tom o. keenan
Tom O. Keenan is a writer living in Morar on the west coast of Scotland. His debut novel The Father was shortlisted for the prestigious Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger award in 2014 and published by McNidder and Grace in 2015. The Family, the second book in the Sean Rooney, Psychosleuth series was released in September 2019, and the third, The Son came out in April 2020, all published by McNidder & Grace (www.http://www.mcnidderandgrace.com). The Castle, the prequal to The Father, which is informed by Tom's years working in psychiatric hospitals, will be released by McNidder & Grace in March 2023. The Castle will complete the Sean Rooney Psychosleuth Series which will comprise The Castle, The Father, The Family and The Son.
The Father, the original (1st Edition),
published by
McNidder and Grace in 2015
Shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger in 2014
The Father
A brand new version (2nd Edition) of The Father!
Set in Glasgow, The Father is the critically acclaimed debut novel of Tom O. Keenan and the first in the series of crime thrillers featuring troubled psycho-sleuth, Sean Rooney. The Father was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger in 2014. Mental illness, alcohol abuse, and the tedium of pursuing psychopaths, leave Sean Rooney a pathetic man, a failed forensic profiler, a bit of a loser and definitely retired. DCI Jacqueline Kaminski, however, has other ideas. Faced with a multiple murder - and some headless corpses - she needs Rooney back on the case. If you like dark psychological thrillers, this book is for you.
'A wonderful and gritty debut novel.' Torquil MacLeod
'Scottish noir at its best.' The Crack
'Excellent dark, disturbing and very compelling, with a hard literary edge that serves the tale and the characters extremely well.' Liz Wilkins, Liz Loves Books
The Father is a powerful, well written story that doesn't shy away from facing difficult issues, first and foremost is Rooney and his problems. He's a total screw-up and drinks to excess. From a talented writer.' Crime Fiction Lover.
The Family, the second book in the Sean Rooney Psychosleuth Series, published in October 2019 by McNidder and Grace.
In Glasgow, the mob is one. The Family, a collective of twelve heavy crime families, has formed to fight the influx of migrant gangs. Glasgow has a new menace, an ISIS cell has arrived and kidnapped a police officer. The Family has eyes and ears on the streets, and Police Scotland need it to find the cell and save the police officer. Sean Rooney, erstwhile forensic profiler, now Father of the Family is pivotal in all of this. Suffering mental illness with godly delusions, can he employ his ‘twelve disciples’ and save the police officer and the city against ISIS, now increasing in strength with an influx of soldiers arriving with migrant gangs and asylum seekers into the city?
'Keenan takes the reader down some ill-trod pathways. This is as far from formlaic crime as it's possible to get.'
Cafe Thinking
Sean Rooney, psychosleuth, and his wife, former DCI Jackie Kamimski, move to the Highlands of Scotland to escape the past, but has the past caught up with them, when their young son Calum is tragically murdered?
Set in the North of Scotland in the village of Storaig where murder is unheard of but superstition and the supernatural thrive.
When the formal police investigation is shown to be fatally flawed, Rooney decides to pursue his son's killer. His search takes him back to Glasgow where as a crime lord, known as the Father he made many enemies.
The plot is slick, the pursuit tortuous, and the payoff terrifying.
The Castle
To be published and released by McNidder & Grace in March 2023.
Prior to his pursuit of ‘the Father’, Sean Rooney, psychologist and erstwhile psychosleuth, spent nine formative months as a trainee in Hillwood Mental Hospital, aka, The Castle.
In The Castle, long term patients are mysteriously and suspiciously killing themselves. Rooney forms a self help patient group to investigate the mysterious deaths.
The Castle has many secrets some going back for over one hundred years. Rooney has a particular reason for choosing the Castle as his placement, posing a question: Is he there to meet his own needs or that of the patients?
The hospital management team consider suicide in large mental hospitals as coming ‘with the turf’, but Rooney doesn’t agree and after ‘going overcover’, believes there is more to these suicides, which have one common feature, after many years in hospital, they were all considered for ‘care in the community’.
The Castle doesn’t give up its secrets easily, however, whether they be historical, criminal, or supernatural. It takes a group of likeminded patients to discover what is really going on in The Castle.
So, what do a psychotic scientist, a depressed philosopher, a delusional vigilante, a dope-head crime writer, an autistic arsonist, a wannabe detective, and a bipolar psychologist, all have in common? They all want to find out who or what is killing the patients of The Castle.
Killing the Father is a classic crime thriller set in Gangland Glasgow. The Family, a collective of crime families, led by an unknown Father figure, carries out a series of murders. Two key suspects emerge: one, a previous Glasgow Godfather who became a celebrity author and the other, a Glasgow University professor with an interest in urban conflict. John Murphy, erstwhile psychosleuth, is ‘encouraged’ out of health retirement by his ex-wife, DCI Paula McInnes, who heads the investigation into the murders. They pursue this man who manipulates the Glasgow mob to do his killing. The kidnapping of a local PC and the threat of his murder brings together the mob and official forces, police and MI5, and politicians, national and local, to save his life. Can any of these bodies be trusted, however, where greed and a desire of power override an ordinary police officer’s right to survive?
Killing the Father is about power, the use and abuse of power, in one of the most incendiary cities in the world. The converging, evolving and shocking unexpected plot lines drive the novel in a breathless pursuit, delving into the depths of the human experience and psyche, towards a conclusion guaranteed to both shock and surprise.
Send Tom a message or sign up to his newsletter to find out more about his books, get exclusive updates about new releases, and find out where to see or meet him.
Cross Cottage,
Morar, Scotland, PH40 4PD
07788114700