How I Met Your Murderer

Sarah Glenn Marsh

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Haunting #439: Ardruin Castle

Number of ghosts: It’s anyone’s guess, really

Location: The village of Ballycorven in West Kerry, Ireland

History: Long and bloody. Full of fire, covert poisonings, plague, and various mysterious deaths since its construction in 1219.

Wanted: Get the ghosts under control by October 31st for the grand opening of Céad Míle Fáilte Medieval Dining Experience inside the renovated castle, “Where the Mead Flows, the Bards Roar, and Everyone’s a Lord (for the Evening).”

The Expert: Rafferty O’Meara, formerly Kerry hurling’s star midfielder

The Complication: Eric James Crawford. Ghost, American, tourist. Chaotic Good Boy who’s about to rearrange Raff’s world as they try to figure out just how Eric really died.

Rafferty O’Meara has somehow survived six months of working for the ExorSquad—the UK’s least reputable ghost removal service—after a career-ending injury took him away from the sport he loved, hurling. Living out of his van on little pay, Raff has already seen his fill of haunted pubs, soggy bog brides, and endlessly chanting monks when he gets called to his biggest assignment Ardruin Castle, a crumbling estate in west Kerry, Ireland.

The ancient building’s ambitious new owners have been trying to renovate the place for months, but there’s always some catastrophe pushing back the grand opening, because the place is undeniably haunted. Enter ExorSquad—or rather, Raff. He’s on his own to remove the castle’s many ghosts so the new tourist attraction can open to guests the week after Halloween.

Well, not entirely on his own. The hot, smug ghost of an American tourist who loves D&D turns out to be helpful in learning about and managing the other ghosts. Plus, Eric is easy to talk to. Easy to trust. And…Raff isn’t sure he can be the one to move him on. Not when he’s forming an unearthly attachment that feels a lot like love. He’s also not sure he can protect Eric or the castle’s other ghosts—who, despite their quirks, aren’t all that bad—from the more sinister presence that’s doing its best to avoid him. Something powerful and ancient, an entity that might have murdered Eric and now wants Raff’s heart—literally.
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