Owen Keane is the protagonist of Terence Faherty’s Owen Keane Mystery series. A man who dropped out of the seminary and never quite found his place in ordinary life, Keane channels his restlessness into investigating mysteries both criminal and existential. The New York Times called him a “metaphysical detective,” while the Philadelphia Inquirer named him one of the “freshest, most appealing figures in crime fiction.”
Keane’s cases often take him to small towns and forgotten corners of the American landscape, where he uncovers secrets that connect to larger questions about faith, loss, and human nature. His seminary training gives him an unusual perspective on the people he encounters, and his inability to leave a mystery unsolved borders on compulsion.
The series began with Deadstick (1991), which was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and continued through seven more novels to Eastward in Eden (2013). Keane also appears in several short stories collected in The Confessions of Owen Keane (2005).
Reading Order
See the complete Owen Keane Mystery reading order for all books in the series.