Carter creates a real page-turner with this, her second novel, giving us a wonderfully feisty, clever and warm character in Ben, and a supporting cast of wily realtors, flirty artists, colourful booksellers and all-knowing barmaids. 'Panic is a hangover cure' is Ben’s opening line, and this says a lot about her dubious work-life balance but ever-active sense of humour that is her shield against the worst of what she has to face.
As herring fill the cold Irish Sea, Andrea Carter’s beguiling and complex mystery throngs with red herrings. Quirky characters populate the pages, many of whom become suspects for Ben to investigate, since the garda (police) have ruled out homicide.
...[a] melodramatic sequel ... International cults, incest, adultery, blackmail, bullying, overbearing land developers, and Ben’s tenuous love life are but a few of the elements that figure in the jumbled plot. Despite the occasional gore and an overabundance of certifiably deranged suspects, this basically gentle mystery will appeal to cozy readers with a fondness for soap opera.
