The first of four Kavanagh stories. It sets the stage, defines the Kavanagh family and tells of a troubled land and an equally troubled romance amid war and treachery. Time span: 1916 to 1924 in Dublin, County Cork and Northern Ireland. Major events: Easter Rising, Secret War, War of Independence, the Civil War. This last is little known and less explored, especially through the eyes of a soldier on the losing side. The main character, Danny Kavanagh, escapes Dublin in 1916 only to become one of the Twelve Apostles, that squad of executioners Michael Collins used to shut the spying eyes in Dublin Castle. As a soldier he is haunted, nearly driven mad, by what he has done, what he cannot do, yet still hold onto that deathless dream of a united Ireland. He pays the price, finally, as an exile and IRA emissary in North America. Anyone interested in high-speed historical fiction will find A Few Men Faithful to their liking.

In 2018, peace, possibly fair possibly lasting, is getting far too close, too real, for the hardliners on both sides in Northern Ireland. Shooter in a Plague Year, the third Irish historical novel in the Kavanagh saga, describes one possible outcome, a nightmare scenario that completes the gory chapters of the past. What happens if the moderates are eliminated? What happens if the New IRA, just formed on one hand, and the shadowy Core Command on the other, finally square off to determine who owns Ulster, all of it? Both claim the Red Hand of Ulster as their symbol; both claim nationalism as their own high ground. Each is as devious and secretive as the other. Who's marked for death? By whom? Why? Shooter in a Plague Year follows the twists and turns, machinations and prejudices, of these paramilitary groups as they finalize the 800 year old war in the North. High tech weapons are at the forefront; ancient hatreds are the bedrock.