Review: Murder in an Irish Village (An Irish Village Mystery Book 1) by Carlene O’Connor
In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Naomi’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors, enjoy some brown bread and tea, and get the local gossip. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.
It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.
With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.
“Kicks off a new series in splendid fashion! If you love cozy mysteries and traveling, then give Murder in an Irish Village a try. You’ll feel like you’ve stepped into Ireland as you turn the pages.”—Fresh Fiction
“A smart whodunnit in an idyllic locale. I dare you not to be charmed by sleuth Siobhán and her siblings, the O’Sullivan Six.”—Barbara Ross, author of A Maine Clambake Mystery Series
“A delightful, funny, fast-paced romp of a book.”—Isis Crawford, author of A Mystery with Recipes Series
I GOT THE BOOK FROM THE LIBRARY
Review:
Dear Carlene O’Connor,
I came across your book because I continued searching for a book club that would suit my interests and a book club devoted to mysteries seemed like the one I may like.
This book was a delightful surprise. I think there is going to be a long time before I will consider myself knowledgeable enough in the genre of cozy mysteries, but right now it feels as if this was one of the best cozies I had ever read.
The only thing that took me aback was that these series so far have eleven books in them and I am not sure how far my credibility will be stretched by *so many* murders happening in small Irish village where murder never happened before this series started. We shall see, I guess. I already bought a second book and am very much looking forward to reading it.
First of all, an Irish village seemed like a nice change of place. Yes, I know it is still Europe, but I still appreciated it :). Second of all the characters were all so well drawn. I felt as if quite a few of them could have jumped off the pages in the real world and I do not get such a feeling often, not at all. Siobhan and her siblings especially, I loved getting to know them. Of course Siobhan is a point of view character, so we are in her head all the time (third person limited) and we get to know her the most, but through her we learn about other people too, who live on the pages of this story.
Second of all, the stakes in some cozy mysteries that I have read seemed low enough till the murder takes place and here I felt as if stakes were high for Siobhan and her siblings even before the murder took place and then it kept rising while still playing out amongst a picturesque village and neighbors who love you, while some of them maybe secretly plotting to kill you :).
The stakes are high for Siobhan and her family because they are trying to keep their business (and not because they are bad at doing so, but because of some external circumstances) and because early in the story doubt is thrown on who or what may have caused the accident that killed Siobhan’s parents and of course the kids all are still grieving since not too much time passed.
And the person who is killed seemed to be right in the mix of it and now one of the Siobhan’s brothers becomes the main suspect even if no-one really believes that he did it, but some evidence may be not in his favor, so of course Siobhan becomes an amateur detective no matter how many times a real detective may have been asking her not to play detective.
It is a very dynamic, very fun story. I loved every moment of it. A
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Sounds fun! Just checked it out from the library!
This is one of those YMMV books. I read it back in 2020 but didn’t care for it. I thought Siobhan came off as very young. She is only 22, but she makes a number of unwise choices that just emphasize how young she is. She didn’t get to attend university due to financial constraints, and now she feels left behind by her friends. There are some issues I found annoying related to that, although I can’t remember what they were exactly (she didn’t even want to visit Dublin, or something). I do remember that she went around the village announcing her investigation to all and sundry, which did not seem like a smart thing to do as it meant the villain was sure to know. About the only people she doesn’t share her information with are the police; again, not a good move. I’m glad this worked for you, however.
Have you read any of the later books in the series?
@Susan/DC: I did not ! Sorry it didn’t work for you . Yeah recently I think some of the books we both read did not work the same way for both of us . It happens :). I did think that where amateur detectives are concerned Siobhán came off as one of the better ones . I also liked higher stakes than what I often see in cozies but I understand what you are saying about her coming off as young .
Also while I have not read the books I glanced at blurbs and I saw that couple books later she becomes a guarda ? So while I don’t know whether it will be executed well I like the idea of amateur detective becoming less amateurish so to speak .
On a more general note I am feeling nervous :). I have not hit that long of a good patch in my reading for a while ( you will see at least two more books that I really liked soon) . I wonder if many duds were to follow . Jen I hope it will work for you .
Sirius, this does sound appealing, so thanks for your review.
Sending positive wishes that your run of good books will continue for a lengthy time.
I just checked this one out from my library. Thx for the rec Sirius!
@Kareni: @Kaetrin: Thank you Kareni, Kaetrin hope it works.