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Death at an Irish Village
An Irish Castle Mystery
Ellie Brannigan
Crooked Lane Books
This is the third book in the Irish Castle Mystery series, and it does a great job of furthering the overall story arc as Irish revolutionary history overlaps with Rayne and Ciara’s family history at a forgotten grave site in the overgrown cemetery. Perfect place for a body drop, right?
As a reader you don’t have to know the history of the series because there is plenty of backstory. Rayne McGrath, couture wedding dress maker to the likes of the rich and Rodeo Drive famous, and her salt of the earth Irish cousin Ciara Smith have one year to bring the finances of McGrath Castle and the surrounding lands into the black or sell. Wills can be tricky things, it seems as though Nevin McGrath’s written will was to unite his illegitimate daughter Ciara and her brash American cousin Rayne, into a partnership to save them all following his demise (see the series starter, Murder at an Irish Castle). A pink Hermes bag, one of Rayne’s treasured items, may need to be sacrificed for the sake of the estate if the wedding venue venture does not get off the ground in conjunction with an increase in next year’s lambing.
There are so many struggles between renovating the village to bring it into this century while not losing the cozy historic village look. I was intrigued by the way Rayne and Ciara were brainstorming to come up with a list of potential jobs to be filled by a slightly younger group of people. You can’t help but to feel empathy for the cousins as they seem to take two steps forward and one and a half steps back, but at least they are in lockstep. Well except for when it comes to romance. The cousin’s romantic lives are see-sawing. While one cousin seems to be going up with butterflies in her stomach, the other cousin is going down with a feeling of dread. Oh and then there is Landon, the crazy ex business partner/boyfriend. The last thing needed is a dead body in the newly cleared cemetery, that wasn’t there before the clearing. With a wedding scheduled, Rayne knows that she needs to do what she can to help Garda Williams get to the bottom of this unfortunate and reputation-ruining mystery.
The plot of this story has sprinkles of Irish history, cozy town characters (many of which are over 60 and fit as proverbial fiddles), a loyal castle staff that is more like family than anything else, a handsome Viking, and more than enough suspects. With all these suspects, it is easy to be taken in by the red herrings. I knew who the killer wasn’t, but I did not figure out who was responsible. I cannot wait to see what will happen next in this highly entertaining cozy series.
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