword INDIES award and selected as one of The Miramichi Reader's Very Best novels of 2022. His second novel, Blacklion (Baraka Books, 2023), was selected by CBC as one of the novels to read in 2023 and shortlisted by the Writer's Federation of New Brunswick for the 2023 Best Novel Award. His stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in Counterpunch, NB Media Co-op, Hamilton Arts & Letters, and CrimeReads. Beirne's work has been stylistically compared to Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Frederick Forsyth, and John le Carré. Saints Rest is his third novel.

"The writing in Saints Rest, a neo-noir set in Saint John, is some of the very best prose about this port city ever written. (. . .) Beirne's skill is taking the hard boiled and pulpy and making it literary. His writing evokes the greats, while delivering the page turning thrills of a bestseller. Saints Rest is utterly essential and at this early stage already a contender for one of the best of the year." James Mullinger, Co-founder and editor of [EDIT] magazine, The Voice of Atlantic Canada.

About Blacklion

"Mr. Beirne's writing is good, really good . . . I used to read a lot of Frederick Forsyth, and Blacklion very much recalls the type of story Mr. Forsyth would spin. Recommended, along with Foxhunt." James Fisher, The Miramichi Reader

"Highly atmospheric . . . very cinematic?" Colleen Kitts-Goguen, CBC

"Luke Francis Beirne's first novel Foxhunt was a beautifully written slow burn of a literary intrigue novel, and his second novel Blacklion is just as intensely readable."All Lit Up

"The strength of Beirne's writing lies in a . . . believable portrayal of basic human emotions: trust/distrust, love/hate, violence/the longing for a normal life. . . Beirne achieves a certain Hemingway quality for his protagonist and associates . . . a fine effort in a genre where the bar has been set extremely high by le Carre, Greene, Deighton, and others." Ian Thomas Shaw, The Ottawa Review of Books

AboutFoxhunt

"[Foxhunt is] a cold-war thriller rather like early le Carré. . . . eerily pertinent given recent news . . . — Simon Lavery, Tredynas Days

"[A] brilliant young writer." David Adams Richards

"With its beautifully lyrical prose, Foxhunt is an alchemic mix of realpolitik and shadowy noir." Mark Anthony Jarman

"Foxhunt is wonderfully written and, as already mentioned, is a slow-to-medium-paced read. Hence, it is the type of novel I enjoy reading. Foxhunt is also a very cerebral and well-placed story within the historical context of the beginnings of the Cold War. I highly recommend Foxhunt as a noir-ish literary mystery-intrigue novel." James Fisher, The Miramichi Reader

"Against a seamless historical and literary backdrop, Foxhuntbalances compelling intrigue with vulnerable human emotions." Meg Nola, Foreword Reviews (March-April 2022)