Last book for Halloween bingo. Not much to say except that this book ended up aggravating me the whole time. The lead in the book, Maura, is nasty to pretty much everyone and sits around judging how small town the village of Leap is and how one of the villagers, a teenager named Rose, needs to do more with her life instead of working in a pub. Throw in a mystery of a young man who seems out to get Maura for no good reason and a body found in a bog, I was just ready to be done with this one. The book felt endless after a while and reading about cleaning, clothes, tea making, and other things in this book just made the overall flow painful. This is the first book in a series I have no intention of continuing. 

 

"Buried in a Bog" follows 25 year old Maura Donovan who returns to Ireland following the wish of her recently deceased grandmother. Maura was born and raised in Boston and after her grandmother's passing realizes she doesn't have anything going on in her own life. She plans on traveling to the village of Leap for just a week to honor her grandmother and return home. Instead, Maura ends up meeting a lot of people who tell her stories of her grandmother, her grandfather, and even her deceased father. She starts working in a local pub and wonders if she should stay. If that's not enough a dead body is found in a bog that may have some connections to those who live nearby. On top of that a mysterious young man seems hellbent on stalking and trying to scare Maura for some reason unknown to her.

So Maura was a piece of work. She herself didn't go to college and is working at bars in Boston, but she sure had time enough to look down upon everyone she meets. She doesn't like the fact that a young man near her age, Mick, is just working at the pub. She wonders why he hasn't moved away and even when he tells her he is there for his grandmother and to keep an eye on her she acts like people don't sometimes delays things to take care of elderly relatives. Maura has the same opinion about a teenager named Rose who has gotten her Leaving Certificate but has no interest in moving away and doing anything else. The character started to put my nose out of joint but it got worse when there's a throwaway line that Maura has about at least the Irish are better than how Americans act since they (Americans) just expect jobs to be given to them by the government along with money.

 

 

Moving on. Can't say much about the other characters because except for two of them, Maura is sitting around judging everyone. When she starts getting stalked how she talks to the police in Leap would have had her cursed out if she was a woman of color.

 

The writing was painful after a while. Connolly stays focused too much on describing every freaking thing that is happening and what Maura is eating, smelling, seeing. Everything became tedious after a while. Also she keeps going on and on about how she needs to get clothes and or wash the clothes she brought for a really long time. I think that's what I should have called the title of this review, "Everything Goes On For A Really Long Time." The flow was awful.

 

The setting of Leap could have worked if I didn't want to bludgeon the lead. 

 

The ending was a big whatever to me. It made zero freaking sense, but it's a way to keep the character there for the series. This is the second cozy mystery series of Connolly I have read and I swear she must say to herself that cozy mysteries equal unlikable female character cause she did the same thing in her Orchard series which caused me to stop reading that one after a while too. 

 

I’m a sucker for small town mysteries and when you have a mysterious mansion at the center of it all, well, you’ve got my attention. And this was an enjoyable read, with a likable main character in Kate; she’s a level-headed and unflappable sleuth and romantic interest Josh made for a good sidekick and added a sprinkle of romance. I liked the plot, surrounding a remarkably well-preserved mansion built a century ago by the mysterious Henry Barton and a very unlikable local woman who is found dead on the front steps. The intrigue kept me turning pages, although I feel like the endless rehashing that happened in every chapter killed the pace a little; with a bit of editing, this book would be a lean, mean intrigue machine. As it is, I’m completely sucked into the whole Henry Barton mystery, so I will be back for the second book and can’t wait to watch Kate’s vision for the town evolve into a reality.

To start bluntly: this author's writing irritates me.  I've started and discarded two of her other series, because her MCs always come across belligerent and acerbic.  This series is sadly no different, but I keep sticking with them because she so perfectly captures all the ins and outs of running a museum (at least, it seems so to a reader who has never actually run a museum).  The stories are always interesting; enough to overcome my desire to throttle the MC.

 

Dead End Street, however, was not as good as the others.  It's aim is to tackle a concept, rather than a specific object or setting in history.  That concept is urban blight, neighbourhoods in decline, and neighbourhoods that have become urban war zones.  Lofty subject matter, and she handles it pretty well, I think.  Her approach from the standpoint of what role an historical society can play in rebuilding these neighbourhoods has a lot of merit.  Unfortunately, Nell is abrasive and almost unlikeable, and she kept saying her desire to help was white man's guilt.  Maybe her motivation is white man's guilt, but if so, it just makes her even less likeable - why can't she just want to participate in building up her city without the guilt?  Anyway, ignore me, it was just one more thing I found irritating.

 

These aren't typical mysteries; they seldom revolve around dead bodies, and when they do - as this one does - Nell doesn't investigate or figure much out.  Mostly it's about her being in the wrong place at the right time or vice versa, and putting facts together that make events clearer, although resolution usually comes of its own accord.

 

I say every time I read one of these books that I won't read any more of them, but then the next one comes out and I get sucked into wanting to spend time i the museum.  So - who knows?

 

 

 

 

Total pages:  297

$$:  $3.00

Dollycas’s Thoughts

What happens when it snows in Ireland? Like Maura I had not really thought about it but Sheila Connolly gives us and Maura just a little taste of the Irish lands covered in snow.

The snow is falling and friends and strangers are gathering at Sullivan’s Pub to wait out the storm. They have plenty of ale and fuel for the fire. Food is a little sparse but with a little creativity from Rose she stretches what she has enough to feed everyone. One of the strangers is Diane Caldwell, like Maura she had family that lived in the area, but she hasn’t been back to Leap in years. The local authorities had her pegged as the prime suspect in the murder of another young woman several years ago but never has enough evidence to make an arrest. Most of locals recognized her immediately. So because of the snow storm she has a captive audience. Could there be a better time to tell her side of the story? Heck, her listeners may even be able to shed light on something that had been missed all those years ago.

At first I thought this was going to be a closed room type mystery where the real guilty party just happened to be in the room too, but Ms. Connolly gives the story a nice twist showing fresh sets of eyes and ears can uncover new clues on an old cold case. She lets Diane tell her story and Maura and the other patrons ask questions and test out theories trying to find some way to prove Diane really is innocent and maybe give the garda a new lead on this old crime.

The characters in this story are so rich. I love Maura, but I really love Billy. He is an elderly man that basically holds court in the pub each day telling stories. This time his knowledge of the history and the land in the area help Maura and the others to keep pushing forward with new ideas. The author has set the scene so well in all the books in this series it is so easy to picture him in his overstuffed chair in front of the fire regaling everyone with his thoughts about the case.

Connolly also describes the rest of the pub, including the basement, in such detail readers are given a bird’s eye seat for the whole story. Even the snow falling outside and the drafts around the windows are easy to see and feel. They were so real I found myself pulling a blanket around my shoulders to keep away the cold.

In addition to the main plot, Gillian has some changes coming in her life and she is getting near to having her baby. Jimmy has a new woman in his life and Rose is growing up so fast.

I have enjoyed every book this author has written and this one is no different. I am so glad Maura decided to stay in County Cork. That little bit of the Irish in me anxiously awaits for each trip to Sullivan’s where Maura pours me a pint and I can sit and relax among friends.

Thank you Sheila for another wonderful escape!