When a skeleton is discovered, wrapped in a blanket, in the hidden crypt of a deconsecrated church, everyone is convinced the bones must be those of Conor Devitt, a local man who went missing on his wedding day six years previously. But the post mortem reveals otherwise.

Solicitor Benedicta ‘Ben’ O’Keeffe is acting for the owners of the church, and although an unwelcome face from her past makes her reluctant to get involved initially, when Conor’s brother dies in strange circumstances shortly after coming to see her, she finds herself drawn in to the mystery. Whose is the skeleton in the crypt and how did it get there? Is Conor Devitt still alive, and if so is there a link? What happened on the morning of his wedding to make him disappear?

Negotiating between the official investigation, headed up by the handsome but surly Sergeant Tom Molloy, and obstructive locals with secrets of their own, Ben unravels layers of personal and political history to get to the truth of what happened six years before.

IN A NUTSHELL
‘Death At Whitewater Church‘ is a low-key murder mystery set in rural Donegal and featuring a local solicitor as an amateur sleuth tangentially involved in the police investigation. It offers a strong sense of place, convincing dialogue and a solid, if slightly complicated mystery.

‘Death At Whitewater Church‘ is the first of six books set in Donegal on the Inishowen Peninsula and featuring local solicitor Benedicta ‘Ben’ O’Keeffe. Ben is insatiably curious (nosey is how most people would describe it) and she’s from Dublin so she has to have the history of the close-knit local community explained to her as she digs into things that might be better left to the police. Ben also has a tragic incident in her past which resulted in her leaving her relatively high-powered job in Dublin and making a fresh start running her own small legal practice.

This was a gentle if complicated mystery, calmly told but with some moments of great tension. I liked the sense of place and I admired Andrea Carter’s talent for realistic dialogue.

The plot was a little more convoluted than was necessary but it provided a good introduction to Ben O’Keefe and the region that she has chosen to make her home in. It set the groundwork for a series with an engaging ensemble cast in a unique environment. It wasn’t a book that excited me but it did keep me entertained so I’ll be visiting Ben again sometime soon.

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Andrea Carter grew up in Laois and studied law at Trinity College Dublin, before moving to the Inishowen peninsula in Co. Donegal where she ran the most northerly solicitors’ practice in the country. In 2006 she returned to Dublin to work as a barrister before turning to write crime novels.

She is the author of the Inishowen Mysteries, which currently includes six novels. Her most recent book, ‘There Came A-Tapping‘ (2025) is a standalone thriller, set in Dublin.