Series: County Cork #9
Publication Date: 1/7/2020
Number of Pages: 237

This well-written and well-plotted series brings to life the verdant countryside of Ireland. The author’s descriptions make you feel as if you are walking into that cottage or pub or are just walking along one of the quiet lanes. I had begun to despair of Maura Donovan ever actually becoming self-aware. It seems she just floated along on the surface of her life in Boston and has done the same in the year she’s been Leap, County Cork, Ireland. She’s never asked questions about the past or the future and just sort of floated along in the here-and-now. So, I’m very happy to see that in this book she has finally started to question what happened in her family’s past that set up the current circumstances. I’m also happy that she has finally taken a further step in her relationship with Mick.

As always, there is a lot going on in this story and it keeps you jumping from page to page to find out what happens next. They are renovating and opening the kitchen at Sullivan’s Pub, Maura’s mother and step-sister arrive unexpectedly, graduate students have arrived wanting to examine the Fairy Forts that dot the countryside, and, of course, there is a dead body. Maura, Mick, garda Sean Murphy, Old Billy, and Bridget each contribute their knowledge and expertise to solve the mystery of the body that has lain in the center of the Fairy Fort for several decades.

One of the ways Maura has demonstrated her ‘floating on the surface’ mode is that she has been in Ireland for over a year and she has yet to realize the extent of what she inherited from old Mick Sullivan. When she arrived, she just signed whatever papers the lawyers told her to sign and didn’t inquire any further. She embraced the pub and the cottage – but in this book, she learns she has inherited several plots of land. At least one of those plots holds a Fairy Fort. BTW – be aware that you will hear – ad nauseum – that there was a body found on land she didn’t even know she owned.

Maura is awakened early one morning by a banging on her front door. It turns out to be an archaeology graduate student, Ciara McCarthy, from the university in Cork City. She and two friends, Darragh and Ronan, plan to map the circles, take pictures using a drone, and use ground-penetrating radar to see what might lie beneath the surface. It doesn’t take long before Darragh disappears and the search begins. Unfortunately – or fortunately – the search for Darragh leads to the discovery of a body buried directly in the center of the Fairy Fort.

Identifying the body leads to some revelations about Maura’s family’s past and Darragh’s as well. Will the discoveries lead to revenge or will it finally lay the past to rest? You’ll just have to read the book to see.

It was a delight to meet and spend time with Maura’s half-sister, Susan. She is a wonderful young lady and I look forward to spending time with her in future books. Helen, Maura’s mother, is another story. She’s trying to make amends to Maura and I applaud that – but – at the same time, she keeps excusing herself by saying she was young and desperate. That just doesn’t sound contrite to me.

As we left our visit to County Cork, the kitchen at Sullivan’s Pub was just opening its kitchen. Now, we can look forward to whatever delightful dishes Rose makes in the next book.

I definitely recommend this book and the series. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Fatal Roots
Sheila Connolly
January 7, 2020


It’s another Cork County mystery from Sheila Connolly. I have enjoyed all of the mysteries but this one led me to research these fairy forts. I know that many rural areas of the world have a history of unknown facts that many people do not speak of. Connolly’s story presents us with student archeology students who come to rural Cork to question Maura about Mick and his land. Ciara presents a county map that lists all of the land by its owners. She discovers that Mick Sullivan has died and passed on all of his land, cottage, and the pub in Leap to Maura. Ciarra asks permission for she and her students to do surveying of the property. In essence she is looking for historical proof of the existence of ringforts. They have been on the land for centuries. Landowners who find one on their property leave them alone. If they own cattle it is preferred that they feed in another field so the ringfort is no trampled. It is said that the fairies built the forts protect their circles from harm. To those who think this a myth as some did, it is not unusual for harm to come to the landowners or their family in some strange way.
In addition to the story line of the fairy forts, we have the addition of Maura’s mother and sister into the picture. Helen left her daughter and mother-in-law in Boston after her husband (and Maura’s father passed suddenly). She felt she needed to leave the area to become solvent again on her own. She left Maura to be raised by Gran. Her mother went on to remarry having a son and daughter. She brings her daughter, Susan, to Cork City to refurbish the restaurant her boss had opened. Of course a body is found in the search for one of the students. Maura and Mic are in a quandary of running the pub and staying to help with the body discovery.
I enjoy Connolly’s novels about Cork County for all the historical info as well as the picture of the people she provides. The verbal sequences are all in local brogue. Fatal Roots will be published on January 7, 2020 by Crooked Lane Books of New York. This is the 7th in the Cork County mysteries by Sheila Connolly. I appreciate Crooked Lane for allowing me to read and review this book by sending me a ECopy. I truly enjoyed this and hope many the mystery fan readers will as well.

Sheila Connolly’s 8th entry in the County Cork Mysteries finds the author providing more history and ambience of the Irish countryside as her protagonist Maura Donovan splits her time dealing with a graduate archaeologist searching her land for ringforts (aka fairy forts) and the developing relationship with her mother, Helen, and half-sister, Susan.

Graduate student Ciara McCarthy drafts Darragh and Ronan to help in her search for fairy forts for a research paper. Darragh goes missing and Maura and Ciara find
a skeleton buried in fairy fort located on Maura’s land. A decades old murder to solve along with a missing person to find. Digging into the past exposes relationships and potential suspects in Leap.

Maura’s mother is busy working on a hotel project while Susan ends up working with Rose on her kitchen renovation at Sullivan’s, the pub Maura inherited from Mick Sullivan.

Ms. Connolly manages both plotlines effectively blending the narrative into a well developed update and adventure in Maura Donovan’s move and settling into an Irish village as a businesswoman and land owner.

I always enjoy visiting Ireland through these books. I like the characters and in this one Maura gets more of her family background. This is very much a town I would love to visit and to get to know the characters that live there.
Maura does repeat herself often, and is only slowly doing any self-reflecting.

I’ve wanted to try the County Cork series by Sheila Connolly for a while, so I was happy to receive an ARC of this title, Fatal Roots, in exchange for an honest review – my thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

I was a little worried that it might be confusing to start with the eighth and most recent title in the series, but Connolly does a good job of sneaking in the backstory in bits and pieces, without just reciting it. Although a few details were missing (how did Maura start getting involved with Mick???), enough background was provided so I could get a sense of the situation and enjoy the current mystery. Still, I suspect I might have enjoyed this a bit more if I had read some of the earlier titles.

I tend to be fond of archeological mysteries, so I was happy to see a bit of archeology in this book, although I was also, in fact, a bit disappointed when at one point Maura says that she’s sort of bored with the “fairy fort” that is featured early in the story. In the end though, both the murder and its solution were more recent – rooted in the decades old (but not archeologically old) strains and tensions of Ireland’s religious and cultural clashes. And there are also close ties to Maura’s own family history, both in the present, with the arrival of her previously-estranged mother and previously-unmet half-sister, and in the past - but telling that part would be a spoiler!

Overall, the story was a bit slow to develop, but since I also liked the descriptions of Ireland and Maura’s village (and fairy forts!) a lot, I didn’t really mind. In the end, I enjoyed Fatal Roots enough to start keeping an eye out for some of the earlier titles in the series.

Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. And also please keep in mind that I try to fight “star-inflation” a little bit. I reserve 5 stars for a very few of my most favorite books, ones I’m likely to read and reread time-and-again, and 4 stars is a great rating from me.

It takes a bit to get wrapped up in this Irish based mystery, but once you do, the characters are charming, the setting sigh inducing, and a mystery that seems to have no solution! While not the first book in the series, it will make you want to go back and read the previous books (this is book 8!), to see just how Maura ended up owning the pub, and what happened to keep her in Ireland! Add in some chick lit flavor, and you have a charming holiday read you won't be able to put down! Don't miss this fun series!

Fatal Roots
(County Cork #8)
by Sheila Connolly
Kindle Edition
Expected publication: January 7th 2020 by Crooked Lane Books
Goodreads synopsis
A few months ago, Boston expat Maura Donovan was rekindled with her mother after more than twenty years of absence. Since then, Maura has been getting accustomed to Irish living, complete with an inherited house and a pub named Sullivan's. But now, her mother has returned--and she's brought Maura's half-sister in tow. To make matters more confusing, a handful of Cork University students are knocking on Maura's door asking about a mystical fairy fort that happens to be located on Maura's piece of land.

The lore indicates that messing with the fort can cause bad luck, and most everyone is telling Maura not to get too involved for fear of its powers, but Maura is curious about her own land, and she definitely doesn't buy into the superstition. Then one of the students disappears after a day of scoping out the fort on Maura's property.

Maura treads carefully, asking the folks around town who might have an idea, but no one wants anything to do with these forts. She has to take matters into her own hand--it's her land, after all. But when she uncovers a decades-old corpse buried in the center of the fort, nothing is for certain.

***

4.5 stars
This is the eighth book in the County Cork mystery series by Sheila Connolly.

Maura is an American living in Ireland. She has inherited a bunch of land plus a bar from a man who was good friends with her grandmother. A bunch of students want to study fairy forts and look for them in Maura's land. What they find instead is a dead body.

In the meantime Maura's mother, who left her at birth has shown up in town with a teenager in tow. They spend a lot of the book getting to know each other, both her mother and her new sister.

This was hard to follow at times due to the convoluted nature of the mystery. And when you add in all the details about grandma's past, her mom's past and how it's all connected to Maura, the mystery seems to make in comparison.

Overall, great book. There is so much detail that you have to pay attention every second to keep everything straight. If you love a good cozy mystery, definitely give this one a try!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from NetGalley in return for an honest review. I thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this title.

3.75 stars

This series has grown on me. The story of Maura Donovan, who has come back after her grandmother's death to the small Irish town where her family once came from, is an interesting one. Maura started out as a fairly bristly character, but she has gradually eased off a bit, although her style is still very straightforward. You could read this as a standalone, but as it contains so much family history, I think it would be more enjoyable as part of the series.

She inherited a pub and house and has learned on the job how to be an Irish business owner. There is an appealing supporting cast including her boyfriend Mick, her employee Rose, and various locals. She and Mick are very carefully feeling their way along.

Maura is approached by a grad student doing archaeological work on Irish fairy rings. She soon learns quite a lot about Irish history and myth, and discovers a body along the way. The more questions she asks, the more it becomes apparent that this body has links to her own family.

And in the meantime, Maura is newly introduced and reconciled to the mother who abandoned her as an infant, not to mention a younger half-sister who she has never met. The scenes where the three women are attempting to forge an honest relationship despite their back story are nicely drawn and realistic. I recommend this series.

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fatal Roots by Sheila Connolly is the 8th book in the County Cork Mystery series. This is a beloved cozy series that is better with every new release. I so enjoy returning to Ireland through Ms. Connolly's eyes and experiencing life in Ireland with this fantastic mystery series. This book can be read as a stand alone however every reader will enjoy and benefit from reading this series from the beginning. This is one of my top 5 favorite cozy series ! Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinions are my own.

In this next in series our intrepid protagonist Maura Donovan is still learning about living in Ireland . She has settled into her inherited property and is now known by the locals for solving a few murders through no fault of her own. She loves running her popular pub business and is enjoying her new home . She is adjusting after reconciling with her long lost Mother of late and is now welcoming a half sister who is a teen to add to her family.
With all of her new family in her life and running her business she has more responsibilities as a group of archaeological college students ask for permission to use her property to explore for "Fairy Forts" circles that are ancient and well loved in Ireland. These circles date back to the Middle Ages and are difficult to locate. As the students proceed searching through her woods one student disappears and cannot be found. While searching for the student Maura finds a body that was buried in a Fairy Fort ring decades earlier. Maura is determined to solve both mysteries and has a talent for finding clues .

The mystery was very well crafted and kept me guessing to conclusion. i loved the history of the "Fairy Forts" in Ireland and the outstanding atmospheric descriptions of Ireland. Ms. Connolly has a winning series here that I hope will continue to delight us cozy readers for many years. I highly recommend this book for your reading enjoyment. Very well done to the author ! This review is cross posted.

FatalRoots by Sheila Connolly is a slow to develop story set in Ireland. There are interesting main characters and supporting characters. We walk in on established relationships and developing issues. Yet, they don’t seem to go anywhere. This one was hard for me to stay interested. I might have missed something...but I would pass on this one.

I was really excited to have the opportunity to read Fatal Roots. However, I did not care for it and believe it was a book for me. I give it two stars.

This is a new to me author. While I didn't love this story, I didn't exactly hate it either. It was just meh. I could not get into the story at all so I kept putting it down to read other books. It just wasn't my cup of tea. This will not be a series that I continue. Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is such an enjoyable series but I do recommend starting with book 1. This installment was very good with Maura having to reconnect with her estranged mother and meet her half sister. College students are looking for a “fairy fort” and then an unidentifiable body is found. I loved the atmospheric writing which made me want to take off for Ireland right away.
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Ireland, cold-case, family-dynamics, friendship

The characters are fascinating, the countryside is beautiful, the family issues are a bit confounding, and the murder is a cold case. When Maura came to Ireland about a year ago after the death of her grandmother she found that she had inherited a pub and a cottage. Now she finds that she also has fields with faerie rings and a half sister to sort out. Oh, and a body on her property buried sometime in the 1960s. Very interesting story!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

I have read 10 books written by Sheila Connolly and each one I say this one is the best. But to be truthful Fatal Roots is really the best one so far. I loved the storyline I love following the characters, through their trials and tribulations. I think what I like about what Sheila Connolly does is to slowly unravel the history of her characters letting you see bits and pieces into their inner lives with each book. I really tried not to rush through her books because I know it will be a while before another one is written. I just couldn't read slowly it was just too good. I highly recommend this book, but be warned. these books are habit-forming.

Sheila Connolly brings all of the charm of Ireland to Fatal Roots - A County Cork Mystery. Maura Donovan inherited a cottage, land and Sullivan’s Pub from Old Mick Sullivan. Raised in Boston, she has been in Ireland for almost a year and is still learning about the people and history of the area, as well as managing her pub. An early morning visit by Ciara, an archeology student, introduces her to ring forts, also known as fairy forts. These circles date back to the Middle Ages and are now covered with brambles and sometimes difficult to locate. Ciara asks permission to explore one of the fairy forts on Maura’s property with two associates and Maura accompanies them to learn more. When Darragh, one of Ciara’s associates, disappears the Gardai is notified. No trace of Darragh is found, but Maura does find an unidentifiable body that was buried in the ring about thirty years earlier.

While Connolly builds her story around the folklore of Ireland, the importance of family plays an important role in this book. Maura was abandoned by her mother as a child and raised by her grandmother. She has reconciled with her, but is unprepared when her mother returns with her half-sister Susan in tow. While Susan only recently found out about Maura, they find themselves growing closer as she involves herself in the pub. Family roots also play an important role in Darragh’s disappearance and the solution of the murder.

Sullivan’s Pub is populated with characters who are familiar to the readers of this series. Old Bill is installed at a corner table and is ready to regale new customers with tales of the fairies while Mick, the pub manager, can be found behind the bar serving drinks. These people have also become Maura’s family and make the reader feel welcome. Connolly also makes it easy to visualize the rolling hills and village life. While this is a part of a series, each book can also be read as a stand-alone. Fans of Stella Cameron’s Alex Duggins series will also find this to be an enjoyable read. I would like to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing this book in exchange for my review.

Fatal Roots is a great mystery that takes place in Ireland. It is well written and has great characters. I will go back and read the other books in this series.

I'll be honest - I wasn't sure I wanted to read this book based on the last one. I've read every single book in this series, the setting in Ireland being the draw, but have struggled to like Maura, the MC, the entire time. I struggled again to relate to her in this one, although the last 1/3 of the book was a bit better, when she finally (!) started to do some self-reflection.

It's only taken eight (!!) books to get there.

Maura's mum and half-sister, Susan, arrive unexpectedly to take care of something at the hotel, where they'll be for 'a few weeks'. Susan is understandably aloof, having been surprised at the fairly recent news that she has an older sister that she's never been told about. She, Maura and their mother set to work through the awkwardness and discomfort of this situation, and Maura puts Susan to work helping Rose with the kitchen refurbishment. I don't remember a decision being made one way or the other about the kitchen in the last book, but obviously one has been as it's full steam ahead on renovating and getting it set up.

In the meantime, several students arrive to look into the mysterious fairy forts. A body is found in one, leading to some long-buried secrets (quite literally).

However, this is it for me for this series. The amount of repetition is grating, and I'm tired of hearing variations of 'this isn't Boston', and that she's 'not from around here', etc., about fifty times in every book. And, ultimately, the mystery just wasn't that interesting in the end. When you skim as much as you read (or more), it's time to bow out.

3/5* because, Ireland, and for Maura's beginnings of self-awareness at the end.

Sheila Connolly has successfully transplanted a young American woman, Maura Donovan into Ireland wherein each book she finds herself drawn into the lives of those around her and always into a murder mystery. Maura is surprised to see her mother back in Leap and even more surprised to meet her half-sister, a teenage girl named Susan. Both expect to be in Leap for the summer and Maura isn't quite sure what that will mean for her as business has been slow and she's still thinking on building a kitchen to offer food in the pub. Rose, Mick, Bill and Bridget still feature in the novel and play central roles in the plot lines. In trying to help a few college students doing some archeology studies on her land, one disappears and then Mick and Laura find a long dead, buried body. Maura isn't at all certain that family, friends and a boyfriend (?) is what she signed up for when she came to Ireland. I found this book to be the most slow moving and frankly boring of the eight books in the series. I think the author is trying to build the relationships between the characters and flesh them out a bit more so that she can expand the series environment and Maura's history. I hope she's able to get back to a meaty, cozy mystery in the next volume.

Along with Maura I am slowly learning more about Ireland and it's often complicated history. 'Fatal Roots' was a slow start for me but I am completely committed to Sullivan's and all of the surrounding characters. I had problems with the repetitive nature of the book. The constant rehashing of how no one wants to discuss the past, and how reluctant the characters were to ask questions became annoying. The level of dysfunction was almost too much for me and the abandonment issues hard to reconcile. I do want to move forward. Some questions were answered so that I have hope for the future. I want Maura to settle in and concentrate on the charm of her new home and what life has brought to her.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.