September 5, 2022
Carter’s well-crafted fifth Inishowen mystery (after 2018’s Murder at Greysbridge) finds lawyer Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe returning home to Glendara, Ireland, the day before a charity bicycle race. Money is to be raised for assisted living residences managed by Bob Jameson, the altruistic race organizer. Unfortunately, torrential rains wash out bridges, and streams overflow their banks, inundating the town and cutting it off from all outside access. The cyclists, along with the townsfolk, are trapped, and the race is postponed. Much worse, Jameson’s body is discovered when the storm dislodges it from its perch on an unlikely hillside and it rolls onto the hood of a passing car. Everyone is stunned and alarmed, and everyone is a suspect. With scant resources, Ben and police sergeant Tom Molloy, her laconic but sincere on-again, off-again beau, work together to unknot a baffling tangle of business and personal relationships that tie residents of Glendara to the Jameson family. Carter keeps the suspense high en route to the exciting climax. Fans of Gerald Elias’s Daniel Jacobus series will want to check this out. Agent: Noa Rosen, Susanna Lea Assoc.
October 15, 2022
When solicitor Benedicta ""Ben"" O'Keeffe returns from a stint working in the U.S., she is thrilled to be home in tiny Inishowen, Ireland, with her law practice and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, police sergeant Tom Molloy. But the day she arrives home, it begins to rain and doesn't stop for days. Roads are flooded, bridges collapse, villagers are left homeless, and Inishowen quickly becomes isolated, which means that the group of cyclists staying in the village before a charity ride can't leave. Then, late one night, Ben receives a frantic call from a veterinarian friend, terrified because a dead body fell on her car while she was driving on a remote road. The victim is Bob Jameson, a wealthy philanthropist who's sponsoring the charity bike ride. It looks like murder, but who would want to kill Jameson? With Tom overstretched due to the flooding, Ben pitches in to help investigate, quickly learning that Jameson was a truly terrible man, his "charitable work" notwithstanding. Combining elements of the locked-room mystery with those of a village cozy, Carter offers a tale that is both charming and surprisingly complex.
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September 1, 2022
In the fifth mystery featuring Irish solicitor Benedicta "Ben" O'Keeffe (after Murder at Greysbridge), Ben has just returned to the Inishowen Peninsula after spending six months at a Miami law firm. When she heads to her office in Glendara, she sees the town square filled with cyclists who are there for a charity bike race the next day. Before the cyclists can start, a torrential rainstorm causes the race to be postponed. While residents are trying to protect their property from rising water, tempers flare among some of the race participants. Things come to a head when the body of the organizer of the event falls from a mountain ledge and lands on a car driven by one of Ben's friends. With roads and bridges impassable, the peninsula becomes cut off from the mainland. No one can leave to get help, so Ben and her friends must work with the local police to stop another murder from occurring. VERDICT The weather, as an additional character in the plot, is very effective. Though part of a series, this book can be read as a stand-alone. Recommended for fans of Carlene O'Connor and the "County Cork" series by Sheila Connolly.--Jean King
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