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Released: July 2017
ISBN: 9781370813674
ASIN: B071HTBK68
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THE BODY AT BALLYTIERNEY
Series: Ballytierney Mysteries, #1
Author: Noreen Wainwright
Length: Novel
Genre: Mystery
Price: $2.99
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When Simon Crowe’s body is discovered at Ballytierney, old secrets threaten to destroy the lives of the townspeople. Inspector Ben Cronin is coasting towards retirement, so the last thing he needs is a case that threatens to expose the town's dark underbelly.

Maggie Cahill, a priest’s housekeeper, is at a crossroads in her personal life when she receives a letter out of the blue from someone in her distant past. Her peace of mind and her livelihood are at risk as she seeks the truth of what happened to Simon Crowe, and why someone knows secrets she thought she'd buried long ago.

By the end of the investigation, will both Maggie’s and Cronin’s lives will be changed forever? And will Ballytierney ever be the same?

Excerpt
In the kitchen, she smoked a Gold Flake and drank a cup of tea. About a half-a-hour they’d be finished the main course, what with the chatter and the sipping of the wine—the best claret from the wine merchant in Cork.

Sometimes, living in a small town made you really happy. There was such a feeling of security in it. It wasn’t big-headed, but she knew she was well-respected and generally well-liked, and the two didn’t always go together. But, there were times when Ballytierney would make you want to run away. Want to go as far as you could get, from the nosiness and the narrowness and the hardened ignorance you saw sometimes the kind where the person was so ignorant they didn’t even have the least inkling of it, and they were accepted or at least tolerated too, in the town.

Maggie would think then of London or Dublin or any of those big anonymous places, where there could even be a solace in the loneliness. If you put one of the ignoramuses of Ballytierney, or any other small rural town in there, well you had to wonder if they would even survive a week.

The telephone rang, its urgent sound making her start, stub out her cigarette and stand up, all so quickly, that she felt dizzy for a second, and had to slow herself down.

Duty was duty, though, and it was hers to answer the telephone unless one of the priests picked it up first, in which case, she would be expected to fade back into the scenery. Well, none of them would pick it up now. They were all occupied in the dining room.

Maggie’s heart took uncomfortable leaps around her chest when she heard the gasping and crying tones on the other end of the phone. It wasn’t the first time someone had rang the parish house, in dire straits, not by a long chalk, but maybe it was because her own nerves were all on edge tonight, that Maggie actually sat down on the hall chair.

She needed to take a grip of herself. This wasn’t going to get them anywhere.

“What is it, my dear?” She made her voice calm, concerned, flattened the worry out of it.”

“He’s dead, laid there…dreadful, dreadful…oh, God.”

The voice rose, and you could hear the hysteria just about to take over.

“Can you tell me who you are?” Keep it simple. That was the best.

“Mary, Mary…oh, I’m sorry…I’m in such a state, oh, oh,”

There was silence and tension tugged at Maggie’s throat. She was gripping the telephone receiver so tight that it was making her hand go into a cramp. She made her fingers loosen.

“Mary who?”

There came a loud sigh.

“I’m sorry. I’m better now. It’s Crowe. Mrs. Crowe.”

They lived in that big place, Inishowen House, and the woman was rarely seen out around the town. He was a bit of a mystery, rarely seen and reportedly in bad health. Young Father Tom went out and visited him.

“Father Lally came out earlier didn’t he, anointed your husband, I think?”

It was taking a bit of a chance; overstepping the mark even but she needed to calm the woman and remind her that her husband’s death wasn’t a surprise. Or was that being harsh? It was well known that death, even when expected, came as an awful shock.

“No, you don’t understand Miss Cahill. My husband didn’t die of natural causes. Not at all…” The ragged sobbing started again. What on earth did the woman mean? Not die of natural causes? Wasn’t she just suffering some sort of shock, surely? The best thing might be to get one of the priests. The canon definitely wouldn’t thank her for this, but she was out of her depth. Maybe Father Timothy or even young Father Tom…

“You don’t understand, Miss Cahill. He’s been hit. On the head, blood everywhere. Someone came in here, with an iron bar and beat a dying man to death.

Top Reviews
Oh how I loved this book. There is nothing I enjoy more than curling up with a good book, shutting out the world and getting carried away by the characters as well as the story. This book has everything for me and if you want a good read with a great story this book is for you. Being a huge Agatha Christie fan and having read all of her books a million times over I was thrilled to discover Noreen Wainwright. I have read all of her books and am already looking forward to the next one. Her books are quite simply my cup of tea. Highly recommend you give them a try. ~ Suzanne Lambert, Amazon

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Having read this authors previous series I bought this book thinking it was something I'd be able to savour, sadly not, it was quite a page turner and so ended up reading it almost in one go. Now in the unfortunate sitution of having to wait for the author to write the next book in the series. The setting which is rural Ireland is expertly nuanced, lifting the story up to the next level. Well impressed. ~ Ezerubavy, Amazon

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I really enjoyed reading this book. It totally held my attention to the last page. I love the authors writing style, keeping the story and intrigue flowing. Now waiting for the next one in the series ~ The Duchess, Amazon

 

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