OXFORD author Olivia Kiernan’s latest crime novel, which features a female detective, is winning positive reviews.

The Killer in Me, published by Quercus imprint riverrun, is the author’s second novel to feature Detective Chief Superintendent Frankie Sheehan.

Ms Kiernan was born and raised in County Meath, just north of Dublin near the famous heritage town of Kells.

Now she lives in Oxford with her husband Matthew Alden, who runs historic butchers Aldens, and daughter Grace.

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The Killer in Me, which follows the author’s debut Too Close to Breathe, is set in Clontarf, a Dublin suburb, and The Irish Times has led positive reaction by describing the author as the ‘heir to Tana French’s throne’.

In the latest tale DCS Sheehan is called when two mutilated corpses are discovered in a church.

Oxford Mail:

Meanwhile, a 17-year-old case is playing out on a TV documentary, the convicted professing his innocence.

DCS Sheehan’s superior, Commissioner Donna Hegarty, makes no bones about who she expects to clean things up – both in terms of past mistakes and the latest murders.

The author told crime fiction blog Crime Files she always felt ‘slightly conflicted’ referring to her character, DCS Frankie Sheehan, as a ‘strong female character’.

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She added: “When I sat down to write Frankie, she presented as tough certainly and I knew she had resources of strength within her that I was surely lacking but ultimately I felt she reflected many of the traits I see in the women I know.

“When I wrote my first novel, Too Close to Breathe, Ireland’s first female Garda Commissioner had just been appointed so it really wasn’t a reach, in any way, to give Frankie a high-ranking role within the Gardai and make her successful with it.”

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Ms Kiernan added: “I worked as a chiropractor for years.

“It’s a physically demanding job but still I don’t recall a day I approached my work as a ‘female’.

“I approached it as I was trained and this is how I expect Frankie comes at her work.

“She’s a determined, skilled and dedicated detective who has her weakness, as all of us do.”

The Killer in Me is published by riverrun, price £18.99.