Siobhan O’Sullivan is looking forward to a lovely, peaceful Christmas with her younger siblings. Although they won’t be home this year as usual, they will get to be in West Cork, close to the sea. There, they will be getting to know the family of James’ fiancee Elise Elliot and enjoying the concert put on by her grandfather. Enda Elliot is a renowned conductor, and the O’Sullivans have been invited to the big Christmas Eve concert as well as all the accompanying festivities in the days leading up to Christmas.
But as soon as the family arrives at the old mill where the musicians will be performing, Siobhan knows that something is wrong. Everyone is standing around outside, waiting for Enda to show up and let them in. But he should have been there already. So Siobhan wasn’t surprised when they do get the doors open and find Enda, unmoving, on the ground. She has the others call the local guards while she tries to secure the scene. As a garda herself, Siobhan is more than familiar with the scene of a murder, and she understands quickly that is exactly where she has found herself once again.
While the local guards seem to focus in on a the man least liked in the town, Siobhan realizes that just because a man is not well liked in a city doesn’t make him a murderer. And as she starts to ask questions around town, she begins to uncover Elliot family secrets and alibis that turn out to be lies. But finding the balance between justice and family is difficult, and she has to juggle her time carefully to make sure she spends some time with her siblings too.
So, who killed Enda? The local man who has always had time fitting in to the small town, or one of Enda’s grandchildren, who find themselves being threatened with a loss of funding for their various endeavors? Could it have been his wife, a much younger woman and the first violin in Enda’s orchestra? Or could it be someone else entirely?
Once Siobhan’s fiance Detective Sergeant Macdara Flannery shows up and takes over the case, Siobhan is able to get more information quickly. But when someone ties to run her off the road, she realizes that maybe getting close to catching a killer is getting too close to the killer. Will she be able to put together the clues in time to find Enda’s killer, or will this end up being Siobhan’s last Christmas?
Murder at an Irish Christmas is book 6 in the Irish Village Mystery series, and author Carlene O’Connor has crafted this one with just as much love as she did the first. The O’Sullivan clan keep getting older, but Siobhan works hard to keep them together as a family. And at the same time, her sense of justice is so strong that she can’t let a killer go free, even when it puts her in danger.
I love these books. Getting a chance to spend some time in Ireland always makes for a good time, and I find Siobhan and the whole O’Sullivan family absolutely endearing. I thought the Christmas setting for this story was a great backdrop to this story, and I appreciated the time I got to spend in West Cork. Murder at an Irish Christmas is a another good cozy in a really solid series.
Egalleys for Murder at an Irish Christmas were provided by Kensington Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.
