all your Reads in Here

Cora Harrison's Reverend Mother mysteries, set in Cork, Ireland in the 1920s, are certainly realistic. She doesn't sugarcoat the conditions of life at that time, or the brutality and deaths during the period of rebellion. She doesn't hesitate to injure or kill characters that the reader has grown to care for, because that's life. It's one more reason to encourage readers to start with the first book in this series,  A Shameful Murder.  Once you've read the first couple books, the repercussions of a murder in the third book, Beyond Absolution , are all the more shocking. When Reverend Mother Aquinas sees Father Dominic's body in the confessional at Holy Trinity Church, she knows he was murdered. She sends for the police doctor so he can confirm that the priest's death was not accidental. He was stabbed through the ear by someone on the other side of the confessional. The murder of a priest becomes the talk of Cork. Reverend Mother wants to find the killer...

While the trade paperback of Andrea Carter's Death at Whitewater Church was just released, it appears that the book has been out for several years online. However, most readers will discover it as the debut mystery in a character-driven, atmospheric series. Benedicta "Ben" O'Keefe is a solicitor in Ireland, on the coast of Inishowen,  with "the most northerly solicitor's office in Ireland" or, as she says, providing "the last legal advice in Ireland". She's acting for clients, the sellers of Whitewater Church, a deconsecrated church, when the surveyor finds a hidden crypt on the property. He's shocked to find a skeleton in the crypt, but no one in town is surprised. They, and Conor Devitt's family, all assume it's his because he disappeared on his wedding day six years earlier. Ben's nosy, as she admits. As the confidant of many in town, she hears all kinds of stories of the missing man, but they don't add up. When Conor...

I know it was actually a joke when a friend gave me The Feckin' Book of Everything Irish . He said he saw it, and thought of me. But, it really is a fun, informative book, filled with quotes, definitions of Irish words and phrases, jokes, cartoons, recipes, and even the words to traditional Irish songs. It's great craic (fun). The authors "translate" Irish slang, and tell readers how it's traditionally used in conversation. Of course, they could be putting us all on, but I recognize enough of the words and phrases to doubt it. The definitions are fun, especially when they then use the words to make fun of the government. For instance, let's take the word "bowsie". According to the authors, it's a noun, "Person (esp. male) of very disreputable character. A useless good-for-nothing. (usage) 'Is there anyone in the government who isn't a bleedin' bowsie?'" Or take the phrase "If he went to a wedding, he'd stay for ...