Title: Many A Twist
Author: Sheila Connolly
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genre: Cozy
Mystery
Pub date: January 9, 2018
330 pages
About the Book
Pub owner Maura
Donovan hasn’t seen her mother for over twenty years, so when she suddenly
shows up in Maura’s pub, Maura’s not sure what to expect. Her mother is trying
to find a life for herself back home and has taken up a position working with
the new owners of the Crann Mor hotel just outside Skibbereen. Until her new
boss is found dead in the gardens, dumped down the hillside behind the hotel.
Now, trying to rekindle the relationship they’ve lost, Maura must investigate in order to clear her mother’s name. It’s not so easy though, as long-time residents of County Cork, including the families of her employee Mick, and the family of the deceased hotel owner, have bottled deep dark family secrets not meant to be uncorked. And someone will kill to keep them that way.
How far would you go to protect your family? Maura tests the age-old question in Many a Twist, the charming and atmospheric sixth County Cork mystery from New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly.
Now, trying to rekindle the relationship they’ve lost, Maura must investigate in order to clear her mother’s name. It’s not so easy though, as long-time residents of County Cork, including the families of her employee Mick, and the family of the deceased hotel owner, have bottled deep dark family secrets not meant to be uncorked. And someone will kill to keep them that way.
How far would you go to protect your family? Maura tests the age-old question in Many a Twist, the charming and atmospheric sixth County Cork mystery from New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly.
My Rating: 3 out of 5 🔍🔍🔍
My Review
Many A Twist is the sixth installment
in The County Cork Mystery Series and my first read of author Sheila Connolly.
The author has written other series such as The Orchard Mysteries, The Museum
Mysteries, The Relatively Dead Mysteries, and The Glassblowing Mysteries. This
book was hard to rate because there were things that I really liked about it
but then there were things that I didn’t like so much.
Things that I liked about the book: 1. The author’s description of the setting: West Cork, Ireland sounds like my kind of place. It is more of a rural country setting just like where I am from. Some of my ancestors are from Ireland and I’ve always wanted to visit. 2. The characters, Maura Donovan and Old Billy Sheahan. Maura has had a rough past. She grew up barely scraping by while being raised by her grandma. Upon her grandma’s death she inherits a pub in Ireland named Sullivan’s. I admire Maura for being a fighter and doing all she can to make Sullivan’s a successful business. Old Billy Sheahan is in his eighties and lives in a room within the pub. Billy knows everything about the area and its people. He seems like an interesting guy that you would enjoy talking to and learning from.
Things that I didn’t like so much: 1. The pacing. The book starts out pretty slow…it was page 67 before the dead body was mentioned. Afterwards the story seems to slowly move along without much happening really until you reach the conclusion. Once you reach the end it felt rushed with lots of information crammed in to explain the ending. 2. The Blurb: When I choose books to read the first thing I do is read the blurb. When I read this one I assumed the main story line was the mystery. But the book itself seemed to have the mystery in the background and focus more on the personal relationships between the characters. This may have been intentional and some readers probably like that but I’m not one of them.
I would recommend this book to those who like cozies with more focus on personal relationships mixed with a mystery. I would be willing to try other books written by the author for a comparison to this one. I give this one 3 out of 5 🔍🔍🔍!
Thank you Sheila Connolly, Crooked Lane Books and Cozy Mystery Review Crew for providing me with a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.
Things that I liked about the book: 1. The author’s description of the setting: West Cork, Ireland sounds like my kind of place. It is more of a rural country setting just like where I am from. Some of my ancestors are from Ireland and I’ve always wanted to visit. 2. The characters, Maura Donovan and Old Billy Sheahan. Maura has had a rough past. She grew up barely scraping by while being raised by her grandma. Upon her grandma’s death she inherits a pub in Ireland named Sullivan’s. I admire Maura for being a fighter and doing all she can to make Sullivan’s a successful business. Old Billy Sheahan is in his eighties and lives in a room within the pub. Billy knows everything about the area and its people. He seems like an interesting guy that you would enjoy talking to and learning from.
Things that I didn’t like so much: 1. The pacing. The book starts out pretty slow…it was page 67 before the dead body was mentioned. Afterwards the story seems to slowly move along without much happening really until you reach the conclusion. Once you reach the end it felt rushed with lots of information crammed in to explain the ending. 2. The Blurb: When I choose books to read the first thing I do is read the blurb. When I read this one I assumed the main story line was the mystery. But the book itself seemed to have the mystery in the background and focus more on the personal relationships between the characters. This may have been intentional and some readers probably like that but I’m not one of them.
I would recommend this book to those who like cozies with more focus on personal relationships mixed with a mystery. I would be willing to try other books written by the author for a comparison to this one. I give this one 3 out of 5 🔍🔍🔍!
Thank you Sheila Connolly, Crooked Lane Books and Cozy Mystery Review Crew for providing me with a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.
