Murder, She Wrote: Death on the Emerald Isle

By Jessica Fletcher & Terrie Farley Moran (Thorndike Press, 2023)

Genre: Fiction – Murder Mystery

Via: library

Pages (Print) 382

Kimber here. Telling you we weren’t going to do a “St. Patrick’s Day post.” Were not. Were not. WERE NOT!! But then…

This here “murder mystery” thingy sorta jumped off the shelf at The Book Place and landed in Mom’s book bag. Funny how that happens sometimes. But a cozy mystery by Jessica “J.B.” Fletcher set in Ireland? Well. Who can resist that? Especially on St. Patrick’s Day.  So here we are.

Anyway, here are the basics:

Jessica Fletcher accepts an invitation to replace a speaker who couldn’t attend a Book Festival in Belfast, Ireland. Jessica is filling in for her good friend and longtime Cabot Cove neighbor, Maeve O’Bannon. Maeve asks Jessica to deliver some paintings to her family in the village of Bushmills. Happy to extend her travels and see more of the Irish countryside, Jessica agrees.

The Belfast Book Festival goes off without a hitch. It seems like Jessica is in for a relaxing vacation. But then Maeve’s cousin Michael O’Bannon is discovered dead under suspicious circumstances. Out for a bicycle ride around the village, guess who finds Cousin Michael dead? Well. Jessica also finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation, and she’ll have to dig into the O’Bannon family’s secrets to unmask the killer.

Meanwhile, suspects pile up like shamrocks on the Emerald Isle. Questions swirl. Like, what about that sliver of gauzy pink fabric caught in Michael’s car panel? Family testiness over the  impending merger of the family cosmetics business with a French firm? A shadowy shipping company? Yea, verily. The O’Bannons harbor enough family secrets to choke a legion of leprechauns. And what about “the one that got away…”?

“What I can tell you is that Connor Sweeney and Michael O’Bannon seemed to have a close business and personal relationship, but I had a sense there was tension, something that I can’t identify.”

Death on the Emeral Isle rims with colorful characters like Godfrey Hamilton of the “shiny Ford Fiesta.”  The unsavory Dermot Kerrigan, loan shark extraordinaire. Moira Callan, Belfast Book Festival Co-Chair. (Kimber: She reminds me of Cruella de Vil.) The rakish Connor Sweeney. Irascible sisters Beth Anne and Jane O’Bannon. (Kimber: Those two remind me of… oh, never mind.)

Then there’s our protagonist, Jessica “J.B.” Fletcher. She’s unfailing kind and polite. But tough as nails when the situation calls for it. Plus, Jess rides a bicycle, like every day. How cool is that? But Jess is no cream puff. No siree, Lassie! Charming, perceptive, witty and sharp as an Irish gladius, Jessica Fletcher has what it takes to “suss out the culprit.” She can hold her own with the local detectives any day of the week. And twice on Sunday. In fact, you better not cross cerebral swords with Jessica. She’ll clean your clock. So, buckle up and hang on to your hats!

Scene stealer: Seth Hazlitt, cantankerous, crusty ‘ole Cabot Cove doc with a heart of gold.

“… each member of the O’ Bannon family seems nice enough, but when you see them all together, well, there is an undeniable tension, although I am not sure of the cause.”

The authors have a knack for painting settings and backgrounds in Living Technicolor, if ya know what we mean. You can almost hear teapots whistle. Smell the apple tarts. Taste the Earl Grey  breakfast tea. Savor a “wee drop” of Bushmill’s Black Bush, “the softest whiskey on God’s green earth.” Much more!

Besides crisp writing and a clever, lively plot, the book takes us on a delightful tour through the Emerald Ise. In fact, one thing we Totally Love-ified is how the authors interweave actual sites, landmarks and Irish culture, cuisine, legend and lore into the story. Like The Giant’s Causeway. Fionn mac Cumhaill (Spellings vary. It’s “Finn McCool” in English.) Fair Head. Dublin coddle. Colcannon. Soda bread with extra raisins. Lots more!

Kimber: Just what exactly is a “chancer,” anyway? And a “gom been man”? What does Owen Mullen mean when he says the O’Bannon mother and aunts “are completely at sixes and sevens”? Askin for a friend.

Murder, She Wrote: Death on the Emerald Isle is Book 56 of the MSW series. It may have you packing your bags tomorrow. And that’s no blarney!

Our Rating: 4.0