4.5 stars

The Body Falls, by Andrea Carter, is the #5 entry in the Inishowen Mysteries series.
Benedicta “Ben” O’Keefe is a lawyer in Glendara, a small town in Ireland. A charity race inundates the town with cyclists, just as biblical rains begin and inundate the town with flooding, cutting it off from the rest of the countryside. A body literally falls onto her friend’s jeep, so Ben and police detective Tim Molloy investigate the crime.
I really enjoyed the writing and first person narrative style. While I had not read any of the previous books in this series, I found the author nicely fleshed out the local characters’ pasts so they made sense and seemed familiar.
The story is well-paced and is an excellent police procedural. The background of the increasingly dire local flooding adds to tension and a sense of time pressure to the action.
I plan to look for the first books in this series, as the writing and plotting is notable.

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest review.

Ben has just finished six months of working in Florida. It was supposed to provide her with some distance and time to think about what she wants from her relationship with Molloy. But nothing ever goes smoothly for Ben. Something is off with her parents' houseguest, Stuart, but before she can dig into that mystery, she has to return to her home in Inishowen.
 Her cat seems to barely miss her and the solicitor she hired to take care of her law practice and her home does things about 180° differently than Ben. But making sure that Marina did the right thing with her clients will soon take a backseat along with what is going on with her parents. 
A group of cyclists has descended on Inishowen for a charity bike ride. Before the ride can begin or Ben gets settled in, not only is the weather turning treacherous cutting the town off but a body lands on a resident’s car. It is one of the cyclists and it’s not a good time to be trapped in a town with a murderer. As the weather worsens Ben puts her amateur sleuth hat on once again as she tries to figure out who done it and why. I was surprised at the who,and the story kept me flipping the pages. It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger but there is enough information left hanging to assume what the main story will be in the next book. Another pleasurable time was spent with Ben who I have grown quite fond of. A very enjoyable series in my opinion.

As the book begins, solicitor Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe is returning home to Glendara, Ireland after working in Florida for 6 months. She arrives in town amidst torrential rain and crowds of cyclists waiting to begin a charity race. As the water continues to rise, a body is washed downhill onto the car of the local veterinarian, out on a call in the middle of the night. Between flooded roads and washed out bridges, everyone -including the killer- is stuck in town. With the local Garda distracted from solving the murder by trying to keep the town safe through the flooding, Ben starts asking questions to help get to the bottom of what happened. This is #5 in the Inishowen mystery series but the first I've read. I found it easy to follow as a standalone. The characters were easy to "get to know", and having grown up somewhere that gets a lot of rain, I certainly felt the oppressive and gloomy tone of the weather. Carter does an excellent job of building motive for multiple characters and keeping you guessing through to the end.

This was my first in Andrea Carter's Inishowen Mysteries, although it is book five in the collection. It's set in a small Irish town, Glendara at a time of extreme rain which coincides with a bicycle race. On her way back to Glendara after a six-month work stint in Florida, solicitor Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe visits her parents in Dublin and finds a strange man living with them. The bad weather causes severe flooding cutting off part of the town. During the night Ben is woken by her friend, a vet informing her that a body just landed on her jeep's roof. Ben considers herself an amateur sleuth and is determined to involve herself in solving the mystery which is being handled by the police, Garda Tom Molloy, and assisted by Garda Andy McFadden.

Suitable for reading as a standalone novel, I enjoyed this tale and I'm keen to read the previous instalments.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel, at my own request, from Oceanview Publishing via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

An atmospheric who dunnit with distinctly drawn characters and enough possible motives to keep you guessing to the end. This is the first work I've read by Andrea Carter and it won't be the last. I've already found the first in this series and am anxious to dive in. The northern most area of Ireland feels like a character in itself especially with the torrential rains reeking havoc across the peninsula. I felt the hominess of the community there, almost like a big extended family. It seems (without the deluge) to be an area that I need to add to my bucket list. Although I started with number 5, I didn't feel lost and feel that it can definitely be read as a stand alone without missing much. Start anywhere you can in this series.

Thank you to the author, Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is the 5th in a series, and the first book I've read by this author - but it won't be the last. Set in a small Irish town during a period of extreme rain and flooding in the area, which happens to coincide with a visit by a large group of cyclists on a bike tour for charity, the stage is set for murder - which of course promptly occurs. As the title clearly explains, a body falls from an isolated hillside onto a passing vehicle. How and why the body got to the hillside is only one of many mysteries that will need to be solved. The story follows the life of the local solicitor, Benedicta (Ben) O'Keefe, who is some sort of involved romantically with the local DS (the both of them are rather inarticulate when it comes to emotions). There are more twists and turns and involvements, which sounds much more overcomplicated than it is when reading. The author does a great job of creating an atmosphere of small-town life, here in the throes of a natural disaster, confronted with malfeasance in its midst. My only quibble was that it was difficult to follow at times, due to the amount of backstory that was at times referred to.

Set in Ireland, The Body Falls is the fifth book in the Inishowen Mystery Series in which an amateur sleuth who is a solicitor by occupation helps solve a mystery. But Benedicta (Ben) is no ordinary sleuth and this is no ordinary mystery. After a six-month work/personal escape stint in America, Ben returns to Ireland to a charity event and far, far more. Serious flooding in Glendara which isolates it entirely brings out the best in people as they help each other out. However, not everyone is ultimately helpful, particularly the murder minded. Secrets are carefully stored away...until they inevitably spill.

Bob Jameson's body is discovered in an unusual place and questions swirl like the rising waters. Sergeant Tom Molloy and Ben have a unique relationship and solve the crime while trying to figure out their personal lives. Thankfully there are several sneaky surprises which add to the already mysterious atmosphere such as a snake. I like how author Andrea Carter utilized a true event in her story, not to mention beautiful names. Her descriptions are multi-sensory as well.

Character-driven novels are my joy, as much or if not more than the mystery itself so this book really appealed. Others who feel the same will really appreciate reading this. The ending enticingly dangles mouthwatering tidbits of what is to come!

My sincere thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this fascinating book.

THE BODY FALLS by Andrea Carter is number five in the Inishowen mystery series featuring Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe, a young female solicitor who practices in County Donegal, Ireland. Like others in the series, this can be read as a stand-alone, although there are some references to past adventures and complicated relationships. I originally heard about this title on a Booklist Webinar and enjoyed meeting Ben; her sometimes boyfriend and local policeman, Molloy; her friend and bookshop owner, Phyllis; and many other local residents. As the story opens, Ben is coming back to Ireland from a six month sabbatical in Florida and she returns just in time for a charity cycling race and some massive amounts of rain. Initially, it is a bit of slow going as the weather postpones the race and subsequent flooding and bridge closures cut off the town. This gives Ben a more opportunity to interact with the cyclists and once enough background has been provided about them and the local townspeople, the mystery deepens with a surprising death and the pace really picks up. Filled with extraneous detail, THE BODY FALLS has more than enough red herrings and twisty coincidences to provide a truly puzzling mystery, all amidst a beautiful, rural setting.

After spending 6 months in Florida Ben (Benedicta) O’Keefe Heads back to Inishowen. As she drives into Glendara there is a sea of colours and bikes, a charity cycle race. Before the race can officially start the rain is postponing it, but the rain is not stopping, and the water levels are rising quickly and ending up cutting off access to the surrounding areas. Ben gets a call in the middle of the night from her friend (local vet) that a body just landed on her car … Curious as always and able to let things rest Ben digs deeper into the mystery of the falling body, which happens to be the organizer of the charity cycling event.
A nice “looked room” mystery that doesn’t disappoint. Chatting with people, and connecting the dots, Ben at her best! Her relationship with Tom Molloy (local police), the charismatic bookseller, office manager, local pub owner … with other words “cozy at its best”

The Body Falls is an appropriate title for this 5th Solicitor Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe installment. We find Ben returning to Glendara, Inishowen, from a six month stay in Florida. She stops off to visit her parents and things don't seem as they should there. A strange man is staying with them. (Possible future mystery?)

Ben arrives home and the heavens open. The rain storm is unprecedented, it shuts down roads and leaves the town isolated. If that weren't enough of a problem, a body falls from a cliff and lands on the roof of the veterinarian's van. The body is identified as Bob Jameson. Jameson was heading a charity cycling event in town. There are plenty of suspects, the town has a number of cyclists in town stuck there by the rain. Was Bob a good guy helping others, or was he the bad guy who engaged in unlawful activities, as he once did in the past? What about the snake bite on his hand, snakes in Ireland?

Ben is not as curious to solve this as usual, still adjusting back to being in Ireland. Tom Molloy and his fellow officers are dealing with all sorts of issues relating to the flooding.

The relationship between Ben and Tom starts off a little awkward, with unresolved issues, but they slowly work toward an understanding. It was nice to revisit Ireland and the characters in the town. I would definitely recommend reading this series from the start. There is alot of history between Ben and Tom. I enjoyed this, it was fast paced, some twists and turns, and a cliffhanger ending. I have read that the series may be developed for television, I sure hope so!

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. The review is my own.

Having read the Inishowen mystery series previously, The Body Falls by Andrea Carter is the latest in the Irish crime series. After her sabbatical in America, Benedicta (Ben) O'Keeffe returns to Ireland. Heavy rain causes Inishowen to be isolated and the local charity cycle event delayed. Then the body of the charity event organiser is found with a rattlesnake bite. Ben assists the local constabulary to investigate the death. Its wet atmospherics, building suspense and finale twist ending make for an enjoyable murder mystery. No doubt fans of the series will relish another Ben O’Keeffe adventure, but it also works well as a stand-alone three-star rating crime read. With thanks to Oceanview Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced review copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

Inishowen Mystery #5

Solicitor Benedicta (Ben) O'Keefe returns to her practice in Glendara where a charity cycle event is delayed by torrential rain, trapping the cyclists in town. Then the body of the event organiser washes down the mountain, literally falling onto a passing vehicle. Bridges are down and roads are impassable. The town is cut off with a murderer at large in the community. Fear predominates - chaos ensues - and Ben redoubles her efforts to find the killer before they strike again.

This is the first book in the series that I've read. Filled with twists and surprises, I was quickly pulled into the story. There were parts that were a little drawn out in this descriptively written story. The story is based on a real flood from 2017. The characters were well developed and believable. I did guess some of the plot details, but not them all. This is a well written whodunit that's easy to follow.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #OceanviewPublishing and the author #AndreaCarter for my ARC of #TheBodyFalls in exchange for an honest review.

I regard this as a cozy mystery and think it will be popular with many readers. Since this is the 5th book in the series, and I had not read the previous ones, I felt it would be more meaningful for those who read the earlier books. I wanted to know more about the recurring characters, the friendships and past relationships. It was an easy read, slow at first, but became more interesting when a possible murder occurred.

Benedicta O'Keefe, a solicitor, is returning home to Ireland after a six-month leave to practice law in sunny Florida. She is looking forward to being home and back to her legal practice in Inishowen. Ben has some unresolved issues with Garda Police Sergeant Tom Molloy. He proposed just before she left for Florida. On her way, she stops to visit her parents and is troubled by some significant changes in their home. Her parents seem quite happy with it all.

Ben no sooner arrives in Inishowen but is surprised to see an influx of cyclists there for a charity event, and available guest rooms are quickly filling up. The cyclists and tourists attending the charity event are stranded. Heavy rain starts, becoming torrential. Homes are flooded with belongings inside, roads are washed out and impassable, bridges are damaged, and people need to be rescued, fed and moved to shelters. Tom is busy overseeing the disaster and organizing help.

Amid the flooding, the local veterinarian's van is damaged. She is in shock as a dead man's body falls on top of her vehicle. The body was dislodged from the top of a muddy cliff along the roadside. The dead man is identified as Bob Jameson, the organizer of the cycling event to raise money for Alzheimer's care. He was also heavily involved with other charities and ran an orphanage in Nigeria. A snake bite is seen on his hand. Did that have anything to do with his death? Snakes are not native to Ireland. Was the bite from someone's harmless pet snake, or could it be a venomous African snake connected with enemies he made in Africa? Bob was a ruthless, dishonest businessman, but after witnessing hardships in Nigeria, he claimed to have reformed and was devoting his life to helping unfortunate people at home. There are rumours of fraud and embezzlement within his charities, and he has made many enemies. His car was nowhere near the death scene, so it looks like he was lured there. He was not known as someone to hike, especially not at night in a rain storm.

The roads in and out of the town are impassable. The charity event has been cancelled, and the cyclists are stranded. The forensic team and the coroner can't arrive to examine the body to determine the cause of death.

Ben considers herself an amateur sleuth and is determined to solve the mystery. Tom has not approved of her interfering in police work, but he is so busy with the flooding problems that he will accept any help she can provide. After helping her friend Phyllis save the books in her store that is starting to flood, they share information and gossip about possible suspects. Ben talks to Ben's widow and twin brother. Is the killer among the outsiders now stranded in town, or are they one of its residents?

The story ends with a cliffhanger. Ben's apprehension while visiting her parent's home may be confirmed.
Thanks to NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for the ARC in return for my honest review.

The Body Falls by Andrea Carter
(Inishowen Mysteries #5)

Drawing on real life massive flooding in 2017, the fifth entry in the Inishowen Mysteries series has Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe arriving home after a six month work assignment in Florida. It's as if the skies were waiting for the moment she arrived back in Glendara, Inishowen to open up more than usual, releasing enough water to wipe out homes, bridges, land, roads, anything in its way. This event allows a dead man to fall from a high bank onto the car of the local vet. The flooding is so bad that a potential murder victim has to take a back seat to all the flood related disasters.

In the very short time that the dead man was alive while Ben was in town, Ben got to meet the man, his wife, and several of the cyclists that were riding in his charity event. That event was postponed due to the rain and now it's called off because the event organizer is dead and his past misdeeds have caught up with him in more ways than one. At first Ben isn't her usual extremely nosy self because she's still jet lagged and trying to find her feet again in Glendara, which is hard to do when she's walked into such a disaster zone. Ben and Sergeant Tom Molloy tiptoe around each other briefly but it seems they will handle their six month estrangement in a friendly (and leaning towards even friendlier) manner.

Usually Ben's extreme, and often dangerous, habit of stomping into crime scenes and taking investigations into her own hands irritates Tom. But he's so busy with all the flooding disasters that he actually welcomes any help she can give in ferreting out leads in the murder case. Ben's friend Phyllis has to nudge Ben into helping HER brain storm the murder case and who might be the potential murderer but once Phyllis gets Ben's crime solving juices going, she's on the trail. It's not like Ben is really qualified to solve murders and fight crime since she is a solicitor but that's never stopped her before and won't stop her now.

Having read all five books in this series, it's nice getting to see people and locations we know again. I always have to keep in mind, though, that no person or location is safe. We've lost people and places in former books and places took a big hit in this latest story. We end this story knowing the series isn't over, yet, because we know that Ben has some more sleuthing to do, so I have at least one more book ahead of me.

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC.

The Body Falls, by Andrea Carter, is an enjoyable suspense that'll keep you guessing.
Solicitor Ben (Benedicta) O'Keefe has just returned to Glendara, Inishowen, from a 6 month work trip in Florida. She arrives home to find that there's a charity cycle event happening in town. But soon it starts pouring down rain and the cyclists have to put off the beginning of the event and stay in town. Not only doesn’t the rain stop but it turns into something close to a monsoon.
Later that night, Police Sergeant Tom Molloy gets a call that a body has fallen from the top of Mamore Gap. It ends up being Bob Jameson, the charity's boss who'd organized the cycling event. Then they see what appears to be a snakebite on his hand.
As the torrent continues, bridges and roads are destroyed. Now Glendara is cut off. Is a killer trapped in the town?

I received an ARC of this book and this is my honest review.

The beginning of this story is set in Florida and fills in gaps since the previous series entry. But, never fear, we soon return to Inishowen where unprecedented rainfall and flooding provide the background to a murder. While I was able to figure out many of the plot details, I was still enveloped in the setting and the characters. I was a bit disappointed that a mystery hinted at in the beginning of the novel is left to be solved in the next book. But at least that encourages me that there will be another book in this atmospheric mystery series.
Review based on an eARC received from the publisher through NetGalley.

This is only my second volume in this 5-part series, but the recurring characters are all distinctive enough that I had no trouble remembering who everyone was. I even recalled how we last left Ben on her way to Florida after dreamy cop Molloy had proposed to her. So that cliffhanger is resolved here, even as new challenges appear for Ben. There is also a new crime. Or maybe it’s just a death? It’s unclear at first, because it seems like a snakebite. Then again, one of the first things I ever learned about Ireland is that there are no snakes there so, where did this slippery guy come from and how did the victim end up at the top of a cliff in the middle of a storm? In the afterword, the author explains how she took her inspiration for these massive floods in Ben’s hometown of Inishowen from a real-life event in 2017. When I Googled the pictures, they reflected exactly what I had pictured in my mind while reading the novel, so Andrea Carter did an excellent job reflecting this. The murder itself is unusual, maybe a little predictable, but satisfying. This is an enjoyable dark cozy mystery that will keep readers turning the pages.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Oceanview Publishing!

Benedicta (Ben) O'Keefe is a solicitor in Inishtown, a small town in Ireland. She's been working in Florida for a few months, and comes home to find a charity cycling event coming through town. There is a torrential rainstorm and flooding and the event is paused; then one of the organizers is found dead. Was it murder? Was this man really a selfless devotee of charities as some said, or an embezzler who believed, as one man claimed, that "charity begins at home?" The author really conveys the intensity of being trapped in town when the bridges are flooded out, and of course everyone is on edge because of all of the strangers in town and the mysterious death. I really like this series, but was disappointed that the author resorted to something I dislike: a cliffhanger ending. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Body Falls by Andrea Carter is the first book I've read by this author. The book is part of a series. I would suggest starting with the author's first book in this series, though, as it can be a bit difficult to understand some of the relationships.

The story has a great setting location and is based on a real flood from 2017. The characters are well developed and believable. The story included enough twists and turns to hold my attention.

Overall, a satisfying mystery. I give this book a 3.5 (rounded to 4) out of 5 stars.

#TheBodyFalls #NetGalley @oceanviewpub

I was anticipating a story that opened with a mystery and then proceeded into an investigation, the typical setup of a mystery novel. However, in this book, the body (literally) doesn't drop until more than 20% of the way into the story. Before it does, the book spends several chapters instead introducing a large cast of characters and exploring the protagonist's transition back into her life in Ireland after she returns home from a stint in Florida.

While some readers might appreciate that sort of deep dive into a main character's life before the plot really kicks off, that's not really what I'm looking for when I pick up a mystery novel. Consequently, I was quite bored with the book until the actual mystery plotline picked up about a quarter of the way in. After that, I found the book much more engaging and my reading speed picked up accordingly as I worked to try and solve the mystery.

That said, my overall reading experience was marred by the extremely slow beginning. I would've enjoyed it a lot more if the pacing was quicker from page one.