The story so far: Jo Devereux has returned to Mucknamore, the Irish seaside village where she grew up, for her mother's funeral after an absence of 20 years. There she reconnects with her sister Maeve, brother-in-law Donal, niece Ria and – to her great surprise – Rory O'Donovan, once the love of her life and the last person she expected to see at a Devereux funeral. Now read on:
Donal explains that we are to stand behind the hearse and lead the cortège down to the old cemetery. Only when he says this do I look across and realize: my father’s grave lies flat and undisturbed.
‘Let me guess: another special request?’
‘Yep. She’s to be buried with her own family.’
Not with Daddy. I’m surprised she braved the scandal of that, dead or alive.
‘And according to the grand plan, we all have to walk there.’
To the old cemetery? That’s down almost as far as Rathmeelin, the next village up the coast. In this heat? I doubt I’ll be able to make it. But now here’s Maeve bustling across, aggravated-big-sister expression in place. ‘Am I supposed to say,
because, as advised by Joanna last week, I need to have my published novels e-reader-ready for Christmas… and because I'm also publishing a poetry book this month…, I find I have to put Skin Diving on hold.
Mel McIntyre mines family history and her own memory for details of a 20-year-old tragedy: the death of baby sister, Tara. Mel has reason to believe the mysterious circumstances of this killing connect in some way to the recent suicide of her twin, Jamie. 
