MURDER ON AN IRISH FARM is the 8th book in the Irish Village Mystery series and kicks off with the wedding we’ve all been waiting for! Finally Garda Siobhan O’Sullivan and Detective Sergeant Macdara Flannery are getting married and the entire village of Killbane has shown up for the event… well, almost everyone. Siobhan’s brother, James, is supposed to give her away in lieu of their deceased father but he hasn’t shown up. Just as the wedding is starting, James shows up with the news he’s uncovered a skeleton and the wedding is halted. Now, Macdara and Siobhan have a mystery to solve and another wedding date to schedule.
I love the sense of family Carlene O’Connor portrays. Not only do we have the close-knit O’Sullivan clan, but the town of Kilbane itself has a small-town family atmosphere. I have to admit I was worried when the wedding was commencing without James as it was hard to envision any member of the O’Sullivan clan not being a part of this special day, and it was both heartwarming and sad that the wedding was abruptly stopped. Meanwhile, the discovery of the skeleton opens up old wounds as Macdara and Siobhan have to dig into the past of some of the older residents to uncover what happened and why- and some of those wounds haven’t completely healed with time.
Carlene O’Connor’s descriptions of the village of Killbane and the countryside of Ireland make me want to visit Ireland all over again. Even amongst the murder and the oh-so-gross slurry pit, Ireland’s beauty shines through the pages with the descriptions of this idyllic village. However, it’s the humorous banter that truly makes MURDER ON AN IRISH FARM shine. Macdara and Siobhan keep the reader laughing, yes even while dealing with the slurry pit!
MURDER ON AN IRISH FARM is yet another fantastic installment in the Irish Village Mystery series. Cozy readers who haven’t given this series a try should definitely add Carlene O’Connor to their reading list. I look forward to the next installment, particularly with the teasers about what is ahead for the O’Sullivans!
If only her mother could be here! The entire O’Sullivan brood—not to mention the regulars from Naomi’s Bistro—have gathered at St. Mary’s Church for the wedding of Siobhán and Macdara. It’s not every day you see two garda marrying each other. Only Siobhán’s brother James is missing. They can’t start without him.
But when James finally comes racing in, he’s covered in dirt and babbling he’s found a human skeleton in the old slurry pit at the farmhouse. What farmhouse? Macdara sheepishly admits he was saving it as a wedding surprise: he purchased an abandoned dairy farm. Duty calls, so the engaged garda decide to put the wedding on hold to investigate.
James leads them to a skeleton clothed in rags that resemble a tattered tuxedo. As an elderly neighbor approaches, she cries out that these must be the remains of her one true love who never showed up on their wedding day, fifty years ago. The garda have a cold case on their hands, which heats up the following day when a fresh corpse appears on top of the bridegroom’s bones. With a killer at large, they need to watch their backs—or the nearly wedded couple may be parted by death before they’ve even taken their vows. . .
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