Irish Castle #3
For those who enjoy a little Irish mystery, Ellie Brannigan’s Irish Castle Mystery series are a must read. In Death at an Irish Village, the third in the series, cousins Ciara Smith and Rayne McGrath have been tasked by their late Uncle to save Grathton Village and the McGrath castle. Not a very small thing to ask, especially with a year’s deadline attached. Of course, if they fail, they just have to sell everything and split the money between them. While that doesn’t sound like a very bad deal, it is for those who value their heritage and would like nothing more than to preserve it. Both women are a little daunted and overwhelmed with the task, but are determined to succeed. It hasn’t been a very smooth start, with several murders already hindering things, and Rayne’s crazy ex making her life hectic as she tries to continue to run her sewing business Modern Lace.
With only six months left of their deadline, the cousins are finally starting to see some revenue from using the McGrath castle as a wedding venue, which includes Rayne being hired to make the wedding dress for the bride. With finances starting to look up, they can focus on one of the other most daunting tasks – winning over a small Irish town when neither cousin was raised there. They are still seen as outsiders to an extent. Several people are resistant, and even resentful, of their attempts to modernize and changing things up in town even with the end goal being to revitalize it. Luckily, Father Patrick is on their side and helps counsel them on how to win the town over, such as creating groups of volunteers to come and clean the old cemetery behind the village church. Unfortunately, they’re surprised by a very fresh corpse waiting amongst the graves, above ground and with foul play very evident. Drawing the cousins in, yet again, the body was found on one of Rayne’s ancestor’s graves. This throws the seemingly natural death of a town’s older residents into question as well, and their sister insistent that foul play was involved. Two mysteries, two weddings, an impending mother visit, and small village politics would be enough to overwhelm anyone. But as no one can ever call Ciara and Rayne unambitious or unmotivated, the two of them go above and beyond for a town that is only just starting to accept them.
I recommend Death at an Irish Village for anyone who enjoys an Irish setting and/or small town politics. It is difficult to be the outsider in small communities, especially ones with such deeply rooted history, and experiencing that through the cousins is quite the adventure. Neither of them want to purposefully offend anyone, but they also refuse to be pushed out or back down from their goals. They’re two very powerful woman protagonists who are very different but share a passion and love of their family, castle, and history. For those who have read the first two books in the series, I think they will be quite pleased with Death at an Irish Village. Two different ongoing plot threads do come to a conclusion here, however, so perhaps reading the first two might be more enjoyable for new readers. However, new readers can still enjoy Death at an Irish Village as Ellie Brannigan describes the setting and characters clearly and effectively so they will not be lost or confused. Hard to go wrong with a little reading vacation to an Irish castle. I will continue to root for Ciara and Rayne to be able to save their castle and village within their deadline, and look forward to what adventures Ellie Brannigan has in store for them in the future. – Carla Schantz