Three months ago I wouldn’t have believed it, but I’m still in Ireland. In a tiny village called Leap (there’s a long story about why, but I won’t bother you with it), in County Cork. It’s on the main road along the south coast, but don’t blink or you’ll miss it. Probably you’ll be heading for Skibbereen, the next town over, which is about ten times as big as Leap, which still isn’t very big.
I inherited a pub and a house from someone I’d never even met, thanks to my grandmother. She’s gone now, so there’s no reason to go back to Boston. Now I’m running the pub and getting to know people. Pubs in the country (which is most of Ireland, except for Dublin and Cork city) aren’t grubby dark places where men go to drink without talking, and certainly not where shiny “young professionals” go to impress each other. They’re more like a place to meet, to say hello to friends, to catch up on local news, and to kind of ease into what’s left of the day. Thing is, if you’re managing the place you have to talk to a lot of people, and I’ve never been good at that. But I’m learning.
I’ve got three employees—Jimmy Sweeney and his daughter Rose, who I’m still not sure is old enough to work here, and Mick Nolan, whose grandmother lives near that cottage I ended up living in. That’s it, but that’s usually enough to keep things running. We juggle schedules depending on what’s going on, which usually is not much. Oh, I nearly forgot Old Billy (we call him old because he’s somewhere past eighty), who doesn’t actually work here but who’s here every day. The tourists who stop in really enjoy listening to his stories, and he gets a lot of free drinks that way.
Things were going pretty well until Althea Melville shows up at the pub one day and starts throwing her weight around. She’s American. Worse, she’s from New York. She says she’s in Ireland looking for a lost painting by some fancy artist, and she thinks it might be somewhere around Leap, and she wants help to find it. Trouble is, she doesn’t know how to ask nicely, and she really doesn’t get how things work in Ireland. I mean, I don’t really either, but I’ve learned a lot in the past few months and I can tell that she’s doing it all wrong. But, hey, she’s American, so I kind of had to help her out and try to steer her in the right direction.
The local manor house is the best place to look for this mysterious painting, but then she tries to wheedle her way in and ticks off the owner. Then the gardener for the place turns up dead on the front lawn. And she might have had something to do with it (although anybody who’s met Althea could tell she wouldn’t do anything that would mess up her manicure and her expensive shoes). Still, it’s a murder, so her search kind of grind to a halt, which makes Althea even more annoying to be around because she wants that painting like yesterday, for some big show she’s putting on in New York. I keep trying to explain that Irish time isn’t much like New York time, but she’s not good at listening.
But do you know, by the time we’ve solved the murder (that’s me and Sean Murphy, a police officer from Skibbereen—we don’t have any in Leap—and his detective-inspector-whatever boss), Althea’s kind of slowed down. I think Ireland is getting to her.
That happens a lot around here. I mean, look at me—I never expected to find myself here, but I like it. I’m going to stick around for a while and see how things work out.
GIVEAWAY: Comment on this post by noon EST on February 15, and you will be entered for a chance to win a copy of Scandal in Skibbereen. One winner will be chosen at random. Unless specified, U.S. entries only.
Meet the author
Sheila Connolly is the New York Times bestselling author and the Anthony and Agatha Award–nominated author of three cozy mystery series. Her bestselling Museum Mysteries are set in Philadelphia; her New York Times bestselling Orchard Mysteries take place in small town Massachusetts. Scandal in Skibbereen (February 2014) is the second in her Ireland-based County Cork Mysteries, following New York Times bestselling Buried in a Bog. In 2013 she also published Relatively Dead, a paranormal romance, and Reunion with Death, a traditional mystery set in Tuscany.
Sheila loves restoring old houses, visiting cemeteries, and traveling, when she’s not writing.
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Love Irish stories! Looking forward to reading this one. Thanks for the chance to win.
It’s snowy and icy outside, so a cozy that will take me away to Ireland is just what I need right now!
This sounds like fun and appeals to my Irish heart! Thanks for the chance to win a copy!
Just what is needed on this cold, cold snowy day…a interesting mystery story set in Ireland, with such appealing and somewhat quirky characters. I love the opportunity to win this book. Thank you!
I loved the first one…count me in please.
I loved the first book in this series–can’t wait to read this one!
Me me! I love this series
I loved buried in a bog, and the second is now on my wish list !!
This is a series I must read. Thanks for the review and encouragement!
I love all things Irish so this series is fun for me. Thank you for the chance to win
I enjoyed the first book in this series so I am looking forward to this one. Thanks.
Thanks so much for having me here, Dru Ann. I love writing about this tiny town in County Cork, and the pub (currently closed, but it may be back this year!) and the people, some of whom are real (like Ann Sheahan at the hotel, who gave me a wealth of information–the same family has been running that hotel for over 130 years!).
I love all things Irish , sounds like a great book. Would really love to win/read it
First sentence made me think you were in Ireland, Sheila, and I was jealous. Love this series because I dream of spending time in Scotland and doing a series set there. You’ve set a precedent for me!
Dream big, Judy! I (that’s me, not Maura) first visited the place in 1998, and it was almost like I started taking notes then, although I didn’t know it. By the next year I was asking the owner, Eileen Connolly, where she stored her kegs and how the taps worked.
I would love to be able to see this place – and I must say – anybody who murders a gardener is a really evil person.
I haven’t read this series but I would love to! It sounds really good! Thank you for the giveaway!
I so enjoy books set in Ireland. I really want to read this.
Thanks for the contest.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Ireland is at the top of my international wish-I-could-travel-to list. Take me there, Sheila. 🙂
Judy, I keep thinking I should rent/buy a house there with extra bedrooms and set up a “salon,” where writers could drop in and out (as long as they clean up after themselves!).
I have this series on my tbr list, but after reading this I’ve got to bump it up and get reading. Thanks for the chance to win.
This makes me want to go to Ireland to trace my Irish roots. Thank you so much for the chance to win!
Could readers visit also, Sheila? Pretty please.
Everyone has a bit of Irish blood in them. I wish I could spoken to my grandfather who emigrated from Ireland. I would love to read this book. Thank you for having such nice giveaways.
Ah, the opportunity to slow down. Tis a marvelous thing! This sounds like at least as much fun as the previous book about Leap. I look forward to “traveling” to the old country.
Sounds like a good one – would love to win a copy.
I like the first book in the series, and I’m expecting to enjoy this one, too.
This sounds like a really good series.
kaye.killgore@comcast.net
Loved the first one. I look foreword to reading more about her Irland Adventures.
Thanks for the comments and thanks to Sheila for letting Maura visit with us.
contest is closed.