his is the first book in a series set in an Irish village, a small setting where everyone knows each other and gossip rules.

A young man is killed and his body found in a bistro belonging to the protagonist, Siobhán O’Sullivan. She is the eldest of six children, their parents had been killed in an auto accident the previous year. Siobhán’s brother James is accused of the murder, Siobán feels compelled to find the true killer.

Through her investigations we meet many of the villagers, each is well-developed and unique. The twists and turns of the mystery make the book. Siobhán is somewhat impulsive and doesn’t think through her actions, getting her caught a few times and reprimanded by the guarda.

The writing is decent, the book got off to a weak start. It seemed that the author needed to tell us what emotions the character is experiencing as the actions did not adequately convey them. However, this changed once the murder took place. The murder scene and the initial guarda investigation were well written.

Throw in some sexual tension between Siobhán and both the investigator, Macdara Flannery, and a mysterious American visitor, Chirs; rampant gossip; a few red herrings; and tie-ins to her parents’ deaths makes for an interesting read. ( )

Well, the setting is mildly amusing, which is what I was counting on and paying for, lots of little linguistic and cultural quirks, many a step east of Boston, you know. Of course, it’s a popular adventure (murder mystery!), and not a literary novel. I never expected it to be the Norton Critical Editions version of Castle Wrack-rent, or whatever that book is called. (Wasn’t one of those early Gothic girls Irish?) It’s also obviously not mythology or whatever—the story of how the Irish invaded and drove out the leprechauns—or census data, of course…. I don’t expect it to be; it shouldn’t be.

But, with respect to the human ability to overcome, blah blah blah, We Are The A Team, whatever—the girl is clearly a codependent. The one brother is an alcoholic; she’s the caretaker for her orphaned siblings; and then suspicion falls on the brother—it’s like some weird codependent trifecta. And so probably the most heroic thing she could have done in real life—not, again, that this is real life—is go to an Al-Anon meeting. You know. I mean, this is not a conspiracy theory, and Al-Anon is really not a new organization….

I mean, again, I’m not asking for tall girl talk about trauma and dead parents and alkies and caretaking and such for pages and pages, you know. But give me a break. It’s like—just because it’s a book—she’s suddenly able to solve murders and such, which people actually have to go to school for; it’s a technical trade: without any training. I mean, I’d like to have a female hero in a popular adventure novel, sure, why not, if you can believe it. But give me a reason for the hope that is in you, you know.

—Oh, I just think, you know, that codependents are super-heroes.
—Yeah, like the Brontes; except they all died after writing one or two books.
—Really, the girl who wrote that book Wuthering Bites was based on, was like that? What, you learned that in school or something?
—Yeah, sure, you know—that’s probably exactly where I learned that.
—You must have a great job. You’re so smart.
—There are a lot of different kinds of intelligence, girlfriend.

…. I’m mildly glad I got through to the end, but I won’t be reading the rest of the Irish Murder series or whatever. (There are a lot of series like this.) The plotting was good, although the characterization was much weaker. Many mediocre books have surprisingly strong plotting IMO, although obviously the saying can go both ways. But that’s probably why I never became a big fiction writer; I just couldn’t plot things out, you know.

But anyway; there’s an honest popular story, you know. I actually think it’s better than a Faux Literary Readers Circle, like Mary Goldsmith Allen.

Faux Literary Readers Circle: So we have Mary Goldsmith Allen here, a Southern American writer in the tradition of Carlos Castaneda.
Mary Goldsmith Allen: Yeah. Southern American, South American. Yeah!
FLRC: So Mary—what would you say is your world-historical mission?
MGA: I support stereotypes in dark times.
FLRC: Couldn’t you do that by writing Little mass market paperbacks?
MGA: 🫢 I am a. Good Writer!

But anyway—
All you needed was for someone to say,
Writing a just okay paperback is okay.

…. This book/series is actually a lot like TV. There are probably a lot of TV adventure show seasons that are better than this book, and many that are worse.

3.5 stars. This was a fun read. ( )

Lots of fun and mystery! Love the accent of the narrator and how quickly she delivers the lines. Really adds to the story and the sacrastic wit of the Irish. Already have the next in series cued up and ready to read! ( )

Siobhan and her five siblings are doing the best they can after losing their parents in a car crash nearly a year ago. She is the guardian of her younger siblings, and she, along with her brother James run the family bistro, with help from the younger kids. Then another tragedy strikes: one morning as she enters the bistro, Siobhan sees a man sitting at one of the tables, dead, with a pair of shears sticking in his chest. And it gets worse when James becomes a person of interest in the murder. He was off on a bender, and really can’t remember much of what he did the previous night. The first in the series, this novel lacks nothing. The mystery is well thought out, the characters are introduced and well defined, especially the older siblings. There is a good sense of the setting in the small Irish village. The audio version was superbly performed by Caroline Lennon, adding much to the enjoyment of the story. ( )