Murder at an Irish Chipper by Carlene O’Connor
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
Special thanks to Kensington for sending a copy for review.
Summary:
A belated honeymoon turns into a busman’s holiday when gardas Siobhán and Macdara Flannery find themselves investigating a dead body found in a fish and chips shop . . .
Siobhán’s brother Eoin’s new family restaurant, The O’Sullivan Six, is so close to opening—but waiting on the necessary permits plus the heat of July in the village of Kilbane in County Cork is driving everyone a bit mad. Macdara Flannery comes to the rescue with a plan—take a holiday by the sea and stuff themselves with fish and chips to support the struggling business of the aptly named Mrs. Chipper.
But when they arrive, a crowd is gathered in front of the closed a local fisherman with a fresh cod delivery, a food critic, Mrs. Chipper’s ex-husband who’s opening a competing fish and chips shop directly across the street, and a repairman to fix the vent for the deep fryer. With Siobhán and Macdara as witnesses, a local handyman gets the locked door open, only to find the proprietor lying dead and covered in flour at the base of a ladder, its rungs coated in slippery fat. Clearly this was not an accidental tragedy . . .
Even as the local garda take over the murder investigation, Siobhán and Macdara can’t help themselves from placing their long-delayed honeymoon on hold—at least until they can help apprehend an elusive killer (Goodreads).
Thoughts:
In a quaint Irish seaside town, the quiet atmosphere is greatly disturbed when a messy split between a couple leaves the divorcée dead in her own fish and chips shop. The mystery that arises should be a deeply intricate one that satiates my thirst for juicy mystery; instead, I was lulled by the shallow plotline and wished for more.
The characters in this book are rather static and stationary. Their personalities are unchanging and the dialogue is conventional. Every suspect in the ever-growing case comes across as a stock character, and every interaction between characters plays out as one would expect. The character dynamics had some complexity in them as the victim’s ex-husband and best friend are in a relationship. Exploring this relationship in connection to the victim kept me on the edge of my seat for a while. I was engaged trying to figure out if it really was the obvious pair who was involved, but it is also easy to see that they are a blatant red herring.
The main character, Siobhan, is an off-duty officer who is supposed to be on a honeymoon with her husband and children. I unfortunately felt minimal connection with her, which lowered my engagement with the story. Her detective instincts jumped at the chance to explore this mystery and uncover the truth, which is a narrative reminiscent of Pippa in A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. Since Siobhan was in the village coincidentally as a tourist, it was strange to see her become so involved in a local small town that she virtually had no relationship with before stepping off the plane. I believe this book would have retained more of its cozy, feel-good ambience if Siobhan was a local citizen who already had relationships with all of the townspeople. This may have contributed to the reason why I felt like all the character interactions were only surface-level because they were all strangers to the main character, and the time to get to know them was brief.
The tight-knit community still has its own noble traits. I recently finished watching Gilmore Girls and immediately found a similar small-town feel in this book. The comforting, beachy sunshine of the Irish village against the bleak, dark murder creates an interesting juxtaposition that I really hoped would work, but it still clashed. Thankfully, the town was done right by justice and achieved a sense of restoration after the cases closed, and I enjoyed the peaceful aftermath of the story.
For murder mystery fans who are in the mood for a light-hearted beach read, this book may be a highly entertaining journey.
Reviewed by Anna F.