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Choice Publishing Book Store |
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To Balance the Scales
By Jim Counihan
Price: €20.00
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About the Book:
Martin Cassidy, bedevilled by superstitions about the sea for most of his life, lives on his own in the idyllic Beltard House, which lies a few miles outside a small village on the west coast of Ireland. He has little contact with anybody except his hired helper Willy Flanagan, slow-witted but competent and loyal, and Willy’s sister Rita, who does some of the housekeeping. Then Helen Bradley - a volatile, red-haired marine biologist, burdened with secret complexes from her past - comes into his life dramatically and begins to make sweeping changes to it - changes that, for others, are disruptive. Eventually, they get engaged but the celebration ends in disaster when Helen runs out in the early hours of Saturday morning. Martin Cassidy wakes on Sunday morning exhausted, tense and uneasy. Before he can pull himself together, Willy arrives unexpectedly at the front door in a highly agitated state. Helen’s disappearance subsequently initiates an investigation by D.C. Matt Kennedy. This is hampered by Martin Cassidy’s non-cooperation, the animosity of the villagers and, occasionally, by the religious and chaste convictions of his wife, Agnes. Later, another person from the village disappears. To Kennedy’s dismay, his chief insists that he diverts all of his attention to this case. Months later, a chance remark leads to him discovering a body - and unexpected complicating factors. Nevertheless, from this point on he begins to unravel the mystery. In the end, he philosophically accepts that it was Helen’s disappearance that triggered off the complex chain of events that was needed in order to . . . ‘Balance the Scales’.
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