Barbara’s rating: 4 of 5 stars

Series: Irish Village Mystery #7
Publication Date: 2/23/21
Number of Pages: 258

The small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland is buzzing with excitement over the opening of a new bookstore along with a number of visiting Irish authors. This is their first bookstore and Siobhan O’Sullivan, oldest sibling of the O’Sullivan six, is hoping to encourage her siblings to become readers – and she’d kind of like to kindle a spark for reading within herself as well. Of course, there is a damper on those high spirits when a body is found near the bookshop – and later, a second one inside the bookshop. Oh! My! Goodness! It looks as if Detective Sergeant Macdara Flannery and Gardai Siobhan O’Sullivan will be doing a lot more than training new Gardai Aretta Dabiri.

There are a lot of suspects – The new bookshop owners, Padraig and Oran McCarthy, any of the Irish authors and agent attending the opening, any number of townspeople who had access, or even a mysterious stranger who has been lurking about town. Clues are aplenty, but none seem to lead anywhere except in circles. Everybody seems to be keeping secrets and pointing fingers. With the case awash in red herrings, twists, and turns, the garda definitely has their work cut out for them. I’m sure you’ll figure out the name of the murderous villain before it is revealed – but – the method is totally unique and unexpected.

I have loved this series from the first book, and this is a lovely addition to it. It is so much fun to come to know all of the shops and inhabitants of Kilbane as we have over the last six books. Seeing the growth of Siobhan and her siblings has been particularly delightful, but seeing the relationship between Siobhan and Macdara develop has been heartwarming. The wedding plans are moving along and maybe we’ll have a wedding in the next book.

I can definitely recommend this read and hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. The mystery is a good one, the clues are excellently handled, the villain is just dastardly enough to make you thoroughly dislike him/her, and the added romance is lovely. You just can’t go wrong with all of that.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.