Murder at Greysbridge: An Inishowen Mystery

The wedding of Irish solicitor Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe’s assistant, Leah , takes Ben to the Greysbridge House Hotel, a beautiful but eerie mansion a short drive from her home in County Donegal, in Carter’s enticing fourth Inishowen mystery (after 2020’s The Well of Ice). The wedding party occupies the entire hotel, except for two guests already staying there. Ben’s curiosity is piqued by the covered footbridge that joins the main house to a single windowless room, as well as the legend that Louisa Grey, an early resident of the house who reportedly starved herself to death a century ago, haunts the mansion. Shortly after the wedding ceremony, one of the guests already staying at Greysbridge drowns off the hotel’s private pier and the other—a historian who has been researching the home’s history—is found dead by poison in his room. Ben is unsettled when her ex-boyfriend, garda sergeant Tom Molloy, arrives at Greysbridge to investigate, but her detective instinct proves stronger than the awkwardness between them. Though the overcomplicated plot offers few innovations, Carter’s good-hearted characters and nice use of familiar country-house mystery motifs combine for an entertaining story. Fans of traditional puzzles and evocative settings will enjoy this. Agent: Noa Rosen, Susanna Lea Assoc. (Nov.)