Maura Donovan first appeared in Buried in a Bog and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Maura.

What is your name?
I’m Maura Donovan.

How old are you?
Twenty-six (I keep forgetting to celebrate my birthday, and nobody here in Ireland knows when it is.)

What is your profession?
I came to West Cork more than a year ago, and now I own and manage a small pub that I inherited. I’m still getting used to the idea of owning anything.

Do you have a significant other?
Well . . . maybe. When I lived in Boston I never had a lot of time for relationships, and working at the pub now keeps me busy, but I think something’s starting to happen with a guy I work with.

What is his name and profession?
He’s Mick Nolan. He works at Sullivan’s, my pub, and he’s been here a lot longer than I have, and he’s older than I am. I didn’t want to start something with him, because I’ve never run anything in my life, much less in a foreign country, and I need him to help me. But the pub hasn’t gone bankrupt yet, so we must be doing something right.

Any children?
Nope, and no plans for any.

Do you have any sibling(s)?
None that I know of. I was raised by my Irish grandmother in Boston. Gran and her young son (who became my father) moved from Ireland to Boston. My father married a woman there, but he died in a construction accident when I was very young, and then my mother disappeared, and never got in touch again.

I didn’t know my mother, but then she kind of showed up here in Ireland this past year. Turns out I do have siblings after all, although they’re a lot younger than me.

Do your parents live near you?
I don’t really have any relatives left, certainly not near me. My grandmother died over a year ago, which was why I ended up in Ireland. She’d fixed it with an old friend that I would inherit the pub and his house. That was a real surprise! I finally met my mother but I can’t say she’s part of my life. Yet.

Who is your best friend?
I’m not really sure—I’ve never had a lot of friends. Like I said, Bridget means a lot to me, even if she’s three times my age. I’ve also gotten to know Gillian Callanan, who’s an artist who was raised around here but who’s spent a lot of time in Dublin trying to sell her art. She’s kind of involved with Harry Townsend, and they just had a baby. But I’m still getting to know her.

Cats, dogs or other pets?
No. I have enough trouble taking care of myself (like sometimes I forget to buy food). I can’t look after any animals.

What town do you live in?
Actually I live in a townland named Knockskagh. I’d never heard that word, but a townland turns out to be the smallest land division in Ireland, and sometimes it has only ten or twenty houses total. Then you have villages (my pub is in the village of Leap, which has a population of about 250 people), and towns (Skibbereen is the closest) and cities. And West Cork is part of County Cork.

House or building complex? Own or Rent?
I live in the country (after being raised in Boston it’s taken getting used to). I now own a cottage, which is more than I ever expected. It’s over a hundred years old, and it’s small and anything but fancy. There aren’t a whole lot of neighbors.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
I don’t think about it much. It’s really only four rooms, plus a bathroom. There are two bedrooms so I can have a guest now and then, but that’s pretty rare because I don’t know many people in the area. Actually I probably like Bridget Nolan’s cottage nearby—she’s Mick Nolan’s grandmother, and she’s eighty-something, but she knew my gran and she’s become a good friend. Otherwise, I’m usually working at the pub, so I’m not home much. I guess I spend the most time in the biggest room, which has a fireplace big enough to stand in, that people used to cook in, and a big table that a family would sit around for meals. There’s a parlor too, but that’s the fancy room that most people probably never used.

Favorite meal? Favorite dessert?
I’m not really into eating, mostly because I don’t have time to cook. One of the other people who works at the pub, Rose Sweeney, is taking cooking classes and she wants to open a kitchen at the pub. I get to be her guinea pig and taste what she makes, and she’s really a good cook, even though she’s young. At the cottage I kind of make do with bread and coffee.

Favorite hobby?
I don’t really have time for hobbies! I’m still learning to run a business, and taking a little time to get to know this corner of the country. It’s definitely not like Boston.

Favorite vacation spot?
I don’t think I’ve ever taken a vacation in my life. Back in Boston I was always working, to help my gran pay the rent.

Favorite sports team?
I guess I was kind of into the New England Patriots when I lived in Boston, but I haven’t even figured out what sports people play in Ireland.

Movies or Broadway?
If there’s a movie theater in West Cork, I don’t know where it is. Besides, the pub is always busy, and the staff is small, so that’s where you’ll find me, especially on weekends.

Are you a morning or a night person?
I must be an all-day person. I’m responsible for the pub, so I get there early to clean up from the night before, and put in orders if I need to. And we stay open most nights until around midnight, and I’ve still got to drive back to my cottage and try to get some sleep before starting all over again.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
I never planned on sleuthing at all. The nearest police station (the police are called gardaí here) is in Skibbereen, a few miles away, but there isn’t a lot of crime around here, and there are only ten or so police. What I hadn’t figured out was that a pub is a great place to find out things about crimes, because people come in to talk to each other, so all I have to do is listen. I’m kind of a friend of Sean Murphy, who’s a garda in Skibbereen, so I pass on what I learn to him.

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
Like I said, Sean, and his boss Patrick Hurley. Then there’s Old Billy, who was a friend of Old Mick (I know, it sounds kind of silly). He’s over eighty, but he knows everybody for miles around, going back generations, and he’s really good at putting the pieces together when there’s been a crime. And there’s a bunch of guys who hang out together and come in about every day, and somehow we all end up talking about crimes. Sometimes they even bet on who committed the crime.

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
Mostly I work. I wake up with the sun, eat breakfast. If I have time I drop in and say hello to Bridget down the hill. I drive to Leap, open the pub and clean up. Then I serve drinks for the next ten or twelve hours. Not long ago we started having music groups perform a couple of nights a week, which brings in more people. We close around midnight, every day of the week. I drive home and sleep for a few hours—except for the nights that Mick joins me. And otherwise I talk. I’ve learned that Irish people love to talk. Some of them even remember my family.

Giveaway: Leave a comment below for your chance to win a print copy of Many a Twist. U.S. entries only, please. The giveaway ends January 7, 2019. Good luck everyone!

You can read about Maura in The Lost Traveller, the seventh book in the “County Cork” cozy mystery series, coming January 8, 2019.

Pub owner Maura Donovan is settling into a charmed life in Ireland—until a mutilated body on her property ends her lucky streak.

Boston expat Maura Donovan came to Ireland to honor her grandmother’s last wish, but she never expected to stay in provincial County Cork—much less to inherit a house and a pub, Sullivan’s, in the small village of Leap. After a year-long struggle to stay in the black, Sullivan’s is finally thriving, and Maura has even brought back traditional Irish music to the pub. With a crop of new friends and a budding relationship with handsome Mick Nolan, Maura’s life seems rosier than ever—but even in Ireland, you can’t always trust your luck.

It begins with Maura’s discovery of a body in the ravine behind the pub. And then, the Irish gardaí reveal that the victim’s face has been battered beyond recognition. Who is the faceless victim? Who wanted him dead? And why was his body dumped in the backyard of Sullivan’s Pub? Even after the dead man is finally given a name, nobody admits to knowing him. In the tight-knit world of Leap, no one is talking—and now it’s up to Maura to uncover the dark secrets that lurk beneath the seemingly quiet town.

Laced with warm Irish charm, a delightful small-town setting, and a colorful cast of characters, New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly’s seventh County Cork mystery, The Lost Traveller, conspires to delight.

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About the author
After trying out careers as an art historian, an investment banker for major cities, a non-profit fundraiser, a political staffer, and a professional genealogist, Sheila Connolly decided to become a mystery writer. Now she is the New York Times bestselling, Anthony and Agatha award-nominated author of the Orchard Mysteries, the Museum Mysteries, the County Cork Mysteries, the Relatively Dead Mysteries, and the new Victorian Village Mysteries. When she isn’t writing Sheila loves restoring old houses, visiting cemeteries, and traveling. She is married and has one daughter and three cats, and she owns a cottage in Ireland, within sight of where her Connolly ancestors lived (and where half the neighbors seem to be related to her). Visit Sheila at sheilaconnolly.com.

All comments are welcomed.