Murder in an Irish Bookshop
A Cozy Irish Murder Mystery
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4.3 • 276 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
When a new bookstore in the County Cork Irish village of Kilbane closes the book on an author’s life, it’s up to Garda Siobhán O'Sullivan to resolve the story . . .
Between training the new town garda and trying to set a wedding date with her fiancé, Macdara Flannery, Siobhán is feeling a bit overwhelmed. But an author event at the new bookstore featuring Irish writers taking up residency in Kilbane offers a welcome distraction.
One author, Deirdre Walsh, spends more time complaining about the unfairness of the publishing industry and megastar bestselling authors like Nessa Lamb instead of her own body of work. After the evening ends in a battle of words, Deirdre’s body is found the next day in the back of the store—with pages torn from Nessa’s books stuffed in her mouth. Now, Siobhán must uncover which of Kilbane’s literary guests took Deirdre’s criticisms so personally they engaged in foul play . . .
“A mélange of clues from classic mysteries plus plenty of Irish charm produce an enjoyable read.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Outstanding . . . O’Connor reinforces her place as the queen of the cozy police procedural.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Arsenic and old books are just the start in Carlene O’Connor’s delightful whodunit. Café owner Siobhán O’Sullivan loves that a new bookstore has opened in the village of Kilbane, but the owner turns out to be an arrogant curmudgeon who only stocks dusty classics. Then people start turning up dead—including a visiting novelist whose particularly gruesome fate seems to implicate her biggest rival. O’Connor’s long-running Irish Village series is rich with eccentric characters, witty dialogue, and all the gasp-worthy twists of a top-tier murder mystery. This one’s loaded with clever homages to books and the people who love them. We giggled out loud every time a vital clue turned out to reference a classic mystery. Whether you’re here for the murder or the small-town Celtic charm, Murder in an Irish Bookshop is a wonderful, cozy caper.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The opening of a bookshop in Kilbane, Ireland, is cause for celebration in O'Connor's outstanding seventh Irish Village mystery (after 2020's Murder at an Irish Christmas), until Kilbane's residents learn the shop is stocking only good literature and the co-owners, Oran and Padraig McCarthy, will let in only customers who can quote James Joyce or Seamus Heaney. When elderly Margaret O'Shea is found dead near the shop, garda Siobhán O'Sullivan is sure she died of natural causes, but when Siobhán tries to speak to Oran, his behavior strikes her as odd. She later wonders whether Oran's antipathy to any fiction he doesn't view as literary might be connected to Margaret's death—and to the subsequent death of Deirdre Walsh, the self-published author of a dense literary novel, who collapses during a bookshop event. Deirdre's tree nut allergy could have been the cause, but a power outage shortly before might have provided cover for a killer. Aided by a garda trainee, Siobhán pursues a puzzling investigation full of misdirection and enlivened by the input of her five rambunctious siblings. O'Connor reinforces her place as the queen of the cozy police procedural.
Customer Reviews
Murder in an Irish ☘️ bookshop
I enjoyed this title, because it really kept my interest. It was a fun read but there were enough diversified parts to keep me excited for the next…page.