Books: A West Cork murder filled with intrigue, history, and passion

Cork author Susan Lanigan is delighted to have made the Rebel County her home - and has set her latest novel here.

Originally from Carlow, Susan lived in Dublin before re-locating to Cobh nine years ago.

Was it love that prompted Susan to relocate to the former Queenstown steeped in history?

“It was indeed!” she laughs. “The man who is my husband and who has family connections brought me here! Cobh is great!”

A mother of one son, Susan is the author of the acclaimed White Feathers and Lucia’s War, and is back with a new book, The Planter’s Daughter, a genre-defying eco crime novel that blends history, tension, environmental activism, and psychological depth.

Susan, who is a software developer and has been a member of the Green Party since 2017, describes a plot that is ripe with intrigue for her latest work.

“Sadbh Drummond was landed gentry, a passionate eco warrior, and she left a trail of broken hearts and wrecked marriages behind her. So, when her burned body is found in a forestry plantation in West Cork, it soon becomes clear that her death was not an accident.”

Tell us more about Sadbh, whose murder sets the ball rolling for a riveting read set in the magical surrounds of West Cork.

“Her Anglo-Irish heritage and great beauty marked her as an outsider, and her campaigns to save the land and climate activism put her into conflict with many, including local farmer Tom Keating and resentful Sinead Furlong,” explains Susan.

The plot thickens in more ways than one….

“When Detective Inspector Rosa Keane is called in to investigate, she soon learns about age-old resentments dating back to the War of Independence.

“Sadhbh and her family were well known and were once renowned estate landowners pre the Irish Civil War years.”

“But with a town closing ranks and Rosa secretly grappling with her own gender identity, the question is can she and her colleague, Kevin, discover what happened to Sadhbh before it’s too late?”

Susan adds: “ The Planter’s Daughter is a distillation of everything I learned since I joined the Green Party in 2017, as well as my long-held conviction that our dysfunctional relationship to climate and biodiversity is due to long-term colonial damage.”

Susan is not afraid to include controversial topics in her fiction.

“The book also examines the hypocrisy of our attitudes to transgender people,” she said.

“Through the character of Sadhbh, the murdered activist, the novel shows the myriad resentments of her enemies.

“It is why I chose the title The Planter’s Daughter, after the Austin Clarke poem.”

The poem by the Dublin poet, who died 51 years ago, is a wonderfully romantic declaration of love for a woman.

A murder mystery with a mix of crime, controversy, old feuds, racism, Irish history, suspicion, trans-phobia, betrayal, and relationships, The Planter’s Daughter will keep you turning the pages, with its well-drawn .characters and well-researched historical background.

Local farmer Tom Keating, whose grandfather, Harry, was involved in the War of Independence, is the main suspect in the murder investigation.

Tom, too, has a past and a story to tell. His resentful stepdaughter, Sinead Furlong, plays a role in the intrigue and sense of suspicion surrounding the investigations.

With a town closing ranks, Inspector Rosa Keane learns about deeply ingrained resentments dating back to the War of Independence while secretly grappling with her own gender identity.

Can Rosa and Garda Kevin, discover what happened to Sadhbh before it’s too late?

Susan’s desire to tell powerful stories, historical fiction, and contemporary short stories, and her grá for history, is reflected in The Planter's Daughter.

She long harboured an ambition to be a writer.

“Yes, becoming an author was always an ambition of mine ever since I was a kid,” she says.

Writing, researching, drafting, and editing a book can be hard work, can’t it?

“I find the research very interesting,” says Susan, who graduated with a master’s in creative writing from NUI Galway, and who has had short stories published in The Stinging Fly, Southward, The Sunday Tribune, the Irish Independent, Nature Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Mayo News.

Susan has been thrice shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writing Award, and longlisted and shortlisted for the Fish Short Story Contest, the Bristol Prize, the Raymond Carver Short Story Award, and other competitions.

Her life-long ambition to become a published author and her passion for Irish history, notably World War I, has served her well, making a familiar name in all good bookshops.

Her taut prose and ability to conjure up an evocative atmosphere make The Planter’s Daughter a stand-out addition to Ireland’s literary crime canon.

“How are you enjoying ‘ The Planter’s Daughter ?’ inquires Susan.

I tell her that I couldn’t wait to get to the end of the book to find out what happened to Sadhbh before it was too late!”

Enthusiastic readers of The Planter’s Daughter will no doubt concur!

The Planter’s Daughter, by Susan Lanigan, is available from Idée Fixe Press and major retailers.