Such a Nice Girl by Andrea Mara Summary: A Harrowing Dublin Wedding Weekend
TL;DR
A three-day wedding in Dublin’s affluent suburbs ends when two young women disappear from a pool house.
Blood on the rug and a whispered 999 call point to violence.
As the investigation unfolds, the case exposes hidden parentage, broken friendships, and a revenge plan that began with a fatal 1992 car crash.
- RĂ© McKenna and Luna Caine vanish after a wedding.
- Detectives find a staged crime scene and a disturbing emergency call.
- The past of both mothers becomes central to the search.
- The resolution ties together kidnapping, arson, and a long-delayed act of revenge.
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Characters In This Book
- Siobhán McKenna: Founder of Scorch Cosmetics and mother of Ré.
- Grace Gill: Siobhán’s best friend and Charlie Caine’s ex-wife.
- Charlie Caine: Construction magnate, father of Luna and Xavi, and biological father of RĂ©.
- Emma-Rose O’Shea: Anthony O’Shea’s sister and Charlie’s third wife, who plans the revenge plot.
- RĂ©iltĂn “Ré” McKenna: Siobhán’s daughter, a laboratory worker in London, and a target of the frame-up.
- Luna Caine: Grace and Charlie’s daughter, who hides her abandonment of Ré in Marrakesh.
- Ben Wilson: Manager of Sage Catering and Emma-Rose’s partner in the kidnapping.
- Xavi Caine: Charlie’s son, an actor who reveals the sibling secret to Ré.
- Detective Aisling O’Connell: Lead plain-clothes detective on the missing persons case.
- Garda Stephanie Harrington: Liaison officer who assists in uncovering key evidence.
- Jasmine Whitaker: Wedding planner who knew the girls in school and was falsely blamed for teenage thefts.
- Anthony O’Shea: Grace’s deceased boyfriend who died in the 1992 crash.
- Arabella Bailey-Crean: The child Grace nannied who lost her sight in the crash.
Spoiler warning: This section recounts the ending and major reveals. In Andrea Mara’s Such a Nice Girl, Siobhán McKenna wakes after a lavish three-day wedding in south Dublin and finds that her daughter Ré and Grace Gill’s daughter Luna are missing from the garden pool house. The room is ransacked, blood is later confirmed on the rug, and a 999 call records a voice whispering that her roommate has a knife. Thirty-four years earlier, Grace worked as a nanny for the Bailey-Crean family in Ballsbridge. She let her boyfriend Anthony O’Shea believe their baby Arabella was his. When Grace left the baby with Anthony during a dental appointment, Anthony took the child to a drug deal. Siobhán called the police, and a chase ended in a crash that killed Anthony and blinded Arabella. Grace then falsely claimed Anthony kidnapped the child. That public claim brought shame to the O’Shea family. Anthony’s mother died by suicide, and his teenage sister Emma-Rose began planning revenge. Decades later, Emma-Rose has tracked Siobhán and Grace under the online name “Laura” and married Grace’s ex-husband, Charlie Caine. Siobhán has her own secret: Ré was not fathered by an Australian lecturer named Aidan but by Charlie Caine during a one-night stand. Read Also: Buyer Beware Summary: A Haunted House Thriller Where Walls Hide the Dead Ré learns this during the wedding after overhearing Charlie say she and Luna were raised like brother and sister. Emma-Rose and her lover Ben Wilson, who runs Sage Catering, plan to make Ré and Luna appear to kill each other. On the wedding night, Ben drugs the young women with Rohypnol. Emma-Rose stages the 999 call, cuts Ré to leave blood, and Ben moves both victims to a Stepaside rental house. The plan shifts when Ben decides to demand a one-million-euro ransom. Emma-Rose insists on immediate murder, so Ben kills her with a brick. Ben then moves Ré and Luna to Emma-Rose’s late grandparents’ bungalow, handcuffs Ré to a radiator, stabs her, and sets the house on fire. Siobhán and Grace identify a blue butterfly tattoo and a pink feather boa from the ransom video. They find the burning bungalow with Charlie. Grace pries the radiator pipe from the wall to free Ré, and all three escape before the house explodes. Ben is arrested in Málaga three days later. Ré recovers in the hospital, Charlie steps back from work to parent his children, and Ré and Luna begin building a relationship as half-sisters. Related: The Searcher Book Summary: A Quiet Irish Noir That Cuts to the Bone Spoiler warning: This section groups the novel’s 86 chapters and epilogue into six narrative movements. Siobhán and Grace discover the girls missing from the pool house. Police recover the 999 call and blood evidence, but neither mother can confirm the voice. The investigation begins with the families under immediate suspicion and strain. Read Next: All Her Fault by Andrea Mara Summary: A Twisted Domestic Thriller of Lies Interviews with friends reveal that Ré and Luna’s friendship was volatile. Siobhán learns about a secret mugging in Marrakesh and a hidden relationship between Ré and Luna’s ex-boyfriend Theo. The search widens beyond the wedding grounds. Flashbacks to the wedding day show Siobhán’s discomfort when Jasmine Whitaker reappears. In the present, Siobhán confesses to Grace that Charlie is Ré’s biological father. The friendship fractures during the case. CCTV footage shows Luna was not robbed in Marrakesh but abandoned Ré during the attack and lied about her own mugging. The discovery of Emma-Rose’s beaten body in Stepaside raises the stakes from missing persons to murder. Keep Reading: Someone in the Attic Summary: A Chilling Domestic Thriller by Andrea Mara Charlie receives a one-million-euro cryptocurrency demand with proof-of-life photos. Siobhán and Grace identify Emma-Rose as Anthony O’Shea’s sister. They realize she and Ben Wilson planned the attack as a decades-long revenge. A pink feather boa in the ransom video leads the women to the grandparents’ bungalow. Grace frees Ré from the radiator as the fire spreads. The house explodes, Ben is caught, and the family begins recovery. For more spoiler-free book breakdowns and author guides, visit URSummary. Have you read Such a Nice Girl? Share your thoughts or questions about the ending in the comments below.
Such a Nice Girl Summary: The Full Plot
Summary by Chapter
The Vanishing and the Crime Scene
Hidden Volatility and Friendship Tensions
Wedding Rehearsal and Old Secrets Resurface
The Marrakesh Illusion Shatters
Ransom and Revealed Identity
The Burning House and Aftermath
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