Summary

The prologue opens in December of 1957, in the small town of Ballyglass, Ireland. It is night, and a Catholic priest named Tom Lawless is being pursued through a large house. As he nears the house’s library room, someone attacks him with a sharp object.

Chapter 1 takes place a day later. Detective Inspector St. John (pronounced “Sinjun”) Strafford has been sent from Dublin to investigator the murder of Tom Lawless. Strafford is Protestant, making him a minority among the Irish Catholics. The building in which the murder took place is called Ballyglass House, and the wealthy family that lives there is named Osborne. The Osbornes are also Protestant. The eldest member of the family is war veteran Colonel Geoffrey Osborne.

In Chapter 2, Strafford’s partner—Sergeant Ambrose “Ambie” Jenkins—arrives. His most distinctive physical feature is that the top of his head is...