Murder On An Irish Farm
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 has 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.
The Details
Series: An Irish Village Mystery – Book #8
Author: Carlene O’Connor
Genre/Category: Cozy – Exotic Location/Police
Publisher: Kensington Cozies
ISBN: 1496730801
Page Count: 336
Rating: 
The Review
Siobhán’s wedding day, and her brother, James, is late. She doesn’t want to marry without him, but it isn’t fair to Macdara or the guests. So, even though she has a bad feeling about everything, she walks down the aisle. As usual, her instincts are correct, and just as they are about to exchange their vows, James comes running into the church. It only takes this Irish bride a second to realize her brother is panicked and the wedding is a bust. In Murder On An Irish Farm, the death of a groom many years ago becomes a gross slurry of a mess and an uninvited guest at the wedding of two of the county’s favorite Garda.
The characters in this series are always good to spend time with. I adore Siobhán’s siblings. Other characters are equal parts delightful and grumbly but always intriguing. This time, the wedding of Siobhán takes a turn for the macabre when a skeleton turns up in the slurry pit of the farm Macdara bought as a surprise wedding gift. Within minutes a neighbor is screaming to the rafters that the skeleton can be none other than her missing groom, that she was supposed to marry on that very day fifty years earlier. It doesn’t take long to figure out the dead groom was murdered, and it is up to Siobhán and Macdara to figure out the who, why, and when of it all.
Suspects are gathered, with plenty of motive. Evidence is collected and examined. And before long, a new body shows up, fresh as a daisy. There is a bit of wondering from the reader’s point of view as to whether or not Siobhán is finding ways of putting off the wedding out of fear, and using the murder(s) as the excuse. The fact that Macdara bought a farm with a slurry pit without asking Siobhán bothers me a bit, it seems way too presumptuous of him. I like the controversy over the bistro and the solution to the issue.
Of course, the murderer is caught, and the wedding proceeds. The farm is accepted and loved by everyone, the slurry pit filled in, and the bistro issue is resolved. There is plenty of action for readers to enjoy, and the characters are as always entertaining. The Irish setting is lovely and makes readers want to visit. Overall, Murder On An Irish Farm is a delightful story that readers will love. I look forward to the next installment in this series.
The Author
Carlene O’Connor (Mary Carter) comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America filled with tales, 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.
Another book in the “An Irish Village Mystery” series readers will want to pick up is, Murder at an Irish Christmas.
Represented by: The Evan Marshall Agency
Contact Carlene: 
Find Carlene on Social Media:
Contact The Cozy Review
Leave a Reply