Ready for an exciting and wonderful escape? CRUEL WINTER
whisks you off to Leap, in County Cork, Ireland. Maura
Donovan lives in Boston with her grandmother, who came from
Ireland. When her gran passes away, Maura discovers
she left her a house in the hills in Leap and Sullivan's
Pub. Her gran's last wish is that Maura visit there to say
farewell to all her former friends. Maura arrives in Leap
and nine months later she is still there. She likes being
boss in the Pub and the local folks are welcoming. Mick,
who worked for the former owner, is teaching Maura the
ropes.
A snow storm is a rare thing on the Emerald Isle, but the
one forecast will be a brutal one and is heading their way.
Maura is unsure on how to prepare for it. She begins with
getting food, and kerosene for the lamps in case of a power
outage. Not even bringing a winter coat from Boston, Maura
finds a warm winter coat and boots at the Thrift shop. The
oil tank is half filled in the shed out back and there is a
good supply of turf and coal for the fireplace.
She is ready to face the storm and protect Sullivan's Pub.
Sean Murphy, the local gardai, stops by to check on Maura
and it is obvious he is smitten with her. A romance there,
perhaps?
Sheila Connolly introduces colorful characters and sets the
stage brilliantly. I felt like I was there in the dim,
lamp-lighted room, as the wind howls and the snow begins to
pile up. Old Billy is nestled in the old upholstered chair
nearest the fireplace, where he sits every day and holds
court with anyone who will listen to his stories. He knows
everyone and everything about the area and was like a
grandfather to Maura. Gillian, the local artist, now
pregnant and becoming Maura's BFF, wants to stay and help
Maura for the duration of the storm. Also Jimmy and his
daughter, Rose, the usual staff at the pub, came in to help.
Liam and Donal, two musicians who are
scheduled to play music on the weekend, arrive early and
unpack their instruments and decide to stay. Four young
lads, hung over from a wedding they attended that day arrive
with Bart, a retired Garda. (police) Enter Diane Caldwell,
accused 20 years ago of killing her neighbor, Sharon Morgan.
Never tried because of lack of evidence, the murder was
never solved, and is a cold murder case. Diane tells Maura
she is innocent. During the long night, the group
assembled in the pub become the jury as Diane tells her
story. They come to a stark conclusion and together they
figure out who the murderer is. What to do now?
CRUEL WINTER is a clever plot with the reader turning the
pages faster and faster to reach the surprising finale.
What a way to be snowbound for 24 hours. It is a great read
and I give it 5 stars. Maura is a sweet, super sleuth and a
charming heroine. I look forward to more from Sheila
Connolly as this is her 5th in the County Cork
Mystery Series. A winner, Begorrah!
Snow is a rarity in Maura Donovan's small village in County
Cork, Ireland, so she wasn't sure what to expect when a
major snowstorm rolled in around Sullivan's pub. But now
she's stranded in a bar full of patrons--and a suspected
killer in a long-ago murder.
Maura’s been in Ireland less than a year and hasn't heard
about the decades-old unsolved crime that took place nearby,
let alone the infamous suspect, Diane Caldwell. But the
locals have, and they're not happy to be trapped with her.
Diane, meanwhile, seeks to set the record straight,
asserting her innocence after all this time. And since no
one is going anywhere in the storm, Maura encourages Diane
to share her side of the story, which she’d never had a
chance to do in court.
Over the next few hours, the informal court in Sullivan’s
reviews the facts and theories about the case--and comes to
some surprising conclusions. But is it enough to convince
the police to take a new look at an old case? A clever spin
on the classic locked room mystery, Cruel Winter, the
fifth in New York Times bestselling author Sheila
Connolly's series, will delight fans of the Emerald Isle.
Thank you! You really got the plot (and didn't give away anything critical). The story is loosely based on a real crime, still an open case in Ireland, and still making headlines all these years later. (Sheila Connolly 7:22am July 7, 2017)
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