A nice addition to an enjoyable series….
The Well of Ice is the third entry in Andrea Carter’s Inishowen series. In it, Carter returns to the same small town, Glendara; and the same cast of characters, including solicitor Benedicta “Ben” O’Keefe and local police Sergeant Tom Molloy; that have made the first two books so enjoyable. And although Glendara is fictional, it’s located on the very real far northern Inishowen peninsula of Ireland, and Carter’s elegant descriptions of the peninsula, even in the middle of the winter (with cold – and wind – and ice – and snow), make Inishowen seem like part of the story itself.
The Well of Ice has two main threads. One revolves around the release from prison of the man who killed Ben’s sister, and who may – or may not – now be coming after her. The other is centered on a mysterious pub fire and missing barmaid in Glendara. And eventually, of course, there’s a dead body. I don’t want to indulge in spoilers, so I’m not going to indicate whether these threads all dovetail nicely or get solved separately. But in the end, Carter brings almost everything to a satisfactory resolution. (See below for the one exception, IMO…)
My only minor complaint with The Well of Ice, and really, with all of the three books I’ve read so far, is around Ben’s relationship with Molloy, which is less assured and more stressful than I’d like it to be in a book that I’m reading for fun. I do understand that I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to try to start a new relationship given Ben’s past history with a murdered sister and with that sister’s killer on the loose. Even without that kind of stress, relationships can have tough patches, especially when exes are involved. And I also know it’s probably a little shallow of me to want things to go more smoothly on the romantic front, but…that’s how I feel. However, this is not a major issue, and even with that minor kvetch, I still really enjoyed the book, and read it in only a couple of sittings.
As far as a rating, please keep in mind that I try to fight star-flation a bit, so I only give five star ratings to a very few books. So four stars is a really solid recommendation from me. And just for one final note, I think my biggest smile while reading the book came when I read that Ben’s parents were planning a vacation trip for the Christmas holidays. I immediately started imagining trips to sunny warm southern climes, only to find out that they were going to Iceland (!?!?!) during December. Brrrrrrrr….
Oh yeah, and my thanks to the publisher, Oceanview Publishing, for the review copy!
Buy: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | Kobo US | Kobo UK | Kobo Canada
All four of Andrea Carter’s Inishowen books are on sale right now in the US for $0.99 each, and they’re discountable at Kobo US. (Remember that coupon code “Partners22” gives 40% off at Kobo, but only on one book per checkout. So if you want to use the code on more than one book, you have to check out multiple times, with only one book in the cart at at time…)
Death at Whitewater Church, #1
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DZ1WHP3
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-at-whitewater-church-4
Treacherous Strand, #2
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TRD9Z31
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/treacherous-strand-2
The Well of Ice, #3
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086KXFB9M
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-well-of-ice-1
Murder at Greysbridge, #4
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SRBTHGH
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/murder-at-greysbridge-1
Three of the (now) six books in the series are $1.99 right now at Kindle US, but sadly not on sale at Kobo US.
The books are Treacherous Strand (#2), Murder at Greysbridge (#4), and The Body Falls (#5). Links for the first two are in the comment just above, and here is a link for the last one…
The Body Falls
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3F9DLRJ
Three of the six books in Carter’s Inishowen series have just dropped to $0.99 each at Kindle US. And, the other three books in the series are only $1.99 right now, so if you like the series, you can scarf them all for less than $10.
link to the series webpage at Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVF6RFJQ?binding=kindle_edition
link to the third book, The Well of Ice, whose Kindle version doesn’t show up on the series webpage for some reason: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086KXFB9M