By Diarmaid Doherty
LIAM Skelly gets to enjoy a regular morning walk along the beautiful Moville Shore Walk every day.
There are some days he’ll go for a walk a second time, such is the sheer enjoyment that he gets from a stroll along the rugged and beautiful 2.2km route.
The coastal walk along the shore of Lough Foyle is one of Inishowen’s hidden gems – but thanks to Liam, it has been the inspiration behind the latest in author Andrea Carter’s Inishowen Mysteries series of books.
Liam – so well known across Donegal as a ladies GAA coach with Donegal and his club Moville – became a fan of Andrea Carter’s crime novels once he picked up her first book ‘Death at Whitewater Church’ which was published in 2015.
“I actually never bothered reading books before then,” Liam said.
“It was probably the first book I ever read. I was dyslexic. I couldn’t read or write and I left school when I was just 12.
“But I’d heard about this book that was based in Inishowen. I really enjoyed it. There were towns and places that I recognised, I think that’s what made it so enjoyable.”
Andrea Carter grew up in Laois but after qualifying as a solicitor, ran a practice in Carndonagh for some time. In 2006 she returned to Dublin to work as a barrister before turning to writing crime novels.
The Inishowen Mysteries which also include Treacherous Strand and The Body Falls, have drawn much praise from fans, among them Liam Skelly who one day decided to send the author a framed pictured of the shore walk in Moville.
“Her books are crime stories all based around different parts of Inishowen and I just thought it might give her an idea for a story,” Liam explained.
His idea paid off. Carter’s latest book Death Writes is the sixth in the Inishowen Mystery Series.
The story is centred around the mysterious death of Gavin Featherstone the peninsula’s bestselling but reclusive writer who lives in a house along the shore walk.
The framed photograph taken at the coastal walk in Moville which hangs above the desk of crime novelist Andrea Carter.
He’s persuaded to take part in a literary festival in the fictional town of Glendara – but dies on stage.
Speaking recently to the website Writing.ie, Carter revealed how Liam’s photo had been such an inspiration at a time when she was really struggling to get back writing.
“I’d left number five The Body Falls on a cliffhanger, so I knew that I’d have to write a sixth at some stage, but I kept telling myself that I wasn’t ready.
“And then, just as we began to emerge from the pandemic and life started to feel more normal again, an Inishowen man who had been reading my books, working his way through all five, sent me a gift to thank me just for writing them (how lovely is that?). It was a beautiful framed photograph of the Moville to Greencastle shore walk along the banks of the Foyle, and I hung it on my wall above my desk.
“While I tried to write other books at that desk, I found myself gazing up at that photograph: the sea, the rocks, the evening light on the shore. And suddenly I had the grain of an idea. Was I ready to write a new Inishowen book?”
Months later, with the book published, Carter, on a visit to Inishowen, decided to go for a walk on the shore walk and as fate would have it, one of the first people she met was Liam Skelly.
The Moville man is singled out for special mention at the end of Death Writes.
“It was lovely to be acknowledged,” he said.
“I was at the book launch in Little Acorns bookstore in Derry. I got to meet Andrea again and she’s just lovely.”
And while he’s not spending his time out in the fresh air of the shore walk, Liam has now moved on to another crime series based in Donegal and written by Derry author Brian McGilloway.
“I’m enjoying these books too,” he said.
“I’m not the fastest reader. I’m getting through them slowly, but I’ve got to say, they’re a great read.”
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