It was a macabre ending for an unjust judge: his throat slit by a sharp knife; his body stuffed into a lobster pot and left beneath a powerful jet of water shooting up through the cliffs from the turbulent Atlantic. When Mara, Brehon of the nearby kingdom of the Burren, comes to investigate, she knows that her first suspects have to be the five young men who had received such savage sentences for minor crimes.

In 1510 Ireland, a great feast is being held. Into a crowd listening to the story of Balor, the one-eyed god, come two strangers. The younger of the two, Iarla, bears a letter that claims that the wealthy Ardal O'Lochlainn is his true father, which Ardal vociferously denies. So when Iarla is found dead, with one eye missing, some think he was killed by the god--but most suspect Ardal. Mara, the Brehon--or lawgiver--of the Burren, is called to investigate....

When fire destroys an important relic in Kilnaboy Church and then the pilgrim who confessed to the crime is murdered, Mara and her law students set out to discover how he was killed and the murderer's identity.

A festive celebration turns into a fight for survival when Mara and her clan come under attack... Christmas 1519 is the twentieth anniversary of King Turlough Donn's reign over the three kingdoms of Thomond, Corcomroe, and Burren, so Mara and her scholars are spending the festive period in her husband's principal court, the castle of Bunratty in Thomond. However, in the midst of celebrations, the Brehon of Thomond is found dead, slumped across a table...

When Mara, Brehon of the Burren, is summoned to the sandy beach of Fanore, on the western fringe of the kingdom of the Burren, she sees a sight that she has never witnessed before during her thirty years as law-enforcer and investigating magistrate: a dead man lying in a boat with no oars. Immediately her scholars jump to the conclusion that the man has been found guilty of kin-murder. The Brehon sentence for this worst of all crimes is that the murderer...

June, 1510: the Burren, west coast of Ireland - Upon going unexpectedly into an early labour, Mara is alerted to the disappearance of Malachy, the local physician. Mystery follows birth, as shortly after the entrance of her son into the world the body of Malachy is discovered. But who stands to profit from this death and who therefore are Mara's lead suspects? For starters there is Malachy's new wife and her two sons, not to mention the very daughter...