The Winter Guest
A Mystery
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4.0 • 35 Ratings
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER AWARD
A haunting, atmospheric mystery set against a country divided, by the author of A House of Ghosts.
January 1921. Though the Great War is over, in Ireland a new civil war is raging. The once-grand Kilcolgan House, a crumbling bastion shrouded in sea mist, lies half empty and filled with ghosts, both real and imagined, while it shelters the surviving members of the Prendeville family. Then, when an IRA ambush goes terribly wrong, Maud Prendeville, Lord Kilcolgan’s eldest daughter, is killed, leaving the family reeling. Yet the IRA column behind the attack insists they left her alive, that someone else must be responsible for her terrible fate. Captain Tom Harkin, an IRA intelligence officer and Maud's former fiancé, is sent to investigate. He becomes an unwelcome guest in this strange, gloomy household.
Working undercover, Harkin must delve into the house's secrets—and discover where, in this fractured, embattled town, allegiances truly lie. But Harkin too is haunted by the ghosts of the past and by his terrible experiences on the battlefields. Can he find the truth about Maud's death before the past—and his strange, unnerving surroundings—overwhelm him?
The Winter Guest is a gripping and immersive read for fans of classic mysteries by the likes of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers along with Charles Todd’s Ian Rutledge series, Ann Cleeves, and Jacqueline Winspear.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Set in 1921 during the Irish civil war, this fine mystery from Ryan (A House of Ghosts) takes Capt. Thomas Harkin, an IRA intelligence officer, from Dublin to the west coast of Ireland to investigate the murder of the Honorable Maud Prendeville, shot during a raid carried out by Irish Volunteers. Maud, who was Harkin's former lover, stood with the rebels during the 1916 Easter Uprising, despite her family's loyalist ties, and it's unclear to him why the Volunteers would want to kill her. Conducting his investigation from Kilcolgan House, the Prendeville family mansion, Harkin clashes with both a brutal British major commanding the local Auxiliary unit and secretive rebels while struggling with the lingering effects of concussions suffered during the Great War. Kilcolgan House functions as a character in its own right, dark and decaying; at one point Harkin "could swear that the very walls of the room come closer in anticipation, as though the ghosts of the house have gathered around them, listening in." Ryan further manipulates the atmosphere with mysterious ghostly visions that may have a supernatural origin or may only be the result of Harkins's post-traumatic stress disorder. Fans of Charles Todd's Ian Rutledge series will want to check this out.
Customer Reviews
Great mystery read.
A good-paced story, with surprising twists that keeps you on edge.
Excellent mystery/thriller
A very absorbing mystery that starts as an investigation into a murder and quickly becomes wrapped in intrigue when the IRA and British intelligence go head to head during The Troubles after WWI. Who can you trust? Will family or childhood friends be enough to keep you safe? Throw in what may be ghosts or may just be the result of exhaustion and post-traumatic stress from the war and you have one ripping yarn!