Murder in an Irish Castle: A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery
Reviewed By Janet Mawdesley December 10, 2022
Author Verity Bright.
Distributor: Amazon
ISBN: 978-1803148281
Publisher: Bookouture
Release Date: November 2022
Website: https://www.amazon.com
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We meet Lady Eleanor and her trusty major domo Clifford, along with Gladstone as they journey to Lady Eleanor’s family castle of Henelley Castle, just outside of the small town of Derrydee in Ireland. That she is even away from her home at Christmas is surprise as she and Clifford, by default, have very firm ideas about how Christmas should be spent. And so begins the 12th mystery in the Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, Murder in an Irish Castle.
The skies are dark, the rain is threatening and it is getting very cold. Travelling excessively slowly as the road is challenging, they narrowly avoid running over the body of a man lying on the road. He is barely alive and so they place him in the Rolls and reverse back along the road, hoping they can find the Convent that seems to be marked on their map.
Unfortunately, the mystery man dies and it is not long before Ellie and Clifford realise there is something seriously amiss in Derrydee. To begin with, there is no ‘family’ retainers waiting to greet them, the Castle is clean but without staff other than one retainer who lives in the Lodge, the Doctor is not being straight forward about the death of the man and the Mother Superior was anything but helpful.
Things only get murkier as the days pass with the Police less than cooperative, the Publican, a jolly fellow, hiding secrets and the Rolls being made unusable by the theft, in daylight as well, of engine parts! What have they walked into?
Eleanor and Clifford can’t help but get involved and once the gatehouse burns to the ground, killing their retainer, the gloves are off, as there is definitely something terrible happening in Derrydee and they need to find out what, before anyone else is killed. And it is Christmas.
Murder in an Irish Castle is full of the unexpected as Eleanor and Clifford, aided by the trusty Gladstone, and his latest furry friend the ginger house cat, do their best to enjoy the season, get to know the towns people and also solve the mystery of who the man was and what he was doing in the laneway.
There, it would seem, is really never a dull moment in Lady Eleanor’s life. It is also the perfect way to spend an afternoon, or an evening, escaping into the world of cozy murders with a well-constructed plot, a bit of fun and a very interesting ending.