By: Lucy Connelly
Many thanks to Bookouture for the ARC of the book and the stop on the book tour!
About the Book
Mercy McCarthy is delighted to see old neighbors and new friends come to the bookstore to support her sister’s autumn book club. But as Mercy closes the chapter on the evening, she stumbles across local grandmother Eva, lifelessly slumped in a squashy armchair at the back of the store.
She recognizes Eva as one of the festival’s main organizers and though she looks to be at peace, the plot thickens when Mercy notices a suspicious mark on her neck. She knows this was no accident. With so many people in the store that night, any one of them could be the killer.
Just as Mercy reads a suspicious-sounding entry for the festival’s fiction-writing contest, another body turns up on the beach. Is someone in Shamrock Cove dying for a bestseller?
It’s up to Mercy and her crime-solving canine companion Mr. Poe to sniff out the suspects before another victim is taken. Could the murderer be the garden center owner who dabbles in chemistry? Eva’s ne’er-do-well grandson-in-law? Or the local busybody who has an opinion about everybody?
My Review
This is the 5th book in the series and this is such a fun, cozy mystery series to read. I love diving back into this small Irish town with all of these great characters. Mercy is technically an author, but she has an in with a certain inspector detective that allows her to “consult” on a case. She’s really good at it too! Of course, she finds herself in harms way sometimes! Mercy just has a special way of looking at the cases, looking at potential suspects, and the evidence. It always leads to her kind of figuring it out before knowing for sure that she’s figured it out. Going along the journey with her is the fun part!
The cast of characters is also one of my favorite things about this series. From Lizzie, Mercy’s sister, to Lolly, and Rob, even Kiernan, and not to forget Mr. Poe (the dog) they are all fantastic. Lizzie and Mercy have found such a sweet home in this town, with such a great found family.
If you love cozy mysteries, with a great cast of characters, then you need to pick this series up. While this can technically be read as a standalone, I highly suggest starting from the beginning so you get the whole picture.
Publish Date: April 21, 2026
Find the book here.
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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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