The Body Falls
It’s a time of seasonal change where our sunny skies are replaced by chill winds and rainclouds, and the nights are drawing in . . . so it’s that time of year you want to curl up with a good book. This week’s Friday Read is the wonderful The Body Falls by Andrea Carter, the action set in Andrea’s home town of Glendara on the Inishowen peninsula. It’s the starting point of a charity cycle race but then the rain comes . . . and continues to come in unending torrents until the town is flooded . . . and just when the town is cut off from the outside world by the terrible weather, a body is dislodged from a high bank up on the Manmore Gap – and it turns out to be the body of the organiser of the charity race. So now flooded, isolated Glendara is harbouring a murderer in its midst . . .
This is tense and so very atmospheric, and Jo Spain thinks it’s Andrea’s best yet. I think so, too – she is so good at writing about extreme weather that by the end of the book you’ll be wanting to wring out your socks and dry off by a radiator. It’s just the immersive and exciting read you need to take your mind off the currents events surrounding us.
Krystyna Green
'Her best yet... Andrea conjures up a phenomenal sense of place. She is such an assured, stylish writer and The Body Falls is remarkably gripping' Jo Spain
April in Florida and Ben O'Keeffe is enjoying balmy temperatures, working the last few days of a six-month stint with her old law firm. A week later she returns to Glendara, Inishowen where a charity cycle race is taking place. But it starts to rain, causing the cyclists to postpone the start of their event and stay overnight in the town. But the rain doesn't stop; it increases to become relentless, torrential.
In the middle of the night Sergeant Tom Molloy is called out to Mamore Gap, where a body, dislodged from a high bank by the heavy rain, has fallen onto the vet's jeep. It is identified as Bob Jameson, a well-known local charities boss, and the organiser of the cycling event. Stunned, the GP confirms that the man has suffered a snakebite.
Terrible weather persists and soon bridges are down and roads are impassable. Glendara is completely cut off, with a killer at the heart of the community. Who is responsible for Bob Jameson's death? One of the strangers in town or someone closer to home? It's left to Molloy, with Ben's assistance, to find out what is going on.
Praise for Andrea Carter's Inishowen Mysteries series
'Atmospheric and vivid' The Irish Times
'I adored this traditional crime novel; it's modern day Agatha Christie with Ben as Miss Marple' Irish Examiner
'The colourful cast of characters may be fictional, but the landscapes, towns and villages are instantly recognisable' Irish Daily Mail
'A beguiling heroine - clever, sympathetic and bearing a weight of guilt' The Times
