Review: SOME OF US ARE LOOKING, Carlene O'Connor

• 
  this book supplied by my local library
  
• #2 in the County Kerry Mysteries
• published 2023 by Kensington Books
• ISBN 978-1-4967-3755-7
• 330 pages

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

In the powerful tradition of Ann Cleeves and Louise Penny, USA Today bestselling author Carlene O'Connor’s new Ireland-set series continues, bringing together complex characters with a focus on a female vet who returns home to the village where she grew up and must reckon with her past while untangling mysteries in the present.
 
In Dimpna Wilde’s veterinary practice, an imminent meteor shower has elevated the usual gossip to include talk of shooting stars and the watch parties that are planned all over Dingle. But there are also matters nearer at hand to discuss—including the ragtag caravan of young people selling wares by the roadside, and the shocking death of Chris Henderson, an elderly local, in a hit-and-run.
 
Just hours before his death, Henderson had stormed into the Garda Station, complaining loudly about the caravan’s occupants causing noise and disruption. One of their members is a beautiful young woman named Brigid Sweeney, and Dimpna is shocked when Brigid later turns up at her practice, her clothing splattered in blood and an injured hare tucked into her shirt.
 
Brigid claims that a mysterious stranger has been trying to obtain a lucky rabbit’s foot. Dimpna is incensed at the thought of anyone mutilating animals, but there is far worse in store. On the night of the meteor shower, Dimpna finds Brigid’s body tied to a tree, her left hand severed. She has bled to death. Wrapped around her wrist is a rabbit’s foot.
 
Brigid had amassed plenty of admirers, and there were tangled relationships within the group. But perhaps there is something more complex than jealousy at play. The rabbit’s foot, the severed hand, the coinciding meteor shower—the deeper Dimpna and Detective Sergeant Cormac O’Brien investigate, the more ominous the signs seem to be, laced with a warning that Dimpna fears it will prove fatal to overlook. 

My Take

I feel that I should point out that the books in this series are not cosies, but quite noir police procedurals. They are built around the town of Dingle and involve a veterinarian Dimpna Wilde, recently returned from Dublin to take over her father's practice, and Detective Sergeant Cormac O’Brien. They are an unlikely couple, in their middle years.

Both the books that I have read so far in this series have been well plotted, and I would advise starting with the first in the series NO STRANGERS HERE to make sure you pick up on character development and other plot lines. 

There were plenty of clues in this one about who the murderer was, but also plenty of enticing red herrings. The next in the series, due to be published later this year is YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR.

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read

County Kerry Mystery series

• 4.5, NO STRANGERS HERE - #1 Kerry Mystery series

Irish Village Mystery series

• 4.4, MURDER IN AN IRISH CHURCHYARD - Irish Village Mystery #3
• 4.4, MURDER ON AN IRISH FARM - Irish Village Mystery #8

Review:, MURDER ON AN IRISH FARM, Carlene O'Connor

• 
   this book made available by my local library,
  
• published by Kensington Publishing Corp 2022
• ISBN  978-1-4967-3080-0
• Irish Village Mystery #8
• 327 pages

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction) 

In this enchanting new read in the fan-favorite series from a USA Today bestselling author, garda of County Cork, Ireland, Siobhán O’Sullivan and Macdaras Flannery, are about to get married at last. But just as the rowdy O’Sullivan brood and all the regulars of the local bistro have gathered at the church, the nuptials come to an abrupt halt when the discovery of an unidentified skeleton puts the wedding on pause…

If only her mother could be here! The entire O’Sullivan brood—not to mention the regulars from Naomi’s Bistro—have gathered at St. Mary’s Church for the wedding of Siobhán and Macdara. It’s not every day you see two garda marrying each other. Only Siobhán’s brother James is missing. They can’t start without him.
 
But when James finally comes racing in, he’s covered in dirt and babbling he’s found a human skeleton in the old slurry pit at the farmhouse. What farmhouse? Macdara sheepishly admits he was saving it as a wedding surprise: he purchased an abandoned dairy farm. Duty calls, so the engaged garda decide to put the wedding on hold to investigate.
 
James leads them to a skeleton clothed in rags that resemble a tattered tuxedo. As an elderly neighbor approaches, she cries out that these must be the remains of her one true love who never showed up on their wedding day, fifty years ago. The garda have a cold case on their hands, which heats up the following day when a fresh corpse appears on top of the bridegroom’s bones. With a killer at large, they need to watch their backs—or the nearly wedded couple may be parted by death before they’ve even taken their vows. . .

My Take

I've inadvertently jumped a number of titles in this series but I only realised that when I've come to write the review. Not that I think it matters much in this case.

These novels appear to be cosies, with lots of action happening all at once, and a cast of at least dozens, and a puzzle or two to be solved.

I am enjoying them, so I shall persist.

My rating: 4.3

I've also read

• 4.5, NO STRANGERS HERE - #1 Kerry Mystery series
•  4.4, MURDER IN AN IRISH CHURCHYARD - Irish Village Mystery #3

Review: FOOL ME ONCE, Harlan Coben

• 
  This edition made available on Libby as an e-book by my local library
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Century Physical (3 January 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1804947202
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1804947203

Synopsis (Amazon)

You think you know the truth. The truth is you know nothing.

If your husband was murdered.

And you were a witness.

How do you explain it when he appears on your nanny cam, back from the dead?

You thought you trusted him.

Now you can't even trust yourself.

Dark secrets and a terrifying hunt for the truth lie at the heart of this gripping thriller by the 'master of the double twist' Harlan Coben ...

My Take

Maya Stern is a soldier with PTSD. Her sister was murdered 4 months before when Captain Maya Stern was on operations in Iran. And now her husband Joe has been murdered.

The story opens at Joe's funeral where Maya and their 2 year old daughter Lily are with the Burkett family at the graveside.

After the funeral Maya's friend Eileen installs a "nanny cam" in the lounge room so that Maya can keep a check on how the nanny Isabella interacts with 2 year old Lily.  At this point Maya is visited by an NYPD homicide detective who wants to go over the details of what happened the day Joe was murdered. Maya was there when some thugs approached them and then she ran. So she didn't actually see the final shot and she hasn't seen Joe's body.

Maya has left the Army and is now working as a flight instructor and she returns to work the day after the funeral.

And then Joe appears on the nanny cam.

This story is full of twists and turns as we try to work out whether Joe is really dead, and, if he is, who killed him. I enjoyed it much more than my last outing with this author, but even so I didn't see the final twist coming.

My rating: 4.5 

I've also read

• 4.4, CAUGHT
• 4.3, DON'T LET GO
• 4.3, NO SECOND CHANCE
• 4.5, RUN AWAY
• 4.5, THE WOODS 
• 4.4, I WILL FIND YOU
• 3.0, THE MATCH 

Review: THE TORRENT, Dinuka McKenzie

• 
  This edition available from Amazon on Kindle
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09BP1G2R7
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins (1 February 2022)
• (Detective Kate Miles Book 1)
• ISBN: 9781804366301
• winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize

Synopsis (Amazon)

A loving husband lost to devastating summer floods. A teenage girl injured during a robbery. Two seemingly unconnected cases that will push a detective to the brink.

An atmospheric, compelling new voice in Australian crime fiction.

In Northern New South Wales, heavily pregnant and a week away from maternity leave, Detective Sergeant Kate Miles is exhausted and counting down the days. But a violent hold-up at a local fast-food restaurant with unsettling connections to her own past, means that her final days will be anything but straightforward.

When a second case is dumped on her lap, the closed case of a man drowned in recent summer floods, what begins as a simple informal review quickly grows into something more complicated. Kate can either write the report that’s expected of her or investigate the case the way she wants to.

As secrets and betrayals pile up, and the needs of her own family intervene, how far is Kate prepared to push to discover the truth?

My Take

Another Aussie author to look out for. This novel is her debut title, but there are already another couple (in the series) to look out for.

Detective Kate Miles is 36 weeks pregnant and should really already be on leave. This week though, she has 2 cases to take care of, and also her replacement to familiarise with the job.

There is a good Australian flavour to the novel, set in northern New South Wales. The cases and the stories surrounding them feel authentic at the same time as showing empathy to the people involved. There is also a good amount of back story to Kate's life. Characters are well drawn.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

Dinuka McKenzie is an Australian writer and the author of the Detective Kate Miles crime series published in Australia and the UK. She is the winner of the 2020 HarperCollins Australia Banjo Prize. 

Her writing has been shortlisted for the Sisters in Crime Davitt Awards, the Bad Sydney Crime Danger Awards, longlisted for the Richell Prize, and highly commended in the Australian Crime Writers' Association Louie Award. 

Her short fiction has appeared in the 2022 Dark Deeds Down Under crime and thriller anthology. Dinuka lives in Southern Sydney on Dharawal country.

Review: MURDER IN AN IRISH CHURCHYARD, Carlene O'Connor

• 
  this edition a large print published by W F Howes 2021
  
• first published 2018
• ISBN 978-1-00404-114-5
• 405 pages
• Irish Village Mystery #3

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Kilbane has a new garda, and her first case is a grave matter indeed...
After solving two murders in the County Cork village of Kilbane, Siobhán O’Sullivan has accepted her calling and decided to join the Garda Síochána. The O’Sullivan clan couldn’t be prouder, but there’s no time to celebrate as she’s already on another case, summoned by the local priest who just found a dead man in the St. Mary’s graveyard—aboveground.

He’s a stranger, but the priest has heard talk of an American tourist in town, searching for his Irish ancestor. As Siobhán begins to dig for a motive among the gnarled roots of the victim’s family tree, she will need to stay two steps ahead of the killer or end up with more than one foot in the grave. 

My Take

An engaging cozy, focussing on Siobhán O’Sullivan's first case as a Garda.

The local priest wakes her after he hears a gunshot in his local churchyard. He follows that by finding the body of an American tourist.  This case is really above Siobhán's pay grade and a garda from Dublin is brought in to work with her.

Set in the small village of Kilbane, the case is an interesting mix of current police procedural and historical investigation. The American is the head of a successful food chain who has come to Ireland to search his past. He has brought with him his current (3rd) wife, his brother, a nurse, and his two adult children, and a documentary maker who will film their journey.

In addition Siobhán O’Sullivan has a restaurant to run and personal problems to resolve.

I have already begun another series by this author (see below)

My rating: 4.4

I've also read

4.5, NO STRANGERS HERE - #1 Kerry Mystery series

Review: BROKEN BAY, Margaret Hickey

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby provided through my local library
  
• Published: 30 July 2024??
• ISBN: 9781761344541
• Imprint: Penguin
• Pages: 384
  

Synopsis (publisher)

Old loyalties and decades-long feuds rise to the surface in this stunning crime novel, set in a spectacular Australian landscape known for its jagged cliffs and hidden caves.

Detective Sergeant Mark Ariti has taken a few days’ holiday in Broken Bay at precisely the wrong time. The small fishing town on South Australia’s Limestone Coast is now the scene of a terrible tragedy.

Renowned cave diver Mya Rennik has drowned while exploring a sinkhole on the land of wealthy farmer Frank Doyle. As the press descends, Mark’s boss orders him to stay put and assist the police operation.

But when they retrieve Mya's body, a whole new mystery is opened up, around the disappearance of a young local woman twenty years before . . .

Suddenly Mark is diving deep into the town’s history - and in particular the simmering rivalry between its two most prominent families, the Doyles and Sinclairs.

Then a murder takes place at the Sinclairs’ old home – and Mark is left wondering which is more dangerous: Broken Bay’s hidden subterranean world or the secretive town above it . . . 

My Take

Very very readable.

I enjoyed catching up with Mark Ariti in the small Limestone Coast town of Broken Bay. Mark just happens to be holidaying in the area when renowned cave diver Mya Rennik drowns in a newly discovered sink hole.

Mark accidentally becomes head of the investigation, holding the fort until a crime investigation team arrives, when a second body is discovered in the sink hole.  And then his stay in the town is extended when his car's windscreen is shattered, and he has to stay waiting for repairs to take place. 

As Mark investigates the history of various families, he follows glimmerings that seem out of place, showing us what makes him such a good detective.

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.7, CUTTER'S END - Mark Ariti #1
• 4.6, STONE TOWN - Mark Ariti #2
  

Review: NO STRANGERS HERE, Carlene O'Connor

• 
  this edition borrowed from my local library in large print
  
• #1 in County Kerry Mystery series
• first printed in 2022
• Large print edition W F Howes 2023
• ISBN 978-1-00410-664-6 

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

On a rocky beach in the southwest of Ireland, the body of a wealthy racehorse owner Johnny O’Reilly has been discovered. In a town like Dingle, everyone knows a little something about everyone else. But dig a bit deeper, and there’s always much more to find. And when Detective Inspector Cormac O'Brien is dispatched out of Killarney to lead the murder inquiry, he's determined to unearth every last buried secret.
 
Dimpna Wilde hasn’t been home in years. But faced with a triple bombshell—her mother is rumored to have been in a relationship with Johnny, her father’s dementia is escalating, and her brother is avoiding her calls—Dimpna moves back to Dingle to clear her family of suspicion. And as she takes over the family practice, she finds herself in a race with the detective inspector to uncover the dark, twisting truth behind murder, no matter how close to home it strikes...

My Take

This a cracking good yarn. Plenty of mystery. Plenty of secrets.

Dimpna Wilde left Dingle 27 years ago. After she was raped and after the racehorse in her care was killed in a traffic accident.

She has established a career as a renowned vet  despite her diminutive size. But her husband committed suicide a year ago and really she has nowhere to go but Dingle where she has family.

She arrives in time to hear of the murder Johnny O'Reilly, wealthy race horse owner, and to witness the arrival of Cormac O'Brien, Detective. Cormac will be challenged as he tries to crack the secrets of the town.

There is a lot for the reader to get up to speed on, and Dimpna becomes our eyes and ears, as we delve into the past and the present.

I'm impressed enough by this book to be looking for the next in the series SOME OF US ARE LOOKING.

My rating: 4.5

About the author
Carlene O'Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America during the Troubles, and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she's wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. Carlene currently divides her time between New York and the Emerald Isle.