Treacherous Strand

Marguerite Etienne, a French woman living in Glendara, a fictitious town in County Donegal, asks local lawyer, Benedicta (Ben) O’Keeffe, to prepare her will leaving everything to her estranged daughter. The next morning, Marguerite’s body is found washed up on the nearby Isle of Doagh. The police determine that the death was a suicide. Ben is not convinced. For a start, Marguerite was reportedly scared of the sea. Furthermore, there was bruising on the back of the corpse’s head, and the will had not been signed. Ben begins her own investigation and finds plenty to investigate – a possibly shady land deal, the question of who fathered the baby being carried by Marguerite at her death, her past association with a bizarre religious cult, and a prior death in the cottage where she lived. In the broad, the plot may sound familiar to mystery readers – plucky female setting out to solve a murder thought to be a suicide; along the way encountering several life-threatening situations; on each occasion being rescued in the nick of time by her policeman love-interest – but there are enough neatly woven and carefully crafted elements to make Treacherous Strand an entertaining read for most mystery fans.