Half Moon Bay Mysteries: Book 1
Publication Date: January 13, 2025
“Wedding dresses, ex-fiancés, and a whole lot of murder—just another day in Half Moon Bay”
Therapist Clementine Moriarty thought her return to the whimsical seaside town of Half Moon Bay, nestled in cozy Donegal – would be a chance to reconnect with her roots, spend time at her parents’ charming little seaside art gallery and heal from heartbreak. But her homecoming is anything but peaceful when she stumbles upon an unwelcome surprise—her ex-fiancé, Greg, is getting married to her best friend, Charlotte, on the very beach where Clementine was supposed to say “I do.”
Through a series of unexpected twists and turns, what starts as a personal nightmare soon spirals into an intriguing mystery. An anonymous email had lured Clementine back home, but who sent it and why? As the wedding unfolds, tensions simmer, secrets surface, and Half Moon Bay’s picturesque façade begins to crack. When someone turns up dead with a series of baffling clues and puzzles, Clementine finds herself the role of unlikely detective as she becomes the prime suspect.
With the help of a heartwarming, blue-haired artist and her sharp intuition, Clementine must navigate a maze of jealous exes, local gossip, and buried betrayals to uncover the truth amid the charming and Whimsical backdrop of Donegal. But in a village where everyone has something to hide, will this quirky crime-solving team be able to unmask the killer before it’s too late?
Perfect for fans of small-town mysteries, vibrant characters, clever clues, and a touch of romance, Murder at an Irish Wedding will keep you guessing until the final page.
Clementine believes she is returning to the charming seaside town of Half Moon Bay to reconnect, relax, and heal from utter heartbreak, only to run into her ex-fiancé, Greg, who is marrying her best friend on the very beach she and Greg were intended to wed.
Throw in a mystery or two or three, add a dead body with the lead character becoming the prime suspect, and you’ve got a solid start to a series. Mystery at an Irish Wedding is the first book in the charming Half Moon Bay Mysteries series by L.C. Winters, which starts with a bang and will leave readers guessing till the end.
Clementine studied mental health and wants to be a mental health counselor, but she is the one experiencing trauma and turmoil. Clementine is sensitive, funny, and shy. She is a believable and rich character whom I truly enjoyed.
Sometimes, I struggle to understand British or Irish humor and language. However, with such a strong plot, solid relationships, and an engaging mystery, I could usually get the gist of what’s happening through context clues.
Small towns often conceal unwanted secrets while reveling in salacious town gossip. When Clementine starts poking around to clear her name of the murder, the picturesque seaside town’s veneer begins to show cracks.
Dynamic characters, imaginative clues, and a touch of romance make Mystery at an Irish Wedding a hit for cozy readers.
 
L.C. Winters is the pen name for Laura Cavanagh & Colin Vaughan. We are from Ireland, and we aim to bring our culture, cozy Irish atmosphere, legends and history into our stories. We write cozy mystery romance novels. Our focus is on creating a set of clever clues with twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very end. Our first series is called Half Moon Bay Mysteries and it is set in a small, seaside village in Ireland. Our stories promote a romanticised view of small-town life with a host of eccentric, lovable characters.
As avid mystery fans (we love the classics like Agatha Christie as well as modern cozy authors like Richard Osman), we love deciphering clues and trying to beat the detective to figure out who commited the crime. So we decided to create mysteries with a complex set of interrelated clues which are delivered in an easy to follow story. We hope that the ending of each of our mysteries is both a surprise and, at the same time, feels inevitable and ‘right’.
Laura has a degree in Psychology and this is reflected in our protagonist Clementine who uses her Psychology know-how to figure out the motives, secrets and inconsistencies in each suspect.
With our cozy fiction, we aim to create heartwarming stories with lovable, quirky characters in a nice, soothing environment. Wherever you are when you are reading our stories, we hope to whisk you away to beautiful, picturesque Ireland to the seaside county of Donegal!
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Hi Lori. Thank you so much for taking the time to review of our novel. We read this review (on Instagram first and then here on the Novels Alive website) and we were over the moon. I am so glad that you enjoyed Mystery at an Irish Wedding.
L.C. Winters
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