4.5 stars!

Death Writes is the sixth entry in Andrea Carter’s Inishowen Mysteries series. Recurring central characters Benedicta (Ben) O’Keefe, local solicitor in Glendara town, and her boyfriend Molloy, a Garda sergeant, are back. The sudden death of a local author during a live interview sets Molloy to work, while Ben is distracted by issues involving her aging parents in Dublin.
Told in first person POV by Ben, the story is immersive in the Garda’s investigation as well as the personal emotional drama as Ben tries to sort out her parents’ exploitation by a fraudster.
The writing is excellent, and the prose highly descriptive—“The sea was a greenish blue, the wind making white horses of the waves offshore”—and atmospheric. The rather complicated mystery is written and detailed as a very good police as well as legal procedural. In the end, family matters, and the author deftly explores a real-life aging parent-adult child relationship with understanding and sensitivity.
While this is sixth in a series, the novel can be read as a stand-alone, although reading the books in order provide a satisfying saga of life in contemporary County Donegal, Ireland.
I look forward to more mysteries by this gifted writer set on the enticing Inishowen peninsula.

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Strongly recommend this novel. Interesting plot, well written. The topic of elder abuse is enlightening, and the parents are endearing. Thank you to NetGalleyfor the ARC.

This was a quick and enjoyable read, feeling a lot like a police investigation even though the main character is only an amateur sleuth. This is the first book I have read in the “Inishowen Mystery Series.”

Benedicta O’Keeffe is a solicitor in the fictional town of Inishowen, County Donegal Ireland. Her on-again, off-again boyfriend Molloy is, in fact, a police officer, but this appears to be an off-again period in their relationship though they do partner up as the mystery progresses.

The book really includes two mysteries. When Ben and Molloy travel to visit Ben’s parents they discover that an odd individual, Stuart Chambers, is living as a member of Ben’s parents’ home—something that Ben had never known about and her parents were not forthcoming with information. Then Chambers abruptly moves out and disappears. Who is this guy? What is going on? Is something shady happening that Ben’s parents are trying to hide? Ben is determined to find out.

Then the scene moves back to Inishowen where the community is preparing for a huge festival focusing on authors, books, and writing. The huge news is that a reclusive author who just happens to live in Inishowen is to be the main speaker. Gavin Featherstone, winner of the Man Booker Prize, is coming to speak—something he has not done in decades. Then as he is speaking on stage at the keynote event of the festival, Featherstone drops dead. This begins the central mystery of the book. Slowly, Ben and Molloy follow the clues to solve this mystery.

This was a very enjoyable read, though at times it felt as though the author was more interested in focusing on the town and its residents than the two mysteries of the book. For me, that tended to slow the book down. This was especially trough of the first third of the book. As the investigation began to unwind the threads of the murder, it more fully captured my attention.

Though this was the sixth book in the Inishowen Mystery Series, it was the first I have read. It took a bit to come up to speed with the characters, but not much more that most mystery books. By and large, it read fine as a standalone novel. I enjoyed reading it, though it does not stand out as the best I have read this year.

Death Writes by Andrea Carter

When solicitor Benedicta “Ben” O’Keefe gets a phone call from her parents’ neighbor, neither she nor her boyfriend, Garda sergeant Tom Molloy, hesitates to jump in the car and make the multi-hour drive to Dublin from where they live in Glendara. Pat Barnes had waffled over calling Ben, but had grown increasingly concerned at the surprisingly large number of people coming to stay in Ben’s three-bedroom childhood home. More importantly, neither of Ben’s elderly parents seemed entirely comfortable with the arrangement, prompting Pat to reach out to the person he thought most capable of helping.

Ben is relieved to find that her parents seem to be in no immediate danger, and that their many guests seemed to have cleared out even before Pat called. But their tenant Stuart Chambers gives off strange vibes that leave Ben feeling distinctly uncomfortable. When he takes off shortly after Ben and Molloy show up, the O’Keefes are all dismayed, though for very different reasons.

In an effort to distract her parents from dwelling on the strange events, Ben invites them up to Glendara to visit her new home. Though her relationship with her parents has been strained since the death of her sister, she still worries and cares deeply about them. Her feelings are underscored by her recent stint abroad:

QUOTE
I looked at them now, standing side by side to watch a set of double sculls slice through the water, while a man cycled along the path calling out instructions. There had been little conversation since we’d left[.] I wasn’t sure what to say. The adult child’s need to protect older parents was so much harder to manage, the need to balance it with a respect for independence, autonomy and agency. While I’d been in Florida, I’d worked in elder law and saw how difficult a line that was to tread, even for those whose motivations were pure.
END QUOTE

Fortunately, the older O’Keefes are charmed by Glendara. Ben’s concerns at being able to keep them close while Molloy uses his contacts in the Garda to investigate Chambers are alleviated further by the announcement of Glenfest, their town’s annual literary festival. The organizers have managed the coup of booking prize-winning author Gavin Featherstone to headline. He’d been a recluse in recent years – so much so that Ben hadn’t even realized he lived nearby – but has a memoir forthcoming, to the delight of both his publishing house and his fans. Ben’s mom is one of these latter, and is more than happy to stay in town in anticipation of seeing one of her favorite authors in person.

So it’s a terrible shock when Featherstone drops dead right as he’s about to publicly read an excerpt from his memoir. As one of the small town’s two solicitors, Ben isn’t entirely surprised to discover soon after that she’s inherited legal custody of his will from her predecessor. But when Molloy confides in her that the Garda suspect foul play, things take a darker turn, even before an alternate will surfaces. With rival heirs coming out of the woodwork, bringing Featherstone’s deepest secrets into the light with them, Ben will have to sort out whether any of them had revoked the very wills they’re championing. Murderers are legally barred from inheriting from their victims, after all.

This sixth installment of the Inishowen Mysteries showcases author Andrea Carter’s deft hand with multiple plot threads and entirely believable red herrings, as Ben has to apply her sharp legal mind to figuring out who will really inherit the famous author’s estate:

QUOTE
I thought back over the recording I’d watched with Molloy, and the strange way in which Featherstone had answered some of [his interviewer]’s questions. Then he’d been about to read from his new book, the memoir. I stopped. Hang on. <i>A memoir</i>. Was there something in that? [...]

Suddenly I felt that tiny give, like the loosening of a jar you’re trying to open. That feeling you get when you’re defending someone and you spot a tiny inconsistency in a prosecution statement that shows a witness is lying about something insignificant. And if they’re lying about that, what else are they lying about?
END QUOTE

Ben’s relationship with Molloy continues to merge their professional and personal lives, encountering obstacles that they tackle together like competent, if admittedly occasionally prickly, adults. The subplot involving her parents was also really well done, as the somewhat estranged family feels their way towards healing the rift that once kept them so far apart. Some of the pacing is a little odd, but overall this is a thoughtful, entertaining look at modern Irish families, small towns and crime that’s well worth a read.

Workaholics Ben and Tom, two of Glendara's few residents, are on the trail of murder and gaslighting and elder abuse this time. I know the publisher insists these can be read as stand-alones, but they shouldn't be; there's too much texture in this weave to be fully experiencedin one small patch. That said, starting here won't leave you befuddled and confused. Just feeling like you're missing something, because you are.

The family dramas in this entry in the series are parallel: Reclusive writer in the clutches of manipulative "assistant" (about whom there is A Mystery) makes a bookend for Ben's parents' mysterious, controlling-in-a-quiet-way "lodger" (about whom there is No Mystery); the fact is, I see things like these plots delineate a lot here in my assisted living facility on a much lower-stakes scale. I was completely wrapped up in this story, these stories really, from giddy-up to whoa. The issues couldn't be more timely: using the loneliness and vulnerability of the older people who steadily make up more and more of the population for material gain. I really fail to see the problem, as I suspect I'm supposed to, in the case of a caretaker benefiting from the cared-for person's generosity. The less unclear issue is the dreadful misuse of the grief felt by parents whose children have died. This is truly beyond the pale to my mind, to manipulate these miserable, bereft souls for profit.

The stories are very much up to Author Carter's standards of immersiveness and detail-oriented storytelling. There are clues everywhere, and they aren't there by accident despite appearances (well done you, Author Carter!). What you got before, you'll get again, along with Ben and Tom doing their awkward best to screw up their relationship. The Garda are doing their bit, with Tom being promoted away from Glendara again, maybe. These two are very well-suited but they're also rubbish at relationships. In Ben's case, it's old traumas that lots and lots of therapy (which she isn't seeking) would be pressed hard to reduce the symptoms of; in Tom's, he's an Irish man (see previous parenthetical).

This being the sort of real-life drama that makes the factually very unusual occurrence of murder slide down easier. Very few of us ever come into contact with murder, but all of us relate experientially to relationship angst. The side characters, like this book's featured person Phyllis the bookshop owner, are more than props. The reason to read the series in order is exactly so that Phyllis will be building on her previous life, not just doing her bit for the plot of this story by arranging the book festival that we've never heard of before. That kind of grace note, that Phyllis is very much the kind of organizing, managing, busybusybusy person who absolutely *would* arrange a book festival, get national attention for it, and somehow also land up with a murder case during it, and your credulity would not feel even the slightest strain. The good people of Glendara, on the Inishowen peninsula, in the far north of the Republic of Ireland, are presented to us over the course of six books and counting, ready to enfold our attention and reward it with just the right level of domestic drama.

Death Writes is the sixth book in the Inishowen series by Andrea Carter, scheduled for release by Oceanview on 5 December, 2023. While part of a series, I had no trouble following the thread of the main characters reading this book as a stand-alone.

The story opens with solicitor Benedicta O’Keeffe and her sometime boyfriend Tom Molloy racing to Dublin to check on her parents. Ben was alarmed to learn from her parents’ neighbor that several strangers had moved into their home. The landline in the house and the cell phones of her parents all roll over to voicemail. Ben is panic-stricken. Upon arrival, they find her parents are fine but they have taken in a boarder who makes both Ben and Molloy uneasy. The boarder seems worried when he learns Molloy is with the police and disappears overnight to Ben’s relief and her parents’ distress. She coaxes them to stay with her for a week or so, using the upcoming literary festival in her town of Glendara in County Donegal as enticement. Her mother is especially interested, considering her favorite writer, the reclusive author Gavin Featherstone, will be appearing.

Featherstone has been living in a mansion on the Inishowen Peninsula for years but doesn’t mingle with the townfolk. His assistant manages the house for him while Featherstone writes. Rumors of a memoir have renewed interest in the youngest ever Booker Prize winner, and the regional festival is now getting mentioned in the major media outlets.

The event tent is packed and the interview with Featherstone has gone well. Featherstone pulls a few pages from his pocket to read from his upcoming book and he suddenly begins to falter and then collapses on the stage. He’s taken to the local hospital where he dies. His death does not look natural and the police are called in from the start.

Then Ben’s secretary finds a will for Featherstone drafted by the solicitor for whom Ben took over, leaving everything to his estranged wife and children. She is beginning probate when Featherstone’s assistant produces a will leaving the entire estate to him. Two conflicting wills, a questionable death, a secretary about to go on maternity leave, and ongoing worry about the safety of her parents keep Ben O’Keeffe full occupied.

A well-written mystery with an interesting main character, consistent momentum, nicely ambiguous back stories for the suspect pool, and a credible last-minute surprise. For fans of traditional mysteries, mysteries set in Ireland, and women sleuths.

Death Writes by Andrea Carter #ninetysecondbookof2023 #arc

This is the sixth book in the Inishowen Mystery series. I reviewed book four a couple years ago and somehow missed book five. I never did go back and read the first books as I said I would but these truly are standalone books and I enjoyed this one without needing more backstory.

This novel has our solicitor Ben O’Keeffe attending a local literary festival in which the formerly reclusive keynote speaker falls ill on stage and dies. Ben gets involved to help solve the crime alongside her police inspector boyfriend. It also includes a B story about her parents falling under the spell of a con artist who is exploiting their grief over the death of their younger daughter.

I enjoyed this story a lot (books about books!) and it was a quick easy read. I enjoyed learning more about Ben’s law practice and the Irish setting. I really should go back to read the installments that I’ve missed. This is a nice solid series that I seem to stumble upon but I’ve enjoyed each one I’ve read. Since my local library has all the previous books, I really have no excuse.

Thank you to @netgalley and @oceanviewpub for the advance copy. (Pub date 12/5/23) #inishowenmystery #deathwrites

In this 6th Inishowen Mystery to feature Solicitor Benedicta "Ben" O'Keeffe, Ben has received news that there are strangers living in her parents' home in Dublin. By the time Ben and her boyfriend, Sargent Tom Molloy, arrive only one man is still living there. He has been living there for a time. When the man learns that Tom is a police officer he takes off. Ben concerned about this situation talks her parents into coming to stay with her. Tom uncomfortable about the man who had living with Ben's parents decides to look into him.

Back in Glendarda preparations are going on for Glenfest, a literary festival. Gavin Featherstone, a noted reclusive author, has agreed to be the keynote speaker. No sooner does he begin to read, he collapses. The death is ruled a murder. Ben has his will, but his assistant shows up with a will dated later with different people inheriting. Ben and Tom find themselves working together to find who killed Featherstone.

The author has created an intriguing mystery, with twists and revelations. The characters are well drawn out and the description of the locale adds to the atmosphere. Andrea Carter delves into how easy it is for some unscrupulous individuals to take advantage of the elderly. This is a great addition to this well written series. I highly recommend. This can be read as a standalone, but I recommend starting with the first to get to know Ben and Tom better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Oceanview Publishing, for an ARC. The review is my own.

Death Writes by Andrea Carter is the sixth in the Inishowen Mystery series with more layers to it than merely a mystery. The Irish small town coastal setting is beguiling, the main characters quirky and the snippets of romance just enough to intrigue. Secrets and deceptions abound as they are wont to do .

Benedicta (Ben) is a lawyer who also unofficially investigates crimes with her boyfriend and police officer, Tom. This time we learn more about Ben's gullible parents who are preyed upon and taken advantage of in their own home. But the happenings also bring them and their daughter closer geographically and emotionally. Meanwhile, when author Gavin Featherstone makes an appearance at the local book festival, he is interviewed...then hushed up forever. He was about to make unwanted life-shattering revelations.

Though the murder is threaded with red herrings, it is not a difficult whodunit. The family dynamics and setting are what grabbed my attention the most. Returning to the series is like having tea with friends. I like that the series is mostly cozy with a few non=cozy elements.

My sincere thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this delightful novel. I am curious to see what is in store for this crime-solving duo.

Death Writes shows the love children have for their parents. The situation here seems unlikely, but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. The parents meet the bad guy in a support group where he is posing as someone who lost a wife and child. He needs a place to stay, so the parents let him stay at their house, which he gradually makes his own. Getting him out is where the story is.
Thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

Death Writes is an entertaining mystery set in Ireland. It is the sixth in a series, but this was the first I have read. I would like to go back and read the entire series!

Ben (Benedicta) lives in a seaside town, where she is a lawyer. Her boyfriend is an officer with the Guarda, so they often work together unofficially. Right now is no exception, as Ben tries to figure out the real name of the man talking advantage of her parents, and who killed author Gavin Featherstone at the Glendara Glenfest Book Festival.

This mystery is my favorite kind - something between hard boiled and cozy. I like series like this where you don't have to have read the other books to enjoy any one of them, but there is an arc to follow through the books. Now I just have to go back and enjoy the entire arc!

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

A slow burn to start, but picks up halfway through. I had a hard time focusing at first, but I love mysteries in small coastal towns and this was no exception. The most interesting part is when Ben gets a call there are people in and out of her elderly parents' home and appear to have moved in. Ben and her police sergeant boyfriend Tom investigate. After a surprise visit to find a mysterious guest in the house, they wake the next day to find he has disappeared. Feeling unsure and shaky about the situation, Ben invites her parents to stay with her.

An author is visiting their small town bookstore. The town is glowing with this visit. When Gavin Featherstone begins reading from his book, he falls over dead. After a quick autopsy and blood analysis, it is discovered he has been murdered.

I just finished a book with this same story line and it has some Agatha Christie vibe and will appeal to her fans. The tangle of webs and lies is eye opening and unexpected. It is the 6th crime fiction/ mystery in this series, but I have not read the other books. I'm sure the other books are just as enticing with the same characters to enhance them.
Thank you NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 stars
I enjoy this Inishowen series, featuring solicitor Ben (Benedicta) O'Keeffe and a nicely drawn small town Irish setting.

Some of the family and romantic angst from earlier in the series has thankfully been resolved and this is a fairly straightforward mystery. An earlier book dealt with Ben's concerns for her parents possibly being manipulated financially by a man who met them through a grief-support group and then moved into their house and sort of took over in a creepy way. The start of this novel features Ben and her Garda boyfriend Molloy showing up at her parents' unexpectedly after a concerned neighbor called. The problem is temporarily solved when the man disappears in a hurry after finding out that Molloy is a policeman.

They invite the parents back to Ben's house for an indeterminate stay while Molloy continues to investigate. There is a literary festival going on which Ben's friend bookstore owner Phyllis organizes and the big news is that a reclusive author will be making a public appearance for the first time in years. But a murder the first night of the event reveals old secrets and rivalries.

Ben and Molloy are kept busy with the two different thread plots. Ben is appreciating her parents' pleasant presence after a long semi-estrangement. Good supporting cast and great glimpses into village life. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Andrea Carter's Death Writes is book number six in the author's "Inishowen Mystery" series, but as someone who has just read his first Andrea Carter novel, I can tell you that it works remarkably well as a standalone novel. It works so well, in fact, that I now plan to read from the series again so that I can get to know the main characters even better by exploring some of their individual backstory.

Andrea Carter made good use of her personal background to create the Inishowen Mystery series, and she continues to use that background as she adds new mysteries to the mix. Carter, raised in the midlands of Ireland, is a Trinity College Dublin graduate who relocated to the Inishowen peninsula when she began to practice law. The author later returned to Dublin, where she worked for a while as a barrister before turning turning her hand to crime fiction.

Death Writes begins with a strong side plot that never seems secondary. Solicitor Benedicta "Ben" O'Keefe and her boyfriend Tom Molloy, who is a police sergeant in the fictional Irish town they live in, are rushing back to Dublin so that Ben can check on the welfare of her parents after a concerned neighbor reports to her that they have suddenly taken more than half-a-dozen strangers into their home. Already feeling guilty enough about living so far from her parents, Ben immediately blames herself for their predicament and is desperate to find out exactly what is happening back home.

That's mystery enough for many a novel, but back in tiny Glendara things are about to take an even nastier turn. It's time for the village's annual book festival, which this year has managed to snag its most famous resident for what will be the man's first public reading in years. Former Booker Prize winner Gavin Featherstone may not have been seen in public for a while, but he somehow seems to have made a lifetime's worth of enemies long before he went into seclusion. So when Featherstone suddenly drops dead just before he begins to read aloud to his excited audience, more than a few in the audience are not particularly surprised.

Then, after discovering that she has custody of Featherstone's soon to be contested will, Ben O'Keefe begins conducting her own investigation into Featherstone's murder - all the while trying to figure out exactly what her parents have gotten themselves into in Dublin.

Death Writes is fun for all the best reasons. Its main characters are interesting and they make it very easy to root for them; its coastal Ireland setting is dramatic and vividly created; and even the novel's side characters tend to be a bit on the quirky - and memorable - side. Readers searching for a new series within which to immerse themselves need to take a long look at the Inishowen Mystery series.

This latest installment of the Ben O'Keefe Irish mysteries involves Ben in numerous problems; her parents are being scammed, her assistant is getting increasingly close to her maternity leave and there may be a murderer loose in town after a famous author dies at a local festival. Whether you are a long-time fan of this series or starting with Death Writes, you'll enjoy the mystery no matter what. Atmospheric and a fine middle ground to cozies and Tana French.

Death Writes by Andrea Carter
Inishowen Mysteries #6

I look forward to spending time with Glendara solicitor Benedicta 'Ben' O'Keefe each year and this book is the sixth entry in the Inishowen Mysteries. In this latest entry, Ben and her on and off boyfriend, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy, are embroiled in two mysteries. One is the worrisome situation of a strange man living with Ben's parents along with news that about four or five other people have started to stay at their house. At the beginning of the story, Ben and Tom are on their way to Dublin to sort out what is going on with Ben's parents.

The other mystery (a murderous mystery) happens later on. A famous reclusive writer is going to appear at Glendara’s literary festival. This brings a lot of new people to town, a nosy documentary crew, a short story author who will put on a workshop, the famous author's estranged family, and more sightings of the author's assistant than usual. Maybe connected to the festival, Ben's friend, Phyllis Kettle, the local bookshop owner, is acting very troubled but she won't tell Ben why. When the famous writer drops dead on the stage and his death is declared a murder, there are a good number of suspects in his death.

With both Ben and Tom being workaholics, overly dedicated to their jobs and/or sticking their noses in everything (Ben), the two of them are very busy. This is the kind of thing that can put a barrier between them since Tom tends to shut up about work due to Ben's nosiness. But they've come a long way and really are a couple now and Tom allows Ben to know more than maybe he should because he knows she can help him. Ben gets frustrated with him but really knows he cares and is over his head with work at times. I love these two together even when they might be at odds.

This series is full of descriptions of the landscape, the weather, the sounds and smells of the coastline and I feel like I know the place now, even if it's fictional. I also have come to know the recurring characters in the series and look forward to a book coming out each year. Once again, I got wrapped up in the happenings in this world and enjoyed seeing Ben and Tom again.

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

Another solid contribution to the Inishowen series. I love Carter's sense of place, the evocative descriptions that let me see and feel the Irish coast and the village atmosphere. I can easily imagine popping into Phyllis's bookshop or strolling with Ben along the coastal rocks on the shingle beach.
Carter's character's also satisfy, and there's significant development here with family, love interest, colleagues, and friends. The victim of the crime is by turns despicable and attractive making all of his complicated relationships believable. I took it all, and followed every turn. A very enjoyable mystery!

Unfortunately for me this was not a book I could get into. I did not feel invested in the story and the writing style was not for me.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest opinion.

Ben O’Keefe has a lot to deal with after strangers move into her parents’ house. She takes them back with her to her home in Inishoven while circumstances can be investigated. Together they attend a literary festival and witness the death of a local author while onstage.

So much going on in this well written, well paced novel. Plenty of interesting characters and intertwined plot lines. Really enjoyed this novel and the relationships between characters.

Read if you want to be entertained and find out who did it and why?

When Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe gets a disturbing phone call from one of her parents’ neighbors, she and her partner, Garda sergeant Tom Molloy, jump in the car and make the two-hour drive to her childhood home. Ben knows that Stuart Chambers, whom her folks met in a grief support group, has moved in with them. The neighbor told her there have been several others coming in and out of the house, raising alarm bells .
Ben and Tom have a bad feeling about Stuart and his intentions toward the elderly couple. Ben convinces them to come spend a few days with them in Glendara, a lovely and peaceful town on the Inishowen Peninsula, while Tom looks into the man’s background. They are reluctant, but when Ben tells them there will be a literary festival with one of her mother’s favorite authors, Gavin Featherstone, as the main attraction, they agree.
Featherstone’s first book was a best-seller, and his career soared for a while, but his last few books were duds. For the last ten years he’s been a recluse, seldom leaving his secluded home near Glendara. Many of the locals and people from all over Ireland show up to witness his return to the public eye. They are also witnesses to his shocking death onstage.
His death appears to be from natural causes, but the autopsy tells a different story. Molloy leads the investigation into the murder. Ben, a solicitor, knows everyone in the small, close-knit village, and, as the administrator of Featherstone’s will, represents his heirs, his estranged wife and children. Featherstone was keeping some big secrets. He’s not the only one. There are a number of suspects, all with different reasons for wanting the man dead. Molloy and Ben have to follow a twisted path, going back at least two decades, to find the guilty party.
They discover Featherstone was not a good man, leaving a trail of heartbreak and betrayal. No one seemed to mourn his death, least of all the family he’d wounded so deeply. Molloy and Ben dig into the past in search of the killer, uncovering deeply buried secrets and unexpected, sometimes shocking, information.
The plot is satisfyingly intricate, with plenty of twists and turns. The characters, good and not so good, are well-drawn and realistic. The Irish scenery is an integral part of the story, adding beauty and color. Highly recommended.