Book Review: A Body at the Irish Book Club by Lucy Connelly

      Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from the Bookoutre Press  via #netgalley, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it. All opinions are my own

The Shamrock Cove Autumn Festival is filling the town with the delicious aroma of cinnamon-filled pastries, the cheerful sight of jaunty jack o’lanterns and… a body at the local book club

Synopsis

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.

Mercy 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. Mercy 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?

Review

I love this Irish bookshop series (this is book 5).  The sisters are typical of any two sisters that live together. They have their moments of differences, but still work together to make the bookshop successful, even while emergency is writing her books that give them the extra support they need. When Mercy literally stumbles upon a dead body in their bookshop, she feels personally responsible for solving the crime. But what she doesn't understand is that it's different when you're investigating your own. And as she starts looking into local family histories, and arguments, she soon realizes there are many secrets beneath what the deceased's family showed the public. As she keeps digging further, she realizes that she's putting both her and her sister at risk, for the murderer to come after them.  It's a fun little mystery with the added rom-com between Mercy and the police detective making for a light quick read.

About the Author:

Lucy loves traveling the world, but her favorite place is at home with her dogs and family. That said, she's always up for adventure and is constantly on the lookout for killer inspiration--as in who will be the next killer in her books?

She has a master's degree in humanities and enjoys learning all the things.