With great bravado, 33 year old Helen, the youngest of the
Walsh daughters, arrives back home. Not for a visit, but to
stay. She had been making a great go of being a private
investigator, but when the economy tanked, so did her
business and she is now clientless and homeless. With her
mortgage in arrears, she is moving back in with mom and dad
whether they like it or not, she has a key. Her family is
close, but on the dysfunctional side, so she is greeted
with a "What are you doing here? We got rid of you."
Things might be slightly better if she moved in with Arty
Devlin, her new lover, but that would just be too much
commitment on top of this distress. He's a high level
cop who does magic with numbers in top secret cases, but
his son glowers at her and the beautiful Vonnie, his ex-
wife, is too often at his house (just for the kids) and
smiles too much.
Then, if that wasn't bad enough, who soon comes calling for
her, but none other than her very ex-boyfriend Jay Parker
who she thought she had long since washed out of her hair.
In her usual snarky way, Helen lets Jay know he is not
welcome, but when he offers her double her fee to look for
a missing person, the thought of her phone bill and car's
need for more petrol raise their little heads and she
begrudgingly accepts.
With her oversized black bag, carrying all the stuff she
may needs as a PI, Helen is fearless in her determination
to find Wayne Diffre. Along with four other members, Wayne
had starred as "The Wacky One" in a popular band called the
Laddz back in the '90s. Now, with oodles of money to be
made on a reunion gig, they desperately needed Wayne to be
there. Where could he be?
Helen can be sweet (at times), but more often is sour with
a long shovel list of people and things she dislikes
(including all music and hot drinks) and would be delighted
to smack them all with a big shovel. Yet, she can be joyful
with children and has intuitive gifts for making
connections which is a boon to her in her role as a PI.
Arriving at Wayne's house with a bizarre paint theme (dear
to her heart) in a small cul-de-sac called Mercy Close,
Helen tries to get a sense of who Wayne is as a person and
she likes what she sees. But, the more she investigates,
the more she is stymied. Did he leave on his own or was he
abducted? With mere days to the highly advertised concert,
and a deep depression settling into her mind and bones,
will she be able to find him in time for him to go on stage?
Best-selling author Marian Keyes is well known on both
sides of the Atlantic and her many fans will be thrilled
with her latest release(#5)in the Walsh Sister
series.
THE MYSTERY OF MERCY CLOSE also reads very well as a stand-
alone book for those new to this wonderful Irish author
who has a well-deserved reputation as being the Queen of
ChickLit.
Drawing on her own experiences and understanding of mental
health issues, Keyes skillfully and compassionately
integrates into the plot the many challenges Helen faces,
not only in trying to solve the case, her dating dilemmas
and her feelings in that regard, but also her foreboding
sense of a deepening and severe depression and Helen's
related suicidal thoughts to stave off that eventuality.
"A witty novel of second chances from internationally
bestselling author Marian Keyes As the youngest of the five
Walsh girls, Helen has had a tough time finding her way in
the world--at thirty-three, she has her job as a private
investigator that has proven less than fruitful and after
losing her flat, she's moved back in with Mammy Walsh. Her
hunky new boyfriend, Artie, and his three adorable children
are a great distraction, but his beautiful ex-wife lives a
little too close for comfort. Meanwhile, Helen runs into her
ex-boyfriend Jay Parker and reluctantly signs on to help him
locate Wayne Diffney, the recently disappeared fourth member
of Ireland's biggest mid-nineties boy band, Laddz. Of the
five Laddz, the Talented One has long gone on to better
things, but the Cute One, the Gay One, and the Other One are
all busily shunning carbs and rehearsing their reunion tour,
and it's Helen's job to track down Wayne, the Wacky One.
Wayne hasn't left a trace, and Helen throws herself into the
search wholeheartedly, leaving no stone unturned while
watching her own life slowly fall apart, one unpaid bill at
a time. "--
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