Murder at an Irish Wedding is the second book in Irish Village Mystery series. I read the first one, Murder in an Irish Village a few months ago and liked it well enough to continue with the series.
In the second book we return to the Irish village of Kilbane and the lives of the O’Sullivan Six. Specifically we spend time with the oldest, Siobhan as she’s delivering her famous brown bread to Kilbane Castle to the wedding guests of a famous fashion model, and her not well-known fiancé.
It’s not long though before someone discovers the body of one of the wedding guests in the woods behind the castle. The guards suspect everyone in the wedding party, including Siobhan’s boyfiend, Macdara.
Within minutes Siobhan inserts herself into the investigation.
My Thoughts
Sadly, I did not enjoy Murder at an Irish Wedding as much as I enjoyed the previous book.
First off, we’re supposed to believe that Siobhan, on the heels of her solving her first mystery in the last book, is some sort of savant now, who immediately knows more than her Police Officer boyfriend, the other men on the force (no women there) as well as the detectives and their superiors. And that her detecting skills are so good that when those superior officers aren’t yelling at her to butt out, they’re actually deferring to her to solve the case? Come on. She’s no Hercule Poirot and the Guard treating her as such, is completely unbelievable.
Second, let’s assume that she this delicate genius, why then when a potential target of the killer goes missing, does she not immediately raise the alarm instead of going about her business for hours before thinking, maybe we should find him?
Third, there’s were glitches – incongruities in the story that didn’t make sense. For example, the wedding party all has these matching track suits. We find out they were gifts from the castle owners but then literally the next page she makes a comment about sussing out the anonymous donors. Donors of what? The tracksuits? Never were we led to believe they were anonymous. We know exactly who gifted them. Siobhan found out one page earlier! Poor editing.
Lastly, one of the things I enjoyed about the first book were the interactions of Siobhan and her five siblings as well as getting to know the villagers. This time, all of them were background characters with hardly any bearing on the story. It all felt one dimensional, with Siobhan being that dimension, making her less appealing and approachable.
I liked the first book enough to give this series one more try. However, for Murder at an Irish Wedding 1.5 maybe 1.75 stars. Very disappointing.