Megan Malone returns as the chauffeur for Leprechaun Limos, and this time, she’s on holiday, escorting her two American best friends who happen to be visiting Ireland. Even when not at work, she can’t shake the unfortunate nickname "the murder driver" in the sixth of the Dublin Driver Mysteries, DEATH OF AN IRISH DRUID.

While sightseeing at St. Brigid’s Well in Naas, Co. Kildare, along with her two Jack Russell Terrier puppies, Megan once more discovers a dead body. The holy well had a frequent visitor in Seamus Nolan, a local landowner nicknamed “the Irish Druid” but it seems he tragically slipped, hit his head and drowned. Megan tries not to upset her friends, Rafael and Sarah Williams, but as the story progresses the couple become very interested in investigating alongside Megan.

Seamus Nolan was a conservationist working to rewild his estate, supported by his twenty-year-old daughter, Aisling, but against the advice of his uncle Adam. There’s also an ex-wife in the picture, but she lives elsewhere, and their daughter explains the couple’s legal separation and divorce were working through the courts. About then Megan starts to query the inheritance, which is a tangled issue. While there’s no formal word that murder is involved, Megan senses that young Aisling is vulnerable and needs support. 

I liked a great deal about this adventure, from the scenery to the almost iconoclastic treatment of establishment figures. Megan, as a mature ex-army woman suffering from a breakup with her girlfriend, is able to tread where more traditional people might not. What baffles me is why so many people are cheerfully gossiping with a total stranger about everything from their family to their employers. Megan isn’t a Garda or a private investigator hired by the family, and most people would be hesitant to talk about their employer. But I guess in a cosy mystery the main way to find information is through conversation, as the sleuth lacks the police resources.

Smartphones, social media and search engines are useful detection tools, saving a lot of time and enabling Megan and her crew to research matters relating to the Irish Druid. While some victims of crime are unpopular, DEATH OF AN IRISH DRUID shows the opposite, and I found myself hoping that whoever did him in – if it was a crime – get their just desserts. The best of Irish luck to the Dublin Driver.