A Ballysea Christmas: A Ballysea Mystery

By Frances Powell

Return again to Ballysea, Ireland and join Cat Murphy and her Irish Wolfhound, The O'Brien, as their plans for a peaceful Christmas are abruptly interrupted by the unexplained disappearance of children from the village.

With snow falling the night of the long awaited Christmas Ball at the manor, Cat's daughter Molly and Edward Granville's daughter also go missing. No traces of the girls can be found, only their footprints in the snow leading towards the forest. When the exhausted search party returns to the manor, only The O'Brien continues to search through the storm.

When a ransom note is received, will Cat and The O'Brien be able to free the girls and bring the kidnappers to justice or will the faithful hound lose his life trying?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543916591

Book preview

Chapter 1

The crystal flakes of snow began falling silently from the sky wrapping the manor in a fairytale-like cocoon in the days leading up to the Christmas Ball. After months of planning, the manor was ready to receive its guests. As the guests entered through the massive ancient oak door into the entrance hall, they would be greeted by the largest, most elaborately decorated Christmas tree anyone living in Ballysea, or within a hundred miles had ever seen. It had all been a labor of love by Catherine (Cat) Murphy as a special treat for her newly adopted daughter, Molly, and Marian, the daughter of Edward Granville, the manor’s owner.

Molly and Marian became close friends after Cat adopted the daughter of the murdered former owner of her Irish Wolfhound, The O’Brien. The O’Brien had been with Cat for three years after saving her life when she fell and lay unconscious on the beach near her home in Annapolis, Maryland.  If it hadn’t been for the stray Irish Wolfhound finding her lying there, dangerously close to the incoming tide of the Chesapeake Bay, and going for help, Cat could have easily lost her life that day.

Help came in the form of the man who was to become her best friend and now landlord in Ireland, Jeff Hunter.   Jeff, a successful attorney, was doing yard work at his new home above where Cat fell when the massive dog came bounding out of nowhere and led him to where she lay.  Since her soon to be ex-husband was on vacation with his pregnant young girlfriend, Jeff stayed with her at the hospital and later saw her safely home.

From that day onward, Cat and Jeff became close friends and when no one came forward to claim the big dog, he stayed on to become Cat’s faithful companion. When a letter arrived from a Dublin solicitor notifying Jeff he had inherited his aunt’s house in Ballysea, on the west coast of Ireland, Cat jumped at the opportunity to escape the memories of her failed twenty-year marriage and start afresh.

Since coming to the small fishing village seeking peace and quiet to continue her writing career, Cat found herself caught up in one mysterious death after another. In every instance, The O’Brien was always there to protect and save his mistress and those she loved. 

Just months before Christmas, Cat asked for Jeff’s help; pulling him away from his prestigious law firm, to finally solve the mystery of The O’Brien. Cat was convinced that his owner must have died for the loyal hound to willingly remain with her. It came as a shock when Jeff uncovered the truth. It was a truth that changed Cat’s life forever.

The O’Brien’s owner, a widowed woman was murdered in her home by her lover leaving behind a 4-year-old daughter. The shock of her mother’s sudden death affected the child so greatly that she hadn’t spoken since. When it was discovered that her only surviving relative was a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s, living in a care home, the child was placed in the local orphanage.

Throughout her nearly twenty-year marriage Cat craved a child of her own but her husband claimed he didn’t want anything or anyone changing their lifestyle. It wasn’t until that Christmas Eve three years ago when he asked for a divorce to marry his younger, pregnant, girlfriend, that Cat realized just how cruelly she had been betrayed. It came as little surprise that when Jeff divulged the details of the child’s situation, Cat knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted this child.

Cat traveled to Annapolis with Jeff and after meeting little Molly and speaking with the sisters at the orphanage she filed for adoption. Through the expertise of Jeff’s law firm, a fast-track adoption was arranged and Jeff brought Molly with him to Ireland just in time for the start of the holiday season. Within days after her reunion with her dog, the orphaned child slowly began speaking again.

Molly had only been in her new home with Cat and The O’Brien for a little over a month when she was abducted by Tom Jeffers, the man who murdered her mother. If it hadn’t been for the man’s suspicious wife following him to Ireland, and her intervention on Molly’s behalf, the child would have perished. Elizabeth Jeffers was severely injured trying to protect the child but managed to delay her husband long enough to allow Edward Granville and The O’Brien enough time to catch him before he could escape and convince him to disclose Molly’s location.

Chapter 2 – December 15

With Christmas quickly approaching, Cat was looking forward to the arrival of Jeff and his girlfriend Briana for the holidays and was hoping for a peaceful, traditional Irish Christmas with no unexplained murders to spoil the season.

After checking to see that Molly was still sleeping soundly, throwing some coals on the fire, and setting the coffee to brew, Cat pulled on her coat and she and The O’Brien were out the door for their morning walk.  As she closed the door tightly behind her and crossed the narrow lane towards the beach below, she stopped to knock at Maureen O’Brien’s door.  Maureen and Cat had become close friends just two days after Cat’s arrival in Ballysea when the red-headed, freckle-faced Maureen came knocking at Cat’s door carrying still warm homemade scones.  It was a morning tradition that began that very day, and one the women continued ever since.

Answering the knock, a smiling Maureen asked, Off for your morning walk?

Yes, we shouldn’t be too long this morning.  It doesn’t look like there are many gulls out on the beach today, so hopefully O’Brien won’t keep me sitting out there freezing. Besides he never likes to leave Molly alone in bed for long.  The O’Brien made it his personal duty to rid the beach of the pesky seagulls daily and wouldn’t leave until they had all taken flight. 

Continuing Cat said, The front door isn’t locked, so if you don’t see me go past by the time you’re ready, just go on in.  The coffee’s brewing and I shouldn’t be long.

Are Edward and Ryan stopping in today to finalize the plans for the Christmas Ball? called Maureen as Cat started for the beach. Edward Granville and his younger brother Ryan were owners of the manor house that sat just outside Ballysea.  The manor, comprising over 1,000 acres had been in the family for generations.  Cat had become close to the two brothers during her first spring in Ballysea when she became embroiled in the mystery surrounding Edward’s young heiress wife’s disappearance.  It was an involvement which almost cost her life.

Calling back over her shoulder Cat said, They said they would, so better set the table for four, if you get there before me.

As Cat sat on her favorite rock watching The O’Brien patrol the beach, she thought back on how much her life had changed over the last two years since moving to this small fishing village and about the good friends she had made