“Ben” is a layer in a small town, running away from a family trauma and the death of her sister. When a body is hound in a church crypt, an awkwardly tangled cast of characters and events are unwound. First in a series. Not great, but I look forward to seeing how the author develops the character. ( )

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: A terrific series-starting book, also an excellent publishing debut. Author Carter is a talented writer and was well-served in her editor. The flourishes rhetorical were agreeable:

Being an outsider in a town where most people have spent their whole lives is not the easiest way to live. Sometimes, in my darker moments, I felt as if my role here was limited to that of an observer and facilitator for other people. That my own life was a sort of half-life, as if I didn’t really count because no one knew my “people.” But I have my reasons for being here.

Pretty, also useful, also informative. A good writer takes that kind of direction from a good editor..."make the infodump into a confession!" resounds to a truly wickedly attuned writer like Author Carter is.

There are many twists and turns in Ben's trip through Whitewater's past. Her beautiful world of small-town solicitor worries, conveyances and wills and the like, is completely upended by the toothy rocks she's clung to while getting herself out of the North Atlantic after one of her truly daft February swims. Her local knowledge makes the stakes of learning her new community's older secrets all the more poignant and relevant.

I'll offer a mild criticism here: There is very little sense of the Love Interest's appeal. He's a blank canvas with some sketch-lines showing what he can possibly be. Even the moments that are the most intimate between Ben and Tom, before the fire and after the wine, aren't so much said as reported in the past tense.

It's a minor whinge. It niggled slightly and I noticed it, so I bring it up. But the *important* bit is the crimes that were and are committed in this small town. It's quite the surprise as to who's been bad and why. I found the resolution quite unimpeachably witnessed and for reasons I was completely sure were logical. The resolution fit the facts, and the way it's told to us is well within my suspension of disbelief.

Bravo, Author Carter, for making this series-starting novel a career-starting one as well. ( )

A mystery driven by characterization of the individuals in a small County Donegal hamlet. The author wrote a complex plot with great finesse and handled the backstories without overwhelming the present narrative. Some aspects in the outcome were expected but much of the side-action was a surprise. A great read if you enjoy authors like Ann Cleeves and Kate Ellis. ( )

Not bad at all, though after a while I wondered why Ben is privy to so many police secrets. In the end, the resolution of the mystery was also strangely anti-climactic -- I was way more interested in Ben and her community than I was in the action going down. I'm not sure what that says about the book, but I did enjoy reading it. ( )

Largely believable characters involved in a mystery that turns out not to be a murder but that's when the pear shape behind the facade of what seemed normal takes over in the community of at Inishowen. ( )