Book Review: Bury the Wren by Carlene O'Connor

 Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from Ballatine Publishing 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

Amidst the stark, lonely beauty of southwest Ireland’s windswept coast, veterinarian Dimpna Wilde wrangles with dark traditions, village folklore, and a killer’s motives during the annual Wren Day celebration in this deeply atmospheric and suspenseful County Kerry novel for readers of Dervla McTiernan, Lin Anderson, and Louise Penny.

Synopsis:

Dingle is a town steeped in folklore, where old traditions like Wren Day linger like mist on the Kerry mountains. On the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day, the wren boys—local lads from competing neighborhoods—paint their faces and dress in straw garb to march through town. In times past, the tiny body of a wren would be displayed during the parade. According to legend, the little bird deserved to die for betraying St. Stephen’s hiding place to his enemies.

These days, Wren Day is a kinder affair, with different groups vying to raise money for charity. But this year’s celebration gets off to an ominous start when Dimpna finds a dead wren on her doorstep. Things take a darker turn when one of the wren boys is found strangled, thick fisherman rope still around his neck. Then Dimpna goes to return her friend Paul Byrne’s dog to his house and discovers Paul dead—with a wren’s body beside him.

Is someone sending a message that Paul was a traitor, or this an effort to cast suspicion on the wren boys? And how are the deaths connected? While Detective Sergeant Cormac O’Brien, visiting from Dublin, begins to investigate, Dimpna immerses herself in tangled motives that harken back to past tragedies, and a case that has become deeply personal.  For it’s not only traditions that persist here, grudges and secrets do too . . .

Review:

For those unfamiliar with this English tradition, Wren Day seem a bit odd... In this fifth book of the series, Cormack is back from Dublin for the holiday, to spend time with Dimpna.All is going well until a body is discovered during the parade and a blizzard hits. With no reinforcements able to get through, and Constable Lemmon without the experience to work a murder case, both Cormac and retired Detective Bailey, agree to help him get through the initial day of the case. But when reinforcements still can't get there and a second murder occurs, they both realize they're going to be very hands on to try to solve who is killing people and leaving wrens on the scene. Add in a series of burglaries occurred by someone dressed in a Wren boy costume, and the team has too many suspects and not enough clues. It's up to some of the civilians to help them with their case and to find the suspect in time, before the other person who received a wren also is killed. A bit different than previous books, this one is a bit more of a page-turner, making it enjoyable for fans and new readers to the series. 

About the Author

Carlene O’Connor is the USA Today bestselling author of the acclaimed Irish Village Mysteries, the County Kerry Novels, and the Home to Ireland Mysteries. Born into a long line of Irish storytellers, her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland filled with tales in 1897 and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places she’s wandered across the pond, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork, the setting of her Irish Village Mystery series. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and currently divides her time between New Mexico and the Emerald Isle. Please visit her online at CarleneOConnor.net.