Book Series Progress!
I’ve written before about my love of Carlene O’Connor’s Irish Village Mystery series of books and today is going to be more of the same. Before life got busy with summer Church events, I finished Book 6 Murder at an Irish Christmas and write a short review about it. It was short because I never fell in love with it like the five books written before. I tried, I really did. The book just fell flat and I forced myself to finish it because I always complete series. The next two books in the series brought the love back! Yay!
Both Murder at an Irish Bookshop and Murder on an Irish Farm felt like the first books in the series. I also loved that a new, recurring character was added to the series and I’m enjoying getting to know her.
Macdara and Siobhan came close to tying the knot in book 8 but had to reschedule the wedding when her brother James discovered a decades old skeleton. Both books earn a 4.75/5 from me. The mysteries were interesting, the new Garda is intriguing and there’s just enough humor to keep things light even while dealing with murders. I started reading the 9th book in the series, Murder at an Irish Bakery, and so far, so good. This is the last of the available books in the series. Book 10, Murder in an Irish Chipper, is scheduled to publish in February 2024 and I’m so looking forward to it. Carlene O’Connor has earned her spot on my list of favorite authors with this series as well as one of her newer series, A County Kerry Mystery. The second book in that series comes out in October of this year.
It’s wonderful to have so many books to read on Kindle Unlimited in the mystery genre. So far in 2023, I’ve read 39 books with a goal set to read 50 by year’s end. Since returning to church my reading has slowed during the summer months. That will increase now that the big events are finished. I’ll definitely hit 50 by December 31st. My goal for 2024 is 75 books but I’ll worry about that on January 1! I definitely need to create a database of book series I still want to read. The list is getting too big to keep in my head.
So that’s my quick update. If you love mysteries but aren’t a fan of the more graphic crime/mystery series out there, I suggest switching to the cozy mystery genre. There are tons available. I still haven’t gotten into the cutesy, titles with intentional puns in each. I’m sure there are some solid mysteries to peruse. For now I’ll stick to the authors that keep it cozy without being too cutesy. Remember, I used to exclusively read crime fiction so too much cute is not my thing.
Happy reading!
