By: Lucy Connelly
Many thanks to Bookouture for the ARC of this book and the stop on the book tour!
About the Book
After receiving unexpected inheritance from her grandfather, Mercy and her twin sister Lizzie are now the proud owners of a charming antique bookshop in the tiny Irish village of Shamrock Cove. But before they can take in the beautiful view of the sea, one of their neighbors drops dead!
Mercy finds the Judge, a well-respected man who lives next door, dying on his own doorstep. She rushes to help, but with his final words, he accuses Mercy of murder! Most of their new neighbors hear his words and, with suspicion pointing at Mercy, she decides to investigate the case to clear her name.
Searching amongst the Judge’s old books, Mercy uncovers letters proving several of the townsfolk had reason to dislike the older man—but was it the local pub landlord, the kindly cook or neighborly knitter who killed him?
Then Mercy’s chief suspect turns up dead and she receives a threatening note, typed on paper from her own bookstore… Ireland was supposed to be a fresh start for Mercy and Lizzie, but dead bodies keep turning up.
My Review
The first book in the Mercy McCarthy book series, and is the perfect cozy mystery book. Connelly writes vividly without being wordy. I could picture the court, I could picture the bookshop, and the little town. There is variety in the cast of characters, inclusive of different races and sexual orientation. All of their personalities were different (which can be hard to do with so many characters), and each of the characters brings something to the storyline. This is probably the first time that I’ve read a book with many characters and didn’t struggle to remember who was who.
Mercy is probably my favorite. She is a writer that does tons of research into her books so that she can get her characters right. Due to that, she has some knowledge in a vast array of things in the world from CPR, to how detectives work, to hacking. It helps give this character so much depth.
The mystery part keeps you wondering who could be behind it all – and it really could be anyone. Everyone seemed to have a motive, but I didn’t know for sure until the reveal.
If you like cozy mysteries, then check this one out here.
About the Author
Bestselling author Candace Havens has published more than 25 books. Her novels have received nominations for the RITA’s, Holt Medallion, Write Touch Reader Awards and National Reader’s Choice Awards. She is a Barbara Wilson Award winner. She is the author of the biography Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy and a contributor to several anthologies. She is also one of the nation’s leading entertainment journalists and has interviewed countless celebrities from George Clooney to Chris Pratt. Candace runs a free online writing workshop for more than 2000 writers and teaches comprehensive writing classes. She does film reviews with Hawkeye in the Morning on 96.3 KSCS, and is a former President of the Television Critics Association.
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