Well, today is a bank holiday here in the UK and what better time to relax with a good book! I’m therefore delighted to be taking part in the Bookouture Blog Tour for An Irish Bookshop Murder by Lucy Connelly. This time I shall be sharing an extract courtesy of the lovely people at Bookouture. Read on to find out a little more about the book.
Meet Ireland’s newest daring detective: she’s a bookstore owner, a coffee lover, and a crime writer. Now Mercy McCarthy needs a little Irish luck as she takes on her first case!
After receiving unexpected inheritance from her grandfather, Mercy and her twin sister Lizzie are now the proud owners of a charming antique bookshop in the tiny Irish village of Shamrock Cove. But before they can take in the beautiful view of the sea, one of their neighbors drops dead!
Mercy finds the Judge, a well-respected man who lives next door, dying on his own doorstep. She rushes to help, but with his final words, he accuses Mercy of murder! Most of their new neighbors hear his words and, with suspicion pointing at Mercy, she decides to investigate the case to clear her name.
Searching amongst the Judge’s old books, Mercy uncovers letters proving several of the townsfolk had reason to dislike the older man—but was it the local pub landlord, the kindly cook or neighborly knitter who killed him?
Then Mercy’s chief suspect turns up dead and she receives a threatening note, typed on paper from her own bookstore… Ireland was supposed to be a fresh start for Mercy and Lizzie, but dead bodies keep turning up.
Does Mercy have what it takes to nail the culprit or will the killer close the book on her time in this charming Irish village?
Readers who love Agatha Christie, Carlene O’Connor or Faith Martin, you’ve found your newest cozy crime addiction! An incredibly fast-paced and funny whodunnit that will sweep you away to Ireland and keep you zipping through until you reach the very last page.
Extract
I stood in front of the navy front door and looked up at our new home. The spring breeze ruffled my hair, and the fresh scent of the sea assailed my senses. I rubbed the shamrock keyring in my hand, hoping for a little of its luck to rub off on me. The house had a beautifully kept, small front garden. I glanced at my twin sister and hoped we had made the right choice in moving to Ireland. When the letter arrived from our grandfather’s lawyer, we were shocked. We had no idea he existed. Our mother never spoke of our father, and we didn’t ask because it always made her sad. Our grandfather had left us this house and his business, a bookshop on the main street in the town of Shamrock Cove, Ireland. So far, the place had been nothing short of magical. The situation and the town were so surreal that I had to keep reminding myself this was really happening. The navy house with white trim wasn’t the ramshackle shack I’d expected. The Tudor-style home had a picket fence, with roses and other blossoms trailing over the side. It sat in a court with several other houses, all with their own beautiful gardens and well-kept homes. There wasn’t a chipped bit of paint among them. While all the houses had thatched roofs, each one was painted a different color. Number three Hidden Way Lane with its beautiful garden and homey feel was right out of a postcard. I didn’t have a green thumb, and my twin would be busy with the bookshop we’d inherited along with the house. I had no idea how we’d keep up the garden, but we’d figure it out. I’d been nervous when the solicitor said he didn’t have any pictures of the house where our grandfather had lived. The solicitor had been in Galway, and our grandfather had met him there to do his business, so he didn’t know the village itself. I’m a writer, and I’d imagined all kinds of scenarios, from a shanty to a crumbling old building. I loved the house instantly, and I’m not that sort of person. It usually takes me a bit to warm up to places and people. I was the opposite of my sister. Strangely, it felt like home. And from a die-hard New Yorker like me, that was saying something. There was only one way to find out though, and with one last squeeze of the key ring, I handed it to my sister and stepped back, letting her be the one to open the door. As I took in the view of the inviting foyer with its hickory grandfather clock there was a harrowing scream. My stomach plummeted as I dropped everything and ran to save my sister.
I hope you enjoyed reading this extract from the book. Read on for information about the author and where you can get hold of a copy of you’d like your read more.
Bestselling author Candace Havens (AKA Lucy Connelly) has published more than 25 books. Her novels have received nominations for the RITA’s, Holt Medallion, Write Touch Reader Awards and National Reader’s Choice Awards. She is a Barbara Wilson Award winner. She is the author of the biography Joss Whedon: The Genius Behind Buffy and a contributor to several anthologies. She is also one of the nation’s leading entertainment journalists and has interviewed countless celebrities from George Clooney to Chris Pratt. Candace runs a free online writing workshop for more than 2000 writers and teaches comprehensive writing classes. She does film reviews with Hawkeye in the Morning on 96.3 KSCS, and is a former President of the Television Critics Association.
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Buy Link:
Amazon: https://geni.us/B0D7HYVN4Gsocial
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Thank you for visiting Tales Before Bedtime today, I do hope you’ll come back again soon.
Happy reading!
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