I don’t know if this is a compliment or not, but I certainly intended it as one. I found myself so caught up in the relationships and characters in Ellie Brannigan’s Murder at an Irish Castle, that I forgot there had been a suspicious death, and there was reason for suspicion. Instead, I found myself involved with Rayne McGrath’s unusual problems.

As the owner of a successful wedding boutique on Rodeo Drive, Rayne expected her thirtieth birthday to begin with a lunch with investors, and end with an engagement ring and proposal from her business partner and boyfriend, Landon Short. Instead, she finds herself locked out of her shop, and Landon’s gone, taking all of the money in their business account. Her birthday celebration collapses, and she only has a message to call her uncle’s attorney in Ireland. Rayne’s Uncle Nevin has died. Although she needs to deal with Landon’s crimes, she finds herself on a plane to Ireland when the lawyer insists she must come talk to him in person.

An angry woman meets Rayne at the airport in Dublin, and they end up together at the lawyer’s office. It’s only then that Rayne is introduced to Ciare Smith. She’s Uncle Nevin’s daughter, although she only met him for the first time nine years earlier when Ciare’s mother died. But, Ciare has been living and working with her father for the last six years. It comes as a shock to both women when the lawyer announces that Rayne inherits the family castle, McGrath Castle as well as the responsibility for an entire village of four hundred people, Grathton Village. Ciare is to manage the property for a year, and Rayne has to live there for that year, or both women lose the estate and any rights to it. If they turn a profit for the estate by the end of the year, they will both inherit money, and have the opportunity to walk away.

While both women are shocked, Ciare is still mourning the recent loss of her father in a tragic accident she claims is a suspicious death. She suspects her father was murdered. Rayne is sympathetic, but insists she has a business and an entire life in California. She can’t give up a year of her life and her business to learn to run a castle.

As I said, for a while I actually forgot that Nevin had died under unusual circumstances. I’ll admit I was intrigued by Rayne’s problems and business, and felt little sympathy for Ciare, an angry woman who continually tried to best Rayne in every conversation. The cast who works at the castle, and keeps it operating, proved to be fascinating. However, Rayne proves to be an excellent amateur sleuth. Perhaps I forgot about the death because Rayne was so capable. Unlike so many amateur sleuths, she did not turn all of her time over to the murder investigation while neglecting her life and business.

I’m sure Ellie Brannigan’s Irish Castle Mystery is intended to be the first in a series. I’ll want to read the next one. I was pleased with this as the debut of a new series with a competent amateur sleuth, an intriguing cast, and a beautiful setting. There’s lots of potential with Murder at an Irish Castle.

Ellie Brannigan, who is actually Traci Hall, can be found at https://www.tracihall.com/

Murder at an Irish Castle by Ellie Brannigan. Crooked Lane Books, 2023. ISBN 9781639102587 (paperback), 320p.

FTC Full Disclosure – I received a galley to review for a journal.