The Secret of the Irish Castle by Santa Montefiore

 

Novels with an Irish setting?  Bring it on!

This is the last book in the trilogy and I can say I enjoyed all the books immensely.  Book 1 is The Girl in the Castle, Book 2 is The Daughters of Ireland and The Secret of the Irish Castle wraps it all up neatly.  Perfect ending if you ask me.

The author does a good job of recapping things from previous books so you’re not lost if you haven’t read the other two books in quite a while.  That being said, you need to read these in order for the character development to make sense.

We continue with the story of Kitty Deverill , Bridie Doyle and Jack O’Leary.  Lots of scenes with the fun characters Harry Deverill, Boysie and Celia. There are ulterior motives for assisting one another with exposing Bride’s husband the faux Count – Rosetta wants to help her friend while Grace is helping so she can get back in Michael’s good graces and his bed.

There are times it’s a soap opera or Facebook drama but if you are a fan of the series, what a page turner.  It’s always nice to be an armchair traveler and visit Ireland.

There were a few food items mentioned but it’s the usual tea, scones, biscuits, cake and fish.  For a fancy dinner salmon mousse, roasted duck and pheasant were served.

Broken Harbor by Tana French

 

This is the fourth book in the Dublin Murder Squad series by Tana French. I would read anything she writes, she is so descriptive and engaging. I was immediately pulled into this story line from the beginning. All of her characters are so fleshed out. As I read the people come to life for me, people I would like talk to and hear about their jobs and their lives.

To be forewarned, French isn’t a cozy mystery writer. This is another murder mystery but in this one, dead children involved. If that’s offensive then you won’t want to read this one, I only bring that up as there were a few reviews where people didn’t like this book at all yet they were fans of her other novels. To me, this one is so well written and may be my favorite in the series. So far.

By the 81% mark on my Kindle I was thrown for a loop – something I did not see coming, a twist in the story. Honestly, I couldn’t put this one down.

Without giving away any spoilers I will tell you what you could read on the book jacket cover.

“Detective Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy and his partner are sent to the abandoned, half-constructed housing development Broken Harbor to investigate the brutal murder of the Spain family. The husband and two children are dead. What Scorcher thinks is an open and shut case is quickly complicated when Jenny Spain is found barely alive, and the family’s circumstances are brought to light: hidden baby monitors, a strained mortgage brought on by the housing crisis, and the increasingly erratic signs of a family in crisis.”

I am looking forward to book 5, The Secret Place, which is on sale via Amazon for $7.99 for Kindle. Just bought my copy and eagerly await another Dublin Murder Squad story.

Check out Tana French’s website and see all her books.

Faithful Place by Tana French

 Faithful Place is the first novel I’ve read by author Tana French. Loved it….found out later it was the third of her novels and she wrote about the main character, Detective Frank Mackey, in the previous books. Oh well…..no problem as far as I have read since these are stand alone novels so …I didn’t jump ahead.

Faithful Place begins with a snapshot of Frank at nineteen. He is standing in Dublin on a cold December night waiting for his girlfriend Rosie Daly. They plan to elope to London and have a good life together, away from the misery of their neighborhood in Faithful Place . Frank is from a working class family but sadly, his father never held a job long and drank away much of what he earned. Rosie’s father worked at Guinness and earned a good living – he hated the Mackey family and was not going to have his daughter mixing with that clan. So, the kids planned to start fresh in England.

Rosie never showed up but Frank kept his vigil, hope fading but he waited until dawn. He went into #16 (a notorious hangout for kids) and found a note from Rosie, stating she was sorry but was leaving and would come back one day. He assumed the note was for him and he was dumped, that she left for England without him. She is the one with the ferry tickets.

Twenty-two years pass. In the start of the next chapter you read Frank is an undercover detective for Dublin police, divorced and gets weekend visits with his much loved daughter. Suddenly he gets a call from his sister telling him Rosie’s packed suitcase has been found stuffed behind a fireplace in #16. Frank returns, after 22 years, and sees his family for the first time since he left. The sisters are welcoming, the youngest brother still idolizes Frank and the oldest brother makes it known he is not very welcome. After looking through the suitcase he meets with Rosie’s family and gets permission to start up an investigation. It would be a cold case so he knew it would be filed and not seriously looked at…..but he has connections and gets the Murder Squad down to look into things.

After that, the first two chapters, you have a very suspenseful mystery mixed with a detailed passionate story of family emotions, personal stories and intrigue. Frank’s voice is the story teller here and I can not wait to read more about him…but evidently from the viewpoint of his earlier years…since I read book 3 first.

“The Liberties,” the first person narrator explains about the district in which Faithful Place is located, “grew on their own . . . .and the Place is a cramped cul-de-sac tucked away in the middle like a wrong turn in a maze.” It is a place that has its own rules—the rules that create character: “no matter how skint you are, if you go to the pub then you stand your round. . . ; you leave the heroin to them down in the flats; even if you’re an anarchist punk rocker this month, you go to Mass on Sunday; and no matter what, you never, ever squeal on anyone.” It is a world where there is no more important motivation than saving face. And for most people born into it, it is a dead end.

There are several big twists and unexpected events which I don’t want to reveal here (in case anyone reads this) and I was quite surprised. That is so nice to read a book and not peg who-dunint and how at the start.

In the Woods by Tana French

 

Going to the bookstores on weekends provides me with ideas for books I want to read. Years back I saw Faithful Place, Tana French’s third book in her Dublin Murder Squad series. If a title and jacket description grabs me I usually check on the author’s other publications. For some reason I didn’t – it was enough for me that the story took place in Ireland and it was also a mystery. Love both.

Recently I finished In The Woods, French’s first book. The book starts with the story of three children who disappear in the woods one afternoon. Jamie, Adam and Peter are very tight friends and have always been so for the twelve years they have lived in the neighborhood. One day they go off playing and don’t come back. Parents start a search, the garda is called in and they eventually find Adam Ryan clinging to a tree, blood in his shoes and slash marks across his back. Jamie and Peter were never found. Detectives talk to Adam but he was so traumatized by what happened that he can’t recall anything.

Fast forward 22 years and we are introduced to Rob Ryan, a detective with the Dublin Murder Squad. Rob is actually Adam Robert Ryan, the boy who was terrorized in the woods many years ago. He goes by his middle name so there is no association of the case where his friends went missing many years ago. He and his partner Cassie Maddox are assigned to investigate the murder of a twelve year old Katy Devlin. Katy’s body is found near the same woods where Rob’s friends had disappeared. Katy is discovered during an archaeological dig. Could this be related to the previous crime?

Rob and Cassie continue on with the investigation even though they know Rob should come clean with the supervisors about his true identity. It’s a gritty story, a good mystery. Rob is obviously scarred by his childhood experience. He’s overall a likeable character but has some serious flaws when dealing with relationships, particularly those with women.

*Possible Spoiler*

I had read some reviews and noted there are a few people who were very disappointed that the first mystery remains unsolved. I was rather hoping you would have some closure on what happened to Rob/Adam and his friends Jamie and Peter. It’s still my hope that French will one day come back to Rob Ryan’s story and give us some closure on the disappearing kids. I will tell you the murder of Katy Devlin is solved despite some real groaners of frustration near the end. Overall I loved this book and as I have already read book 3 in this series, I guess I will tackle book 2 next.

More about the author

Daughters of Ireland by Santa Montefiore

 

When I read The Girl in the Castle  I didn’t know it was book one in a trilogy.  That story ended well and didn’t leave you hanging.  Maybe one little mystery at the end but otherwise, it could have been a stand alone novel.  It was quite a treat to find two more books were planned as I very much enjoyed the characters and plot.

The next book is titled Daughters of Ireland and picks up where book one left off.  The little mystery  at the end of book one explains who bought Castle Deverill.

The main setting is in West Cork Ireland with part of the story set in London and New York City.  We pick up the story of Bridie Doyle, Kitty Deverill and Celia Deverill Mayberry, their paths going different ways but eventually crossing back again.  In childhood they were loving and devoted friends but tragedy stirs up a mess of emotional baggage.  Love, revenge, fear and determination are a constant in this book.

This second book has me screaming for more.  So many story lines weaving together, leaving the reader with great anticipation about what happens next.  The main characters are all about to collide and I expect many fireworks in book three.

If you are a fan of family saga type books you will love this series.  It’s a touch of Downton Abbey along with rural hard living families spanning a time period of 1925 to 1938 (book 2).

Food and drinks are mentioned here and there.  I wanted to represent both social economic divisions so I brought a Pomegranate Martini which would appeal to the Deverill family and Scones with cream and jam for the Doyle and O’Leary families.

Pomegranate Martini

2oz Vodka
1oz Pomegranate Juice
Splash of Cointreau

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker full of ice and shake. Strain into a cocktail glass.

The Likeness by Tana French

The Likeness is Tana French’s second book in the Dublin Murder Squad series.

Working in the Undercover Unit years before, Cassie established the fake identity of Lexie Madison. She worked under the supervision of Detective Frank Mackey (I really like Mackey) and stayed in the undercover position until she was stabbed. She recovered and moved to the Murder Squad (Book 1 – Into the Woods) retiring the identity of Lexie Madison.

Fast forward years later……Cassie gets a call from her old boss Frank Mackey asking her to come to a field and make sure she isn’t seen. He won’t tell her what it’s about. Once she arrives she’s hustled into the abandoned famine cottage where Mackey and O’Neill show her the body of a young woman. The woman is the spitting image of Cassie and lo and behold, her identity is Lexie Madison. Frank sees a great chance to have Cassie assume that identity again and use her as bait to get the murderer. But first of all – Frank has to convince Cassie to go undercover again. She isn’t champing at the bit to do this but eventually she acquiesces.

Frank plans to tell the man who discovered the body that he actually saved the young woman’s life, that she was in a coma and only appeared dead. They plan to tell her five housemates the same thing and not allow them to visit while she’s in a coma. This gives Frank and Cassie a chance to study up on the deceased woman so Cassie can seamlessly slip into her life. Frank has gathered the housemates phones and there are videos of the six interacting with one another. They can watch “Lexie” laugh, how she walks, the cadence of her speech and see if she is affectionate or standoffish with any of the room mates. You are left to wonder who the murdered young woman was and how she came about getting the false identity of Lexie Madison. Will Cassie fit in with the tight little group of roommates? Will the murderer find her before she figures out who he or she is?

So far I have read three of her books and all are fantastic. What I like is how French introduces us to Rob Ryan and Cassie Maddox in the first book and then focuses on Cassie, Sam and Cassie’s old boss from her undercover job, Frank Mackey, in this book. Book three then focuses on getting to know Frank Mackey.

I love the police procedural writings of Tana French and look forward to all of the books upcoming.

The Chilbury Ladies' Choir by Jennifer Ryan

 

Let me start by saying I loved this book. Couldn’t put it down and now I am aching for more from this author.

We start with a notice pinned to Village Hall noticeboard:

As all our male voices have gone to war, the village choir is to close following Cmdr. Edmund Winthrop’s funeral next Tuesday.

The Vicar

This is an era where women didn’t usually speak up for themselves but there were a few strong female voices in this village. Why not continue and have a ladies choir? It would be a morale booster in such dismal times. Scandalous!   These  stories focus on the resourcefulness of women during very difficult times. It’s not solely about the choir so if that sounds like a snooze – think again.

There is quite a cast of characters in this book. The stories are told through diary entries from several points of view as well as letters penned to friends and loved ones.  As you read bits and pieces the story lines dovetail into a fairly satisfying conclusion – tales of affairs, deception, blackmail, love, bravery and great sadness. If your reading tastes include stories set in the WW II era in England and you like a journal and letter writing format – you will LOVE this book.

You’ll get to know so many personalities from the village in the early days of WW II.

There are the Winthrops, a high society family with an overbearing father called the Brigadier. He bullies everyone and has secrets which could land him in jail. His daughters, Kitty and Venetia, tell the stories of the village, the war effort, and the forming of the Ladies Choir.

From Kitty Winthrop’s Diary
“ They announced on the wireless that keeping a diary in these difficult times is excellent for stamina, so I’ve decided to write down all my thoughts and dreams in my old school notebook…..”

Besides Kitty’s diary entries you have the point of view of Mrs. Tilling, a nurse, and 10 year old Czech evacutee Silvie. Between the diary entries and the interspersed letters from Venetia Winthrop to her friend Angela Quail living in London and letters from Miss Paltry to her sister, you will enjoy several interwoven stories and slowly piece it all together.

I became a fan of Mrs. Tilling and loathed Miss Paltry.  Now I am wondering when the author will produce another novel because I am anxious to read more.

As I like maps, a bonus was the legend and map in the beginning so you can follow the characters around.

More about the author:   Jennifer Ryan was born in Kent, England and now lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and children.

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

  

This is the fourth novel by Lisa Jewell I have read and obviously I am now a true fan.  I love the way she weaves a story and makes you care about characters.  They come to life and I found myself invested in the outcomes, good or bad.  Didn’t matter if there were a few unlikable characters, I needed to see what would happen.  Let’s face it, you have to have a few villainous  characters or there wouldn’t be tension.

The house in question here is a lovely place in the Cotswolds, home of the Bird family.  Colin and Lorelei Bird have four children.  Megan, Bethann, Rory and Rhys.  We journey through their lives and the drama unfolds over the years.  We meet the children when they are small and by the end of the book they are middle aged.

This book addresses the mental illness of a hoarder and what it does to a family.  It was distressing to watch Lorelei at times; I felt such empathy for Megan and Bethann and developed a dislike of Megan’s partner Bill after a bit.  Rory was a product of his environment and Rhys….I won’t spoil that part because it’s integral to the way everyone’s lives play out.

Hidden Depths and Silent Voices by Ann Cleeves

 

I have been hooked on this series since the start.  I did manage to start with the first book in the series this time.  Seems my nontraditional way of moving through a series is starting with book three or so.

What I like about this series is the main character isn’t a polished, slender buxom know-it-all. You know the type, the super hero femme fatale detectives.   No, Vera Stanhope is very bright but also damaged.  Once you get into the books you’ll know her father Hector did a number on her.  Her mother died when Vera was a child and Hector was an awful father figure.  Dragging her off to the wilds for illegal harvesting of rare bird eggs, drinking to excess and leaving her to fend for herself,  putting her down in regard to her looks and clumsiness.  It’s a wonder she shaped up to be a such an outwardly strong character.

Beneath that hard shell she has her unguarded vulnerable emotions. They rarely make an appearance but you’ll glimpse that repressed soft side.  She looks wistfully at families, at a mother pulling her daughter tightly to her in a loving embrace.  And then she shakes it off and has a drink, doesn’t allow herself to wallow in what may have been.  But I didn’t mean to start with a  disection of Vera’s psychological baggage.

Book 3 – Hidden Depths.  Julie Armstrong comes home from a well deserved night out with friends and finds her teen son Luke dead in the bathtub.  He’s been murdered,  placed him in the bath with floral bath oils and delicate flowers. Obviously Vera and her team arrive to investigate.  Then another body is found in the same stylized manner.  A beautiful young teacher is discovered in a rock pool, floating in the water with flowers surrounding her body.  Serial killer or a copy cat killer? Enough twists in this one that I would have bet money on one particlar person as the killer but – I was completely off mark.  That’s fun for me as a reader.

Book 4 – Silent Voices. If you didn’t love Vera’s right hand man Sgt. Joe Ashworth before,  this story will cinch it.   I hope Joe remains in all the upcoming books.  Vera keeps it a secret that she has joined a health club as she doesn’t want to be ribbed at work.  She is a large clumsy woman and after a warning from her doctor about her weight, she takes to swimming.

As she enters the sauna room one morning she sees a woman slumped over.  Jenny Lister, social worker and model citizen, was strangled.  Of course we get another murder case in this book and Vera’s team works feverishly to find the links in the two cases.  We meet some interesting characters in this book and I couldn’t put it down.

Taking a Vera Stanhope break just now as book #5 (The Glass Room) has a wait list at the library.  I won’t be able to finish it before the due date so I will give other patrons their chance.  That will teach me to check out too many at once. Maybe.

I still have a few good books given to me via NetGalley so while I won’t be in lovely Northumbria England, I will be visiting Cornwall and Wales next.  Via books of course 

The Girl in the Castle by Santa Montefiore

 

This is the third book I have read by Santa Montefiore and I can flat out state it won’t be the last. I very much enjoyed The Beekeeper’s Daughter as well as Secrets of the Lighthouse.

Now this book, The Girl in the Castle, captured me immediately. If you like stories set in Ireland, reading a bit of the historical fiction interspersed about the Irish War for Independence and a bit of ghost appearances to boot – you will love this book.

I’m not big on paranormal stories  but the ghost part wasn’t a primary feature.  They did figure in but as a supporting role, and a very light supporting role at that.  Early on I was invested in the progressing life story lines of the Deverill family, Jack O’Leary and the Doyles.

The story starts with Kitty Deverill and Bridie Doyle as 9 year old girls.  Kitty lives a privileged life in the castle and Bridie is the daughter of one of the cooks.  This doesn’t stop them from forming a deep friendship and feeling like they are sisters.  Two different worlds these girls inhabit but Kitty is as Irish as any Doyle or O’Leary.  Kitty’s mother Maude is English and so the family is called Anglo Irish – this sets them apart during the Irish uprising.   There is enough action, a bit of romance and lovely descriptions of West Cork, Ireland to get lost in.

Be warned, this is the exact same book as The Songs of Love in War so don’t purchase both!  The Girl in the Castle is the title released in the USA and Songs of Love and War is the British title.  It’s the same book.

The second book is called The Daughters of Castle Deverill.  I am certainly getting that one on Kindle.  There is a bit of food mentioned in the book and I admit to grabbing a recipe from the cookbook London to pair with this novel. The recipe may be found HERE. I spent some time reading and eating.  That’s a nice thing to do.

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

 

In this epic book by Australian author Kate Morton we are transported back and forth from present day (2011) to WW II London as two stories merge. Laurel Nicholson is a very successful English actress and she is our main narrator.

We open with Laurel in the year 1961. She is a teenager, daydreaming about escaping her life in the English countryside. She sits in a tree house thinking about her boyfriend while the festivities for a birthday party are starting to get underway. Laurel is the oldest with three younger sisters and one little brother, Gerry. Their mother Dorothy is a wonderful woman., a loving mother and creative storyteller. It’s Gerry’s second birthday party and the family tradition is to cut the cake with a very special knife, red ribbon attached.

From her tree house perch Laurel sees her mother walk toward the house, little Gerry balanced on her hip, as she retrieves the special birthday cake knife. She also notices a man walking up to their rural home, an unusual thing as they don’t get many visitors. As he approaches Dorothy she witnesses her mother look fearful, place the baby behind her in the gravel path, as the man greets her by name. “Hello Dorothy….” Her mother then lifts the knife and plunges it into the man’s chest without any hesitation.

Gerry remains on the ground wailing. Laurel is naturally shocked. No one else sees what happened. The police are called and it’s determined the man was a tramp who had been bothering picnickers recently, clearly a dangerous fellow. But Laurel knows there is more to it as the man addressed her mother by name.

2011: All the siblings, now grown and middle aged plus, gather at their childhood home for their mother’s 90th birthday. It will clearly be the last one as Dorothy is dying. Laurel knows this will be the only opportunity to discover what happened with her mother and the man she killed so many years ago. Dorothy had asked for an old book to be retrieved so she could look at it and within is an old photograph tucked away. The photo depicts two beautiful young women with the inscription Dorothy and Vivian, something that clearly agitates elderly Dorothy. No one has ever heard her speak of a woman named Vivian so there is another mystery. As she gets her mother talking Laurel is given bits of information to research and discover who her mother was and what her life was like before. She’s in for a surprise.

Dorothy’s story is told from multiple perspectives during the WW II era in London. We are introduced to Jimmy Metcalfe and Vivian Jenkins, key characters in this vividly painted story.

The last 20 or so pages bring all the mysteries into play and it’s a very cool ending ( In my opinion). I love Kate Morton books and have read The House at Riverton, The Lake House and The Forgotten Garden. All wonderful stories with mystery throughout and a twisty endings. I love being transported to other countries as it’s armchair traveling for me at this time.