Emery, Anne

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Emery, Anne

PERSONAL:

Married; children: one daughter. Education: Graduated from St. Francis Xavier University and Dalhousie Law School. Hobbies and other interests: Music, philosophy, architecture, travel, and Irish history.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

CAREER:

Writer. Worked variously as a lawyer, legal affairs reporter, and researcher.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel for Sign of the Cross, 2007.

WRITINGS:

"MONTY COLLINS’ MYSTERY SERIES

Sign of the Cross, ECW Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2006.

Obit, ECW Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2007.

Barrington Street Blues, ECW Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 2008.

SIDELIGHTS:

Anne Emery is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where she lives with her husband and daughter. Her interests include listening to music, philosophy, architecture, traveling, and Irish history. Emery graduated from St. Francis Xavier University and later from Dalhousie Law School, and worked in various jobs, including as a lawyer, a researcher, and a legal affairs reporter, before she eventually began writing novels. Emery's first published book, a mystery titled Sign of the Cross, was released in 2006, and the following year it won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel. The book mines Emery's education and experience as a lawyer in the form of hero Monty Collins, a defense attorney who finds himself struggling with a career-defining case when a priest is accused of murder and Monty ends up defending him. Ultimately, Monty also needs to investigate the priest, who proves to be uncooperative in his own defense and reluctant to give Monty any information that he might use to exonerate him. Naturally Monty's investigation leads to even more trouble. David Pitt, reviewing Sign of the Cross for Booklist, acknowledged that the plot and Monty himself are not precisely original, however he noted that ‘the unfamiliar locale freshens up the story considerably.’ He also concluded of Monty: ‘We like spending time with him.’ Emery's follow-up novel proves to be a sequel, indicating that Monty Collins will be enjoying his own mystery series. In Obit, Monty returns with another mystery, though at first it appears he is merely finishing up his service to Father Brennan Burke, the accused priest of the previous book. Father Burke has Monty helping him delve into his family history, which serves to uncover a past connection to the IRA. Burke receives a mysterious obituary, clipped from a New York newspaper just before he and Monty are scheduled to travel to the Big Apple for the wedding of Burke's niece. However, it is Burke's father, Declan, who sees the clipping as a threat, and who ultimately is shot while the family is in New York. Monty faces family issues of his own, and Burke works with his own family members to uncover the truth about his father. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called the book a ‘vivid story of past political intrigue,’ and praised Emery for her use of a ‘surprising conclusion.’ Emery continues her mystery series starring Monty Collins with Barrington Street Blues.