Cheers from Galway Ireland! I’m Tara Meehan, a New Yorker who recently moved to this vibrant medieval city not far from the Wild Atlantic Way. And wild is exactly the right adjective for this thirty-three-year-old transplant. It wasn’t long ago that I was an interior designer, and now I’m running Irish Revivals an architectural salvage company that my uncle Johnny owns. Or he did own it. He’s missing. Possibly dead. Possibly a murderer. The person whose been stepping up in the meantime– Danny O’Donnell– is way too attractive for his own good. I’ve been warned he’s a player and to stay away from him. I came here to spread my mother’s ashes, not to fall in love, or find a killer for that matter. But life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

Since I’ve been here I’ve been staying in Uncle Johnny’s cottage which some people say is insane given the fact that a man was murdered here. But I’ve done what I can to cleanse it and bring good energy, and it was getting expensive staying at the inn. There’s also an Irish Wolfhound that comes with the place– or as I call him, a hairy, sexy pony. I have to admit, he’s growing on me.

I know what you’re thinking, what does an interior designer know about solving a murder, but nobody else seems interested in finding out what really happened, they just want to blame it on my uncle. Blood must run thick for I’ve never even met him and I feel this unrelenting need to clear his name. If he’s guilty, I’ll be the first to turn him in, but I’m not convinced he is. There are plenty of people around here who would love to see Johnny go down. As an outsider, it’s not easy getting answers out of anyone here, but I’m in no hurry to leave. The blueberry scones alone make me want to stay– they’re as big as my head. And even though I prefer coffee to tea, no one has kicked me out of the country for it.

The one sore spot about being here is that besides making a mess of spreading my mother’s ashes, everyone wants to know if I’m married with children. I used to have a husband, and the best son anyone could ever ask for, but my Thomas died when he was three-years-old. He was with my husband at the time, and fell from a jungle gym. Although it wasn’t my husband’s fault, Gabriel was a salt-of-the-earth man, our marriage didn’t survive our son’s death. And from it, I’ve developed in irrational fear of heights just imagining what it was like from his perspective. It’s been three years since he left this world and if time heals all wounds, it hasn’t gotten around to me yet. I was an only child and I never knew my father, so I guess I’m an orphan now. I like curling up by the fire in this little cottage listening to the wind howl and the rain beat on the roof while the sexy hairy pony snores. Questioning suspects, getting a handle on Irish Revivals, and finishing up interior design work for a client in New York is keeping me on my toes. I don’t know quite what my future holds here, but that’s okay because I’m in no hurry to leave. Ireland is so captivating I don’t even need a hundred thousand welcomes; I’ll settle for just one.

You can read more about Tara in Murder in Galway, the first book in the NEW “Galway Ireland” mystery series, released April 30, 2019.

New Yorker Tara Meehan’s first trip to Galway may be her last . . .

Tara never imagined her introduction to Ireland like this—carrying her mam’s ashes to honor her final request: “Tell Johnny I’m sorry . . . Take me home.” She’s never met her mam’s estranged brother, Johnny Meehan, who owns an architectural salvage business in Galway. Although Tara is immediately charmed by the medieval city, the locals seem wary of strangers and a gypsy warns her that death is all around.

When Tara arrives at her uncle’s stone cottage, the prophesy seems true. A dead man lies sprawled over the threshold in a pool of blood. The victim turns out to be Johnny’s wealthiest client, and her missing uncle is the garda’s number-one suspect. In trying to find Johnny and solve the crime, Tara uncovers her mam and uncle’s troubled past. But with a desperate killer about, she had better mind herself, or they’ll be tossing her ashes in Galway Bay . . .

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About the author
Carlene O’Connor is a USA Today Bestselling author of The Irish Village Mysteries. To date she has written Murder in an Irish Village, Murder at an Irish Wedding, and Murder in an Irish Churchyard. February 2019 will see the release of Murder at an Irish Pub, Murder in Galway, and her piece in the holiday anthology: Christmas Cocoa Murder. Carlene is busy writing the next book in The Irish Village Mysteries. Readers can visit her at carleneoconnor.net or on Facebook.

All comments are welcomed.