The Cottage Deed Mystery: A Fiona Callahan Irish Village Mystery

A disputed cottage deed. A cliffside death. A village where every stone has a memory.

Genealogist Fiona Callahan has barely finished untangling the truth behind her grandmother’s hidden identity when another secret lands on her doorstep.

The cottage deed was never Brendan’s.

The anonymous note points to a cliffside cottage tied to Fiona’s Callahan ancestors, Rose Mary Devane’s lost property claim, and a parcel of land that half of Kilcarra seems to remember differently. Fiona tells herself she is only doing what genealogists do best: following records, checking dates, and refusing to let family stories bully the facts.

Then a local land surveyor is found dead near the cliff road.

The victim had been examining old boundary maps, a damaged deed, and a stone marker that should not exist. Now Fiona must trace the ownership of the cottage through parish notes, probate files, oral history, and pub gossip at The Shamrock & Stone, where everyone knows something and no one knows it in the same order.

Garda Declan Byrne wants Fiona safe. Aunt Maeve wants her fed. Bridie McKenna wants everyone to admit she was right years ago. And somewhere in Kilcarra, someone wants the cottage deed to stay exactly where it has always been: hidden behind a prettier lie.

The Cottage Deed Mystery is the second book in the Kilcarra Irish Village Mysteries, a clean and atmospheric cozy mystery series featuring genealogy, Irish village life, disputed deeds, parish records, old family secrets, slow-burn romance, and a fair-play puzzle beside the pub fire.