Death Writes - Andrea Carter

Publication Date: 12/5/2023

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.

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.

Andrea Carter author photo