Treacherous Strand by Andrea Carter

Treacherous Strand: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter --- 312 pages including Acknowledgements. 

The second book is a new mystery series set on the remote Inishowen peninsula in County Donegal, Ireland, and featuring Benedicta O'Keefe, a solicitor and amateur sleuth.

Ben fled a promising career in Dublin in the aftermath of a family tragedy that left her wracked with guilt, and seems to be seeking some kind of redemption by championing the lost and lonely in the small town of Glendara,where she is accepted professionally but still an outsider personally.

Melodramatic and impetuous, Ben is supposedly a sensitive soul, but can be obtuse to the point of rudeness in her interactions with friends and suspects. This time out Ben is championing the cause of a fragile Frenchwoman who washed up like so much debris on the shores of the Isle of Doagh. Marguerite Etienne was a mystery in a small town suspicious of outsiders. The local garda investigation concludes that Marguerite committed suicide, but Ben refuses to believe it. When the police close the case, Ben sets out to prove them wrong.

A sequel to Death at Whitewater Church, and to be followed by a third book, The Well of Ice, and a fourth, Murder at Greysbridge.  Having once visited Inishowen Peninsula, I can attest to Carter's accuracy in capturing the wild solitude of the place.

Click HERE to read Andrea Carter on establishing the location for a story in writing.ie

Click HERE to red a review from the Irish Times.

Click HERE to read a review from Crime Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Midnight Sun by Jo Nesbø

Midnight Sun: A Novel by Jo Nesbø. Translated from the Norwegian by Neil Smith --- 273 pages

A novel to pair with Nesbø's previous Blood on Snow, another quiet but tightly wound tale of a man on the run from retribution. The time is the 1970s. Ulf, a small time dope dealer in Oslo becomes --- unwillingly --- the "fixer" for the Fisherman, Oslo's drug kingpin. Which is a cruel joke of fate, because Ulf is not a killer, but he is hapless and much too frightened to tell the Fisherman the truth.  And he needs money badly, a great deal of money, so he agrees and hopes for the best.

But when push comes to shove, Ulf can't close the deal. The first time he's told to kill a dealer who's gotten behind in his payments to the Fisherman, he lets the target get away in exchange for money. Ironically the money comes too late for his need.

When the Fisherman finds out he's been doublecrossed, Ulf runs, to the far north, to the Finnmark, where he meets a young woman and her curious son, and finds feelings he thought were dead coming back to haunt him.

But the Fisherman is still to be reckoned with; sooner or later, his hit men will find Ulf under the pitiless glare of the midnight sun. So this time can Ulf find redemption, or is this just another cruel joke played by that bastard hope?

As a young man Nesbø lived for a time in the Finnmark, and he captures the starkness of the land, the implacable light, and the harsh creed of the Læstadian church. 

Click HERE for a review from the Los Angeles Times.

Click HERE for a review from the Washington Post.

Click HERE for a Youtube video of Jo Nesbø describing Midnight Sun.