I was searching through old newspapers recently and came across this sad story. It’s a cold case about a young Quaker woman and a British soldier who both disappeared in the early 19th century. The place was Clonmel, County Tipperary, where I was born and, to this day, no one knows what really happened that night.
Dog Lovers from the Past
I’m addicted to flicking through the old photographs posted by the National Library on Flickr. They attract me in the way peeping through a window into the past would: to catch a glimpse of real people captured in a moment of the 19th century.
My recent research led me to a collection of ‘four-legged’ images, where I soon discovered that people in the Victorian-era, from all walks of life, were just as obsessed with their dogs as we are today.
The Abandoned Village of Glentornan
True Stories with an Odd Twist
A Mysterious Tapping from a Crate
In October 1941, a porter at Dublin’s North Wall Docks was surprised to hear tapping from a large crate that had been unloaded from a ship from Liverpool, the Slieve Bawn. At first he thought he was imagining this, but he decided to tap back and was immediately answered with another tap from inside.
Upon opening it, he found a 40-year-old French artist, Maurice Carcassus de Laboujac, semi-conscious and encased in a plaster cast…
Uncovering some of the secrets of ‘The Whispering River’ - a new dual timeline mystery novel
Greetings mystery lovers! Today, I’ll bring you into the world of The Whispering River, my new dual timeline novel that takes the reader on a journey through the late Victorian era and also into the present. This book, with the stunning backdrop of Ireland's Wicklow mountains, tells the tale of two steadfast women from different eras, both determined to build a better future for themselves.
A dramatic setting for a castle - Dunluce is worth a visit
Four haunted houses for Halloween
Halloween is a time for family and friends to gather around a crackling fire and share ghost stories. Apparently in Victorian times, spooky tales were more associated with Christmas but nowadays we savour them at the end of October. There is a limitless supply of ghost stories in Ireland where huge ruined castles loom on the landscape and the ruins of big houses lie abandoned at the end of long winding avenues. They have always fascinated me so, to celebrate the spooky season, I’ve found four tales of haunted houses.
'The Family Shadow' is now available as an audiobook
The Family Shadow is here
It’s been a busy few weeks but The Family Shadow is here and is available as a Kindle ebook, paperback and in Kindle Unlimited. It’s a historical mystery with dual timeline suspense and is set on the sweeping Wexford coast in Ireland in the late nineteenth century and also in 2019.
I’ve always loved that area of Wexford. It’s near Curracloe with its seven mile long sandy beach and dunes, backed by Raven Wood, a spine of Corsican pines. Even on summer days, the beach never seems crowded. Around the far bend is the famous Wexford Slobs wildfowl reserve where geese and swans fly in for the winter months.