Inishowen experienced real and serious flooding in August 2017. The suggestion to use the heavy rain as a backdrop for this book came from Inishowen teenager Bláithín Gillen. I was hesitant at first but when I spoke to people about their experiences, I changed my mind. I try my best to portray Inishowen in all its drama and beauty, and the floods were a major incident at the time.

Much is fictionalised here for plot purposes (McSheffrey’s Bridge did not crack!) but if you wish to know more about what really happened, there are plenty of articles online. All the national and local newspapers covered it at the time.

I’m hugely grateful for the continuing help and support I’ve received from people in Inishowen and, in particular, I want to thank Fidelma Tony, Joe Butler, Róisín Doherty and Lily McGonagle for their help with this book. And of course, Bláithín for the initial idea!

Thank you to my young nephew Christopher for supplying the victim’s name and the murder method. I really hope he doesn’t know someone called Bob Jameson. Thank you also to William and Ethel Telford for sharing their experience of charity cycles, Simon Mills for the medical detail, Úna Ní Dhubhghaill for information on the charities sector, Neil Hegarty for the book’s title, Neville McCormick, Mark Tottenham, Emma and Ronan, Derek and Claire (from Sicily), Mick, and my brother Owen.

In September 2018 I was lucky enough to travel to Florida to coincide with the publication of my first book in the US. I divided my time between Sarasota and St. Petersburg, and my wonderful US publisher, Oceanview, arranged for me to do a hugely enjoyable event at the lovely Bookstore 1 in Sarasota. Thank you to all at Oceanview and at Bookstore1 for the kindness shown to me that week.

Thank you to all at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig. Thank you to my publishers Constable/Little, Brown and Hachette Ireland and to my brilliant agent Kerry Glencorse of Susanna Lea Associates. Love and thanks to my family, and to Geoff, my grown-up family.

All errors are of course my own and, on that note, if I’ve forgotten someone, I apologise!

PUBLISHERS NOTE

We hope that you enjoyed The Body Falls, the fifth novel in Andrea Carter’s Inishowen Mystery Series with Solicitor Ben O’Keeffe.

While the other four novels stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is as follows:

Death at Whitewater Church

(BOOK 1)

Missing groom—a deconsecrated church—a hidden crypt—a skeleton wrapped in a blanket

“Haunting, atmospheric, and gripping. One of the finest Irish mystery debuts of recent years. Tana French has some serious competition.”

—John Connolly,

New York Times best-selling author

Treacherous Strand

(BOOK 2)