THE JIG IS UP by author Lisa Q Mathews. This is my first time reading any of the author's work. It is a cosy mystery set in Shamrock, a New England small town. The small town, with a majority population of Irish Americans, celebrates everything Irish throughout the year. Their town is a popular destination for local tourists and they make sure to highlight their Irishness well.
We meet the Buckley Family at the centre of this story when the Buckley sisters Kate and Colleen find Deidre dead on the local church hill. Deidre and Colleen are best friends, Deidre is a famous Irish dancer now retired and running a dance school in Shamrock. Colleen gave up her dancing shoes long ago and let Deidre have all the limelight while she stayed back in town. Just before her murder the best friends had a fight and their arguments were witnessed too.
With the unexpected death of Deidre, her best friend becomes a suspect along with a few other people in town. We get the story from Katie's POV who visits her family on an urgent text SOS from sister Colleen. The girls' father is the ex-police chief of the town, still very much involved with police business though unofficially. Their brother Frank is also a cop as is Garrett, Katie's childhood sweetheart.
Katie has 2 daughters and for them, it's business as usual vacation visiting their grandparents for St. Paddy's week celebration. With Deirdre dead, the responsibility of the annual show on Paddy's day falls to Colleen. Katie and her daughters are roped into helping with the kids to dance. Katie though ends up more interested in solving the case and clearing her sister's name.
Amidst the town getting ready for the celebrations, a killer on the loose, dance practices, and one too many secrets are out. Katie's life is a whirlwind while she's putting out fires, getting attacked, solving money problems for her parents, and discovering her sister's secrets. All this along with solving the murder of the town's beloved, award-winning daughter Deidre Donnelly.
What I enjoyed -
The setting of the story is like many mini Ireland cliches all gathered in the middle of America. It's quirky, exaggerated and fun at the same time.
The Buckley family, at the heart of it all, is interesting, to say the least. They are dysfunctional, loyal to each other and with one too many secrets between them.
The Irish cliches, how the town goes around showing off their Irishness to profit from it. The dancing competitions and school are a big part of the mystery of the story.
Katie's amateur murder-solving is more effective than that of the local cops. She quietly goes around, looking to find and bring to justice the killer.
The little and big dramas, all of it is packed with action and incidents to keep the readers hooked.
I enjoyed the Buckley sisters dancing and playing music on their way to solving the murder of their beloved friend while keeping their family and town happy. This is a fun cosy mystery perfect for some fun reading me time.
Irish step dance takes a deadly turn in this Celtic cozy series debut, perfect for fans of Carlene O’Connor and Paige Shelton.
Single-mom and police chief’s daughter Kate Buckley is all about family. After she receives an urgent text from her younger sister Colleen, she puts her life on hold and rushes to her Irish-themed hometown of Shamrock, Massachusetts. With her two daughters in tow, she’s ready to fight if it means she can help her charming but hapless sibling.
When they arrive, Colleen claims it was all a misunderstanding. But everything changes in an Irish minute when Colleen’s best friend, Deirdre, a dance show star, is found dead in the parish hall. With the discovery of a possible witness, a chilling motive, and a wee bit of incriminating evidence, Colleen quickly becomes a person of interest in Deirdre’s murder. Convinced her sister isn't a killer, Kate is determined to clear Colleen’s name.
As Kate investigates, Colleen takes charge of Shamrock’s popular Irish dance show in honor of her late friend—with disastrous results. With the St. Patrick’s Week festivities in full swing, Kate must catch the killer before the celebrations are ruined and her sister’s Irish luck runs out.
Excerpt
Chapter One
“Mommy, the shamrock’s not smiling.”
I took another swig of cold coffee from my travel mug and twisted toward the back seat, where my seven-year-old daughter, Bliz—aka Mary Elizabeth—looked confused in the semidarkness. “That means there’s no vacancy, sweetie. The shamrock sign only smiles when there are hotel rooms left.”
On cue, the interior of the Subaru turned neon green. Then black. Then green again. The crazy sign probably kept the Smiling Shamrock Bed & Breakfast guests awake all night. Or flashed in their nightmares.
My older daughter, Maeve, looked up from her phone and unslumped herself from her neck pillow in fourteen-year-old fashion. “Thought we were going to Gram’s.”
She sounded cranky, and I didn’t blame her. The trip to Shamrock had taken double the usual time.
“We are. Just pulling over for a second.”
Apparently, I needed the GPS to direct me through my own hometown. It was so foggy I couldn’t see two feet past the windshield.
Neither rain, nor fog, nor gloom of night . . . Was that how the line went? I’d passed it engraved above the old General Post Office Building in Manhattan a million times on my way to work.
Nope, I’d forgotten the snow part. At least we hadn’t dealt with that tonight. Just double the gloom, which had fittingly led us to the crunchy gravel driveway of the Smiling Shamrock.
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