Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Halloween Cupcake Murder

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Halloween Cupcake Murder:   Reviewed by Jeanne Kensington Book Publishers is one of my favorite publishers.   It’s a family owned business, working on its third g...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Rachel's Holiday: Marian Keyes

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Rachel's Holiday: Marian Keyes: I was initially drawn to Marian Keyes' Walsh family series when Moira at Clothes in Books reviewed The Mystery of Mercy Close . That bo...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death Writes: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death Writes: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter:   Death Writes:   An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter Reviewed by Jeanne Benedicta O’Keeffe, better known as Ben, is a solicitor in Gl...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Reading of the Green: Irish Writers

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Reading of the Green: Irish Writers:   It’s said that Ireland is a nation of storytellers.   A list of famous writers would include Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, Edna O’Brien, James...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Someone to Blame by J. J. Green

J.J. Green is an Irish writer from Donegal and lives in Derry. She’s always been a writer and has honed her creative writing skills throughout her adult life. As a social and environmental activist, she also writes political essays for ZNetwork that mainly focus on economic and environmental injustice. Unfortunately there is an Australian sci-fi writer of the same name so their books can be mixed up on Goodreads and similar sites.

Someone to Blame (Book Guild Publishing, 2024) provides a modern twist on the time-honored poison pen plot, one of my favorite mystery tropes. Shay Dunne lives in the Irish village of Kilcross, where everyone knows everyone else and knows their business too. She has had a hard life, raising her son alone because his father was forbidden by his family to marry her. But fate keeps delivering blows, and this last one is just more than she can take. She is angry and she is upset and she is determined to make someone pay for the wrongs she has suffered.

She selects the two people she most believes at fault and she writes a carefully vague but threatening anonymous letter to each of them. Printing it on plain white paper that she handles with gloves and using the same laser printer to address the envelopes, she is faultlessly careful to not leave anything traceable to her. She mails them, not in the claustrophobic small village where they all live, but in the closest town and sits back to wait. As might be expected, events unfold unpredictably while rumors and accusations fly in all directions.

It's hard to say much about this book without giving some of the key plot elements away. Green writes very well and she has created a sympathetic character in Shay Dunne. Even when her judgment is most flawed, it’s hard not to root for her anyway. Deeply sad in some places, plot twists keep the action moving and I was enthralled all the way through the satisfying ending. Recommended!

·         Publisher: ‎Book Guild Publishing (October 18, 2024)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Paperback: ‎328 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎183574060X

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1835740606

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/41425kj

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Drowned by William John Banville

William John Banville is an Irish novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He’s published around a dozen novels to international acclaim, winning a range of prizes. Under the name Benjamin Black he wrote a historical crime fiction series about an Irish pathologist named Quirke in 1950s Dublin, releasing seven books between 2006 and 2015. The series resumed in 2021 under Banville’s name.

The Drowned (Hanover Square Press, 1 October 2024) is the ninth book featuring Quirke. Detective Inspector Strafford with whom he has an uneasy relationship is also involved. A recluse near the coastal town of Wicklow discovered an abandoned Mercedes in a field, with the key still in the ignition and the engine still running. As he lingers in indecision another man wanders up to say that his wife has disappeared and he is looking for her. He fears she has jumped from one of the nearby cliffs into the sea. The recluse draws him to the nearest house for help, where the residents call the local Garda, who in turn quickly call in reinforcements from Dublin.

The writing is possibly the most beautiful I have ever seen: melodic, flowing, and cogent. About a third into the book is a poignant multi-page meditation on grief. It describes the feeling with the clarity and understanding that only someone who has experienced deep sorrow can have.

On the other hand, the characters conveyed by this exquisitely beautiful writing are among the most unhappy I have ever seen stroll across the pages of a book. They are caught up in sordid situations, some of their own making, and it speaks volumes for the quality of the writing and the intricacies of the plot that I continued to read about these deeply unpleasant people.

The resolution is neatly imagined and completely unexpected, another plus for this complicated book.

Starred review from Kirkus: "Banville remains a master of suspense; it’s not easy to stop turning the pages until the novel’s genuinely surprising end. This is yet another fine thriller from an author at the top of his game. Excellent writing and a clever plot make this one stand out."

 

·       Publisher: ‎Hanover Square Press; Original edition (October 1, 2024)

·       Language: ‎English

·       Hardcover: ‎336 pages

·       ISBN-10: ‎1335000593

·       ISBN-13: ‎978-1335000590

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Tu1cx7

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods:   Reviewed by Jeanne London, 1921: Twenty-one year old Opaline Carlisle has just been informed by her brother that he has arranged a mar...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: The Silver Swan: Benjamin Black

Bitter Tea and Mystery: The Silver Swan: Benjamin Black: In early March, I read The Silver Swan by Benjamin Black (pseudonym of John Banville). Set in Ireland in the 1950s, it is the 2nd book abou...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Death Writes by Andrea Carter

Death Writes is the sixth book in the Inishowen series by Andrea Carter, scheduled for release by Oceanview on 5 December, 2023. While part of a series, I had no trouble following the thread of the main characters reading this book as a stand-alone.

The story opens with solicitor Benedicta O’Keeffe and her sometime boyfriend Tom Molloy racing to Dublin to check on her parents. Ben was alarmed to learn from her parents’ neighbor that several strangers had moved into their home. The landline in the house and the cell phones of her parents all roll over to voicemail. Ben is panic-stricken. Upon arrival, they find her parents are fine but they have taken in a boarder who makes both Ben and Molloy uneasy. The boarder seems worried when he learns Molloy is with the police and disappears overnight to Ben’s relief and her parents’ distress. She coaxes them to stay with her for a week or so, using the upcoming literary festival in her town of Glendara in County Donegal as enticement. Her mother is especially interested, considering her favorite writer, the reclusive author Gavin Featherstone, will be appearing.

Featherstone has been living in a mansion on the Inishowen Peninsula for years but doesn’t mingle with the townfolk. His assistant manages the house for him while Featherstone writes. Rumors of a memoir have renewed interest in the youngest ever Booker Prize winner, and the regional festival is now getting mentioned in the major media outlets.

The event tent is packed and the interview with Featherstone has gone well. Featherstone pulls a few pages from his pocket to read from his upcoming book and he suddenly begins to falter and then collapses on the stage. He’s taken to the local hospital where he dies. His death does not look natural and the police are called in from the start.

Then Ben’s secretary finds a will for Featherstone drafted by the solicitor for whom Ben took over, leaving everything to his estranged wife and children. She is beginning probate when Featherstone’s assistant produces a will leaving the entire estate to him. Two conflicting wills, a questionable death, a secretary about to go on maternity leave, and ongoing worry about the safety of her parents keep Ben O’Keeffe full occupied.

A well-written mystery with an interesting main character, consistent momentum, nicely ambiguous back stories for the suspect pool, and a credible last-minute surprise. For fans of traditional mysteries, mysteries set in Ireland, and women sleuths.

 

·         Publisher: ‎Oceanview Publishing (December 5, 2023)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Hardcover: ‎320 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1608095665

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1608095667

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night. 

Lesa's Book Critiques: DEATH WRITES BY ANDREA CARTER

 Lesa's Book Critiques: DEATH WRITES BY ANDREA CARTER

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Blood Ties by Brian McGilloway

Brian McGilloway is an Irish writer from Derry. He writes two crime fiction series, one about Inspector Ben Devlin in Lifford on the border between north and south Ireland and the other about Detective Sergeant Lucy Black of Derry. His Inspector Devlin books have been nominated for multiple awards and appeared on several best of the year lists.

The sixth Devlin, Blood Ties (Constable, 2021) is set in March 2020, on the eve of the Brexit vote and as COVID took over the world. Devlin is moving his widowed father in with his family to ride out what everyone believed would be a brief lockdown. His oldest has started college and is away from home for the first time. Devlin is reflecting on the rate of change around him and not liking it. He is worried about his father and is worried about himself, as he sees his role of father fading into the background and wonders what will take its place.

Absorbed with these fears, he is called to the scene of a particularly bloody murder: A 30ish man alone in an under furnished and anonymous house, which turns out to be an air BnB. Devlin thought the victim looked familiar but could not place him. A search of his telephone and laptop showed he had been meeting teenaged girls on the internet and was in Lifford to meet one who looked far too young.

When his fingerprints are checked, Devlin learned that the victim was from the area and had been convicted some years ago in the brutal murder of a high school classmate while high on drugs. People still remembered the dead girl and grieved for her, and almost anyone could have turned killer. Then the angry fathers and brothers of his current targets had to be checked. Devlin had almost too many possibilities. No one really cared about finding the killer, once the victim’s identity was known, so Devlin largely worked alone while caring for his father.

Ben Devlin is a great character. He is introspective, not typical of the usual fictional detective; his concern for his father is deeply moving. His internal soliloquies are among the best parts of the book. The writing is exquisite. Flowing, expressive prose implements an intricate plot, I found myself deeply involved in no time. The plot was more convoluted than the first chapters led me to expect and the ending is a well-constructed surprise. Highly recommended.

·         Publisher: Constable (March 25, 2021)

·         Language: ‎English

·         ISBN-10: ‎1472133641

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1472133649

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Treacherous Strand: An Inishowen Mystery by Andre...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Treacherous Strand: An Inishowen Mystery by Andre...:   Reviewed by Jeanne When the body of Marguerite Etienne washes up on a beach in Inishowen, solicitor Ben (Benedicta) O’Keeffe is troubled...

Lesa's Book Critiques: OFF THE MAP BY TRISH DOLLER

Lesa's Book Critiques: OFF THE MAP BY TRISH DOLLER 

Lesa's Book Critiques: THE DEADLY WEED BY CORA HARRISON

 Lesa's Book Critiques: THE DEADLY WEED BY CORA HARRISON

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Snow: John Banville

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Snow: John Banville:   This was the last book I read in 2022. My husband had been recommending it to me ever since he read it in 2020. Then I read a post at Read...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Christmas Reading Beyond A Christmas Carol and A Visit From St. Nicholas

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Christmas Reading Beyond A Christmas Carol and A V...:   Appalachian Christmas Nora Bonesteel’s Christmas Past by Sharyn McCrumb blends two plotlines of Christmas in the region.   In one, Sher...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: An Irish Country Christmas by Alice Taylor

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: An Irish Country Christmas by Alice Taylor:   Reviewed by Jeanne Alice Taylor was one of six children growing up on a farm in County Cork in the 1940s. At the time of this story, s...

Lesa's Book Critiques: MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL BY CORA HARRISON

 Lesa's Book Critiques: MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL BY CORA HARRISON

Lesa's Book Critiques: SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE BY CLAIRE KEEGAN

 Lesa's Book Critiques: SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE BY CLAIRE KEEGAN

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death of an Irish Mummy by Catie Murphy

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death of an Irish Mummy by Catie Murphy: Reviewed by Jeanne   The third entry in the Dublin Driver series has limo driver Megan Malone hired to drive a fellow American around in se...