Darci Hannah

Murder At The Blarney Bash is the fifth book in the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery series by Darci Hannah.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day in Beacon Harbor, and everybody is seeing leprechauns–it seems.

Lindsey is on her way to the groomer's to pick up her dog Wellington, who had gotten skunked earlier. The grocer tells Lindsey she had just seen a leprechaun looking in the salon window. Then, as Lindsey was passing a group of children dressed as leprechauns, a leprechaun ran into the side of her car. She stops to see if the person is hurt, but he has run off. Mrs. Hinkle comes running from Village Hall, calling out to Lindsey that Fred Landry has been brutally beaten.

At the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey’s boyfriend, Rory, is visiting with his Uncle Finn and cousin, Colleen, who have just moved to Beacon Harbor from Ireland. Uncle Finn plans to open a pub, while Colleen will open a gift shop featuring Irish goods. An evening meal is planned to welcome Finn and Colleen to Beacon Harbor. Uncle Finn doesn’t arrive until the dinner is almost over. He tells everyone that he is late because he tricked a leprechaun and took his pot of gold, which he put on the table. But when a man dressed as a leprechaun is found dead on a sand dune with Uncle Finn’s shillelagh near his body. Uncle Finn will become the prime suspect, and Lindsey and Rory must set off to find the killer.

This is a delightful series with a wonderful cast of characters. They are well-developed, believable, and enjoyable. In the previous books, I had enjoyed Kennedy, Lindsey’s BFF, who has returned for a visit. But in this one, I was put off by her. She seemed protective of her boyfriend, Niall, while simultaneously being jealous that Tuck, a local policeman, and Colleen were showing interest in each other. The book is well-written, plotted, and descriptively written, and I felt I was there with the characters. The book reads at a good pace. Wellington has a new playmate, Bailey, Finn, and Colleen’s dog. Hopefully, the next book will be in the Spring/Summer, so Lindsey’s parents will be in town along with their two Westies.

Delicious-sounding recipes are also included in the book.

I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in this engaging series.… (más)

Murder at the Blarney Bash is the fifth book in the Beacon Bakeshop Mysteries by Darci Hannah, and while I enjoyed it, unfortunately it didn’t have me as excited to write up a review because I can’t gush about it like I did the previous four books.

It still has fantastic characters (although Kennedy was getting on my nerves a bit), wonderful animal characters (and we get a new dog, Bailey!), a great location in Michigan with a Haunted Lighthouse (so a touch of the paranormal, which is my favorite sub-genre in cozy mysteries), some delicious food and great recipes at the end (although I felt like some of the bakery offerings were repeated in the story… and not as much time was spent with the staff at the bakery… although I could see a Bigfoot book coming in the future, which would be wonderful!), and a solid mystery.

So why did I almost give this a 3 star rating? Besides the above things that were good, but not as great in previous books, Hannah did the number one thing that drives me nuts in cozies; when the main character and friends spend so much time going over the suspects and motives, usually this involves the main character just repeatedly thinking about it in her head or the gang getting together to go over it again, and again, and again.

I mean, you have to go through the suspects, but I loved how Hannah did it before by incorporating lots more storytelling to go along with the thinking, or more descriptions of baked goods or of the town. There were still some crazy, fun scenes which made the rating go up a bit, and just the fact that I love this series, and every series has some off books.

And what was up with Kennedy. She’s back from England (which is great because I love her spunkiness), but she seemed really, really mean this book, and not just being sassy towards Sir Hunts-a-Lot. I felt like she was brought back for a future love triangle… and anyone who has been reading my reviews for a bit knows how much I enjoy love triangles (spoiler, I don’t… especially if they continue on for more than three books!)… (más)

I loved this story. It has everything you want in a Christmas cozy mystery. There are engaging characters, a wintery but cozy setting, and the smell of freshly baked pastries on every page. When. Lindsay rose at 3:00 a.m. each morning to begin mixing her doughs, I felt like I was there with her. As a baker myself, I could easily see in my mind her sweet roll dough recipe as well as her cinnamon rolls and caramel pecan rolls. She baked and fried the doughs before making a variety of danish pastries all hours before her bakery opened for the day.

The characters were believable. Of course, Lindsay is a great character but the villain seemed all too real to me also. Felicity, owner of a year-round Christmas shop, is the epitome of every jealous woman I have had to "compete" against when bringing treats to work. She will sabotage the efforts of other bakers in order to always be first at everything. A few years ago a co-worker threw my cookies in the garbage because no one was eating hers so I definitely feel Lindsay's pain. The celebrity judge, Chef Chevy Chambers, is another villain in the story. His character provides many of the twists and turns because he not only is having an affair with several contestants but he also put a few of them out of business with his scathing newspaper reviews of their restaurants. When he ends up murdered, there are several possible whodunnits. The howdunnit should be obvious. It's a rolling pin.

Murder at the Christmas Cookie Bake-Off is simply the best Christmas cozy that I have ever read.… (más)