Y’all I was very intrigued by this novel! I definitely enjoyed it even though I wasn’t sure if it would be up my alley. But definitely go and try it out!

The third and well written book in a captivating series. Although I haven’t read the previous books, I could follow the events and characters easily. The author provides adequate backstory for the new reader. There are quite a number of characters and some of them are not developed well. The plot and the suspense are woven well with the climate depicting the mood of the story poignantly. I enjoyed the prose which was different from the other Ireland books and I would definitely recommend it. 4.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book and am just sorry I haven't read the first two books in this series (I didn't realize it was a series). I didn't feel this book was missing anything though, for not having read the previous ones. It stands on its own.

I liked all the characters and the writing is excellent. The descriptions and sense of place made me shiver with the cold and I could practically see the surroundings.

The mystery is very good and I didn't figure out 'whodunnit' which is a rarity in mystery books!! The ending was a bit convoluted but that's ok. Overall, it was just a very enjoyable read.

My only question - - am I missing something? I kept looking for a well of ice!

This is a very well-written traditional police and legal procedural. It is the third in the series, and I wish I'd had a chance to read the first two, but the characters are well-drawn and you are able to jump right into the story. Benedetta "Ben" O'Keffe is an appealing solicitor and a strong female character (my fave) and this book feels a little like chilly Scandinavian noir mixed with a traditional police/lawyer procedural. There's a little romance, a moderate amount of crime, and a LOT of good writing. I was really impressed with the level of research and writing on this one and the setting of the small chilly town really comes to life. I would definitely read the other books in this series!

Thanks to Oceanview Publishing, the author, and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Benedicta "Ben" O'Keeffe is not having a good day. She's working flat out to get things done before the Christmas holiday. She's sort of planning to spend the holidays with her parents, but they're going to be traveling. She's been seeing Sergeant Tom Malley on the sly, and she's uncertain where that relationship is going. And the worst thing .. she has seen Luke Kirby... the man who killed her sister. He's spent his time behind bars and now he's out again.

In her small community, things are happening. The Oak pub has burned down and investigation shows that it was arson. The young woman who was tending bar is nowhere t be found, leaving her husband and children baffled. While walking the neighbor's dog, Ben and Tom discover a woman's frozen body in the snow. Is this the barmaid?

Ben feels that someone has targeted her community ... and on a personal level, Ben herself.

This is the third in an exceptional series and is easily read as a stand alone. I do recommend reading in order to catch those gems that make it what it is. The intricate plot is well written with superb character development. I look forward to seeing the next installment and following where it goes.

Many thanks to the author / Oceanview Publishing / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This is the first book I have ever read by this author. I hope it is not the last. This was the third book in the series though I did not feel lost as to who was who. I really hope there will be more books in this series. I liked Ben and Molloy. Ben(Benedicta), seemed to fall in to helping Molloy solve this murder. She seemed to be close to all of the suspects. I loved the twists and turns. I received a copy of this book from Oceanview Publishing for a fair and honest opinion that I gave of my own free will.

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel, third in the Inishowen Mysteries but completely stand-alone, from Netgalley, Andrea Carter, and Ocean View Publishing. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Well of Ice of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. Andrea Carter writes a compelling story with personable people and an interesting mystery. I will want more of her stories. And she paints a lovely picture of the peninsula - I would add that to my bucket list.

The Well of Ice takes place on the Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, Ireland. Benedicta "Ben" O'Keefe is a county barrister, an amateur sleuth, and a credit to her community. Everyone comes to her with their troubles and their secrets, making her at times the only person in the communities of the Inishowen who know what is actually going on. Sometimes she is more in the know than her fella, Molloy, himself with the local garda. But it is with his help that she will be able to suss out the people behind the current woes of the community. We have Carole, barmaid at the Owl and sister of Eddy, gone missing just before Christmas. Carole has been know to disappear before, but now she and her husband George have two toddlers and it's nearly Christmas! It couldn't be a voluntary walk-about. And then the Owl burning Christmas Eve. Arson. And Susanne, daughter of the Owl Pub's owner, Tony, just gone, before St. Brigid's Day. Luke Kirby, Ben's former lover and the man who killed her sister ten years ago, has chosen to find his way to her village after he was released from prison, where he did nine years plus for manslaughter. Has Luke struck again, or is there someone else stalking local women?

Benedicta 'Ben' O'Keefe is pretty confident that you can't keep a secret in her small town. After all, she has secretly been seeing Sergeant Molloy, and yet, almost everyone she runs in to seems to already know. But when the local pub burns down and the barmaid goes missing, no one knows a thing, even when a body is found. At least not when they talk to Molloy, but Ben seems to have a knack for sniffing out secrets and lies.
It is no secret to those who know me, that I love a good mystery. This was my first book trip to Ireland, and the descriptions made me wish I could hop on a plane and visit. I was checking Google maps as I read, and as the author notes, Glendara is a town created in her mind, but Inishowen is quite real. This has become a real thing to me during these stay at home times. Making plans for all the places I've read about and will visit when the world goes back to some semblance of normal.
But, I digress...... I loved the character, Ben. A smart and sharp woman who survived a terrible family tragedy. She is loyal to her friends, and when circumstances forced her to reveal the identity of Luke Kirby, a man from her past, her friends have her back too. I am still not sure how I felt about Molloy, but as the story progressed, some things were revealed that made me think that I should give this character a chance. There are more than a few red herrings, and though I did guess the killer's identity, it would have been just as possible that I was wrong.
Intriguing characters, an idyllic location, and a good mystery to try and solve. I hope to see Ben again!

The Well of Ice is the third book in the Inishowen Mystery series featuring solicitor Benedicta 'Ben' O'Keeffe. I have read the previous novels in the series and was waiting the for this next installment. As a side note, the next installments have already been published overseas, lucky for them.

As usual Ben has alot going on, while on a trip to Dublin to visit her parents, she runs into Luke Kirby, the man who killed her sister, freshly released from jail. It is not a pleasant encounter.

Back home Ben is working hard to get things done so she can celebrate the holidays with her, as yet undefined significant other, Sargent Tom Molloy. The Oak, is the victim of an arson attack and Carole, the barmaid, is missing. Ben and Tom find Carole's body while walking on the beach. The story takes off from here. Andrea Carter is a wonderful writer. She does an excellent job of developing her characters and the relationships with each other. As with any good mystery there are secrets, that are told to Ben, but which she cannot communicate to Tom, much to his frustration, Ben is nosy and determined to get at the solution. Tnis is a great series, I highly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy exchange for an unbiased review.

The Well of Ice is the third and latest entry in Andrea Carter’s Inishowen series. In it, Carter returns to the same small town, Glendara; and the same cast of characters, including solicitor Benedicta “Ben” O’Keefe and Sergeant Molloy; that have made the first two books so enjoyable. And although Glendara is fictional, it’s located on the very real far northern Inishowen peninsula of Ireland, and Carter’s descriptions of the peninsula, even in December with cold and wind and ice and snow, make Inishowen seem like part of the story itself.

I really enjoyed this book. The plot has a couple of main threads. One is built around the release from prison of the man who killed Ben’s sister, who now may be coming after her. The other is built around a mysterious pub fire and missing barmaid in Glendara. And eventually, of course, there’s a dead body. I don’t want to indulge in spoilers, so I’m not going to say whether these threads all dovetail nicely or get solved separately, but Carter brings almost everything to a satisfactory resolution. (See below for the one thing I think isn’t…)

My only minor complaint is around Ben’s relationship with Molloy, which is less assured and more stressful than I’d like it to be in a book I’m reading for fun. I do understand that I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to try to start a new relationship given Ben’s past history with a murdered sister and with that sister’s killer still around. Even without that kind of stress, relationships can have tough patches, especially when exes are around. And I also know it’s probably shallow of me to want things to go more smoothly on the romantic front, but that is how I feel. Still, this is not a major complaint for me, and I still very much liked the book.

And for one final note, I think my biggest smile while reading the book came when I read that Ben’s parents were going to plan a vacation trip for the Christmas holidays. I immediately started imagining trips to sunny warm southern climes, only to find out that they were going to Iceland (!?!?!) during December. So much for preconceptions!

Please keep in mind that I only give a very very few books, maybe 1 in 30 or 40 books that I read, a 5 star rating. (I try to fight star-flation a little bit…) So four stars is a really solid recommendation from me for a book. And I’m very much looking forward to the next title appearing the US – it is already out in the UK, so hopefully it won’t be too long!

I wish I would learn to read the first book in a series instead of always being permanently late to the party, and having to play catch up. There were a lot of characters in this book so I had to keep my wits about me.I love the feel of a small town though with all the interesting characters to be found. The story was good too, and it was a good book to read.

A cold—and terrifying—Christmas holiday on the Inishowen Peninsula

December on the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal—and solicitor Benedicta “Ben” O'Keeffe is working flat out before the Christmas holidays. While on a trip to Dublin to visit her parents, she runs into Luke Kirby—the man who killed her sister—freshly released from jail. On the surface he appears remorseful, conciliatory even, but his comment as she walks away makes her realize he is as evil as ever.

I loved this book. The author is new to me so I plan to look up the series and read them in order.
I will recommend them. Thanks to Netgalley and Oceanview for the ARC.

4 star

The Well of Ice is the 3rd book of the Inishowen Mystery series. I found it as engrossing and satisfying as the first two books. The main character is Ben, a solicitor in a small Irish town. She is smart, likable and has a strong sense of seeking the truth, which makes her seem very much like a modern-day and very gown up Nancy Drew. Yes, the setting is in current times, meaning everyone has a cell phone, but there is still the quaint, small-town, slow-paced atmosphere of a seaside Irish community. Well, slower-paced for everyone except Ben, who seems to ping-pong from meeting to meeting (and clue to clue) at a dizzying speed.

The plot revolves around a fire that destroys a beloved pub in the wee hours of the morning, and the untimely disappearance of the pub’s employee who worked to closing hours before the fire broke out. There are several different story-lines which are woven expertly through the book. It was fun to make each new discovery as different characters reveal secrets of the past and present to Ben. She seems to be the only person who has most of the pieces, but still cannot put them all together until it is almost too late. The story progresses at a good pace while providing a wonderful sense of setting. This is a winter tale and the unforgiving cold, wet, icy, snowy and windy weather was often part of the reader’s experience.

Character development was good, although I did get confused at times regarding relationships due to trying to figure out the relative ages of some characters. Several new characters are introduced and the reader learns more about some of the town’s locals who are recurring in the series. In this 3rd book of the series, some of Ben’s long-standing personal challenges get resolved, but new changes in her life have surfaced. I look forward to reading more of the Inishowen Mystery series to see where the author takes this character. And of course, what the next mystery will be.

This is an unbiased review of an ARC received from NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

murder
arson
threatening behaviour

well who would want to live in a village with all this going on...but to be fair its only one person who it could be but its proving it....and the reasons why.... and that is the problem or is it something else entirely...

with plenty of red herrings and a multitude of suspects this one does tend to follow on the miss marple style of things...so its not to taxing though getting your head around the characters is another matter, but once you know who they are and what their jobs are it gets easier....

an enjoyable read on a sunday afternoon

This is Book 3 of the author's Inishowen mystery series, and the first for me. And I must say that overall, I enjoyed it thoroughly. If I have to get nitpicky, I'll say the number of characters was a bit overwhelming, but once I got into the swing of things I managed to keep the important ones straight.

The star of the show is Benedicta "Ben" O'Keeffe, a solicitor in Glendara, Inishowen, who's desperately trying to clear her calendar for the upcoming Christmas holidays. But instead of seeing bows, boxes and warm hugs from her family and friends, she runs smack dab into the man who murdered her sister Faye. He's just been released from jail, and instead of heading for other parts as she expected, he's right on her doorstep. Long ago, she and he were an item - until he dumped her for her sister and then, well, you know.

Ben has a relatively new main squeeze, a sergeant with the local police - although their relationship seemed to me to be tenuous at best (anyone who wants to keep a relationship "in the closet" says to me no relationship exists). But they're working at it, sort of, when things in the small community start to go horribly wrong. It starts when a popular pub burns to the ground - a possible arson - and the suspicious disappearance of the pub's barmaid. Then, when Ben and her lover, Tom Molloy, hike to Sliabh Sneacht to see the Well of Eyes, her foot slips in and she dubs it the "Well of Ice." Alas, that's not their only find; the other is the body of a dead female.

Needless to say, Ben has her suspicions that her sister's killer may be involved somehow. But is that simply what she wants to believe because she [understandably] hates him so much? What roles, if any, do the dead woman's husband or the pub owner play? As the plot progresses, it becomes clear that maybe Ben herself is in danger. If that's true, can her boyfriend protect her while he's trying to solve the murder?

Well, you'll just have to read it to find out - and it's worth the effort. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for giving me a pre-release copy to read and review.

My only regret is that I left this book too long on my TBR pile. Fantastically created atmosphere of a small village, in the middle of winter, with a mysterious arsonist on the loose and a killer to boot. i hope there are more in this series!

Thanks to Oceanview Publishing for providing me a copy of this book for this honest review.

Although originally published in 2017, Oceanview Publishing is releasing this third book in Andrea Carter’s Inishowen Mystery series for the US in 2020. Benedicta “Ben” O’Keefe works as a solicitor in the Inishowen area of County Donegal, although she’s originally from Dublin, where her parents still live. While visiting them just before Christmas, she sees the man who killed her sister. Apparently, he was recently released from prison after completing his sentence. Her testimony was key to his sentence, so she’s concerned he’s out for revenge. She becomes even more concerned when he later shows up in the Inishowen area.

Other mysterious events occur back home in Glendara where Ben works and lives. A woman goes missing soon after the pub where she worked is burned down. Ben also finds a dead body in the snow while walking the dog with her somewhat secret love interest, Sergeant Tom Molloy. Ben eventually thinks everything is related to her sister’s murderer, but others must somehow be involved.

The book spends a lot of time on the backstory of several characters which both adds and subtracts to the book. I enjoyed reading about the characters and seeing how or if the love interest between Ben and Tom would progress, but at times, it slowed the book. I wasn’t pulled into the story that much and as a result it took me a lot longer to finish than it typically would.

This book is characterized as a cozy which mostly means less graphic violence than some crime fiction books which I read more often. Cozy books come in all varieties, including some types I would never read (cat detectives, really?), but this is a realistic and sometimes dark book, with the violence mostly discovered (e.g., a dead body) and not experienced (the actual murder). I certainly enjoyed reading the crime solving of solicitor Ben O’Keefe, who sometimes does what she shouldn’t but that’s what amateurs do, (and even some professional private detectives), to make for a more interesting (and hopefully not cringe-worthy) story. Well done here.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. Although I’m sure I missed some references to earlier books, I never felt lost or confused. The book did seem to have many back stories about several of the characters that I’m sure would have added a little more color to the book, but the author presented these characters in a way that gave the reader the key information.

The Donegal setting was the main reason I decided to read this book. One of my great grandparents is from there and I’ve spent a few days in County Donegal both in 2016 and in 2019, including a night in the Inishowen Gateway hotel in the summer of 2019. Of course, many of the places in the book are fictional so I didn’t recognize as much local color as I may have. I’ll always enjoy reading about Ireland.

this was a really good mystery novel, the characters were great and I really enjoyed trying to solve the mystery. I look forward to more from the author.

Ok read. The settings are realistic and the plot line is well thought out. I found the characters somewhat uninvolving but I think that the shortcomings are attributable to me rather than the author.

This isn’t my typical read. I generally don’t do thrillers and never books set outside of the US. This was a good read. It kept my interest and intrigued throughout. I would recommend it