Laced

April 2, 2007
At the start of Clark's light-hearted 10th Regan Reilly mystery (after 2006's Hitched), newlyweds Regan, a PI, and Jack Reilly, head of the Major Case Squad in New York City, are anticipating an idyllic honeymoon in western Ireland. But their hopes of tranquility are soon dashed. Early the first morning at their hotel, Hennessy Castle, Regan wakes up and thinks she sees a ghost out their window; the next moment a fire alarm sends her and Jack and the hotel's other guests to the lobby. Later, a rare lace tablecloth on display at the castle disappears. Legend says it was made by May Reilly in the early 19th century, but because May was never paid for her work, her ghost haunts the castle. Jack's receiving a note signed by two thieves he's been trying to track down in New York complicates matters, as do the efforts of an American couple to cheat a talented local artist. In an atmospheric mystery loaded with quaint characters, Clark gives the reader a unique tour of Ireland from narrow country roads to the city of Galway.