I listened to “A Distant Grave” is book two of this series. It can totally be read as a stand-alone. The narrator was Marisa Calin. I’ll be honest by saying that I really didn’t enjoy her doing this. She was ok but I felt like she wasn’t a good fit for this book.
If you haven’t read the first book I highly recommend it. Book two picks up much later with all of the main characters. Not being predictable you have to read to the very end for everything to come out. An enjoyable read for mystery-thrillers.
Thanks Macmillan Audio via Netgalley.

The aftermath of events described in Sarah Stewart Taylor’s 2020 “critically acclaimed The Mountains Wild,” have complicated Long Island detective Maggie D’arcy’s life. Her relationship with her teenage daughter Lilly is quite fraught. Maggie’s boyfriend lives in Dublin and while every long-distance relationship has problems, she’s not sure there’s a long-term future with Conor. Jay Cooney, Maggie’s boss, doesn’t respect her detecting abilities. When she pushes to reopen a long-ago case, he accuses her of risking “the good reputation of this office in order to satisfy some personal grudge.” It’s personal between them Maggie’s colleague Marty making an uncomfortable man in the middle.

Marty looks right at Cooney and says, “She’s not a child to be managed, Jay. She’s a lieutenant on the homicide squad and she has every right to lodge a complaint about a case. But I think she’s done that, so we’ll be going now. Thank you for your time. We appreciate you being willing to hear us out.”



The us makes my throat seize up. Marty didn’t want to do this. I had to convince him to ask for the meeting. He must have known it was going to go like this. But he did it for me.

A Distant Grave’s portrait of a harried working mother rings true because whether it’s her professional or personal life, Maggie often feels like she’s letting someone down.

The story opens where “the expanse of the Great South Bay lapped the rocks.” A man stands on the Long Island shore, waiting to meet up with someone who doesn’t come. He reminisces about the many countries where he had worked—from “humid jungles” to dry deserts: “When he got home, he always went for a walk by the sea first thing, to remind himself that he was free.” He waits and waits before he returns to the parking lot. He gets a premonition that someone is out there, stalking him, and somehow, is not surprised.

Of course. Of course death would look like this. It made perfect sense, as logical as the conclusion of a well-told tale. Of course this was it.



The end.



And it was then that the bullet found him, so quickly that when he died, he was still thinking of stories, and endings, and of the sea, the sound of it, how it filled your head so you couldn’t think of any other thing.

Marty and Maggie are assigned to the case. It’s not easy for Maggie to see a dead body on the beach. Marty knows it’s a trigger—like explosions are for him. Something strikes her as odd though.

“I’m okay,” I say, though I’m not really. I take a deep breath. “I was just thinking how odd it is, to not be able to identify someone right away. No phone, no wallet. It’s like he fell out of the sky, you know?”

The mystery surrounding the dead man’s origins is a subtle bit of foreshadowing. Based on his underwear (Marks and Spencer, a British brand) and the rental agreement in an abandoned car, he’s identified as Michael Treacy from Dublin. Treacy’s back is covered with deep scars, marks of him being tortured in his past. With this case dropped in her lap, Maggie worries that she’ll have to cancel her long-planned trip to Dublin to see her boyfriend Conor: “We’ve been trying to tend it long distance but we need the two weeks to figure out what our next steps are, to let Lilly and Conor’s son Adrien, get to know us and each other.” It doesn’t take an Irish seer to see where this is going, can anyone say, “a busman’s holiday?” Maggie calls Roly Byrne, an Irish colleague, to fill him in.

He answers fast, with a booming, “D’arcy! How are you, then?”



“Good, except I’ve got an Irish guy who got himself shot on a beach here last night. He’s from Dublin. Arrived three days ago. We’ve got the passport and everything. Someone’s going to have to notify the family. I believe that someone may be you.” Roly works for the Garda Síochána, the Irish police service.

Roly asks the obvious: “This case gonna banjax your holiday?” He gets it: “he knows what it’s like to want to see the case through and at the same time not want to let his family down.” Her presence in Dublin is too good to pass up—Marty gives her the green light, saying, “Might be good for you to do some poking around over there.” So much for a carefree, relationship-deepening holiday. She passes the baton to Dave and his team, reminding them she’s “just a phone call away.” Dave walks her to her car, assuring her he has a “feeling” she’ll be able to sort out why Treacy came to Long Island once she’s in Ireland.

I’ll think about that later, Dave’s feeling, and wonder if it really was a feeling about the case, or it he was bullshitting me to get me to go to Dublin. If it was a feeling, I’ll always wonder if he got it from me, if I knew something then that was hidden even from myself, that was there all along but I just couldn’t see it.

So much good detective work leads from hunches and suppositions. Maggie D’arcy is almost fey in her ability to see past the obvious. Michael Treacy spent his life working aboard for a “humanitarian aid nonprofit,” so why was he executed on a Long Island beach, in the shadow of “fancy waterfront houses?” Coincidentally, Cooney lives in that wealthy Manorhaven neighborhood. N.B. There are few coincidences in A Distant Grave. There’s a strong connection between Long Island and Ireland: it’s the “ninth-most Irish city area in the country.” Maggie’s holiday is anything but: “the strands of the mystery lead Maggie to a quiet village in rural County Clare and back to her home turf.” Someone(s) is determined to keep Maggie and her colleagues in Dublin and Long Island from uncovering the truth—if they are all trustworthy, that is. In A Distant Grave, Maggie’s professional ambitions vie with her desire for personal happiness: perhaps the next Maggie D’arcy mystery will explore that further. This is an absorbing book: it’s a terrific follow-up to The Mountains Wild.

After a man is robbed and murdered on a Long Island beach, police detective Maggie D’arcy discovers that the victim is an Irish national. Having already planned to travel to Ireland to visit her boyfriend, Conor, Maggie investigates the case while overseas.

While I enjoyed this second in the Maggie D'arcy series, reading about Maggie's constant need to work---while on vacation, with her boyfriend and her teenage daughter---became a little tiring. The Irish setting is enchanting, as usual, and I'm interested in seeing where Maggie and Conor's relationship goes (Conor's family is lovely), but I'd like more detective work and less agonizing over her job.

This was a very good mystery/police procedural. The writing is very atmospheric of Long Island and I felt transported to that setting. The plot was engaging and I hope there is more to come.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Maggie D’arcy, and her daughter have travelled to Ireland looking into the death of a national found on Long Islands shore. While the Emerald Isle offers green rolling hills the people are little closed up and reluctant to share information. Undaunted Maggie follows the clues and is helped by officials from an earlier case. Getting into the rhythm of life in the county made for eye opening dialogue. Revelations abound as this case winds to its conclusion.

Another excellent book by Ms. Taylor. It maintained my interest from the first page to the last.

The characters are vivid. The plot well paced. I can't wait for the next one.

I received a free ARC. I am leaving my honest review.

I really liked the first book in this series The Mountains Wild, and I feel like I have been waiting forever for A Distant Grave! Luckily it is here now, and I really enjoyed this one too. We get to know Maggie a little better as she tackles a new case that takes her from Long Island back to Ireland. While the last book focused on the mystery surrounding Maggie's sister, this focused a lot more on war and humanitarian workers. It is a slow burn just like the last book, but the setting is rich and vivid, and I loved being back in Ireland with Maggie and her daughter. It would probably be okay as a standalone, but I think this series is much better read in order so you can get more of Maggie's backstory and know what happened in book 1 since it is important to her character and where she's at in this installment. Sarah Stewart Taylor really only briefly touches on what happened in the last book, and it definitely makes more sense to read them in succession. I wouldn't have minded doing a reread of The Mountains Wild beforehand, but you definitely don't have to since this focuses more on the case at hand.

I really liked the way everything tied together in A Distant Grave, and I thoroughly enjoyed the different viewpoints. I decided to listen to the audiobook this time around and it is narrated by Marisa Calin who I haven't listened to before. She did narrate book 1 so I like that they are keeping things consistent, and overall, I enjoyed her narration of the novel. She got a little overzealous with her accents at some points, but for the most part, she was really easy and fun to listen to. I was interested in the investigation although I did like the parts about Maggie's life outside of work the best. This is a police procedural at heart, so there is a lot of detective work and things like that. Read this if you like detective fiction with strong police procedural elements, as well as slow-burn mysteries.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Not bad. I didn't enjoy this one as much as other mysteries I've read. But maybe I'm not the right reader for this one. I can see the talent in the story telling and I suspect some readers will like this one. Taylor creates some good tension and suspense, and created an interesting plot.

Thanks very much for the free review copy!!

Following the harrowing case in THE MOUNTAINS WILD, Maggie D'arcy copes with her fragile teenage daughter, a long distance relationship and issues with her boss. She finds herself with another case bridging Long Island and Ireland. Once again, this impeccably written mystery manages to draw you in from the outset with a twisty and well constructed plot. However the true joy is the realistic characters trying to find their. way to juggle professional responsibilities and keep promises to their loved ones. Highly recommended!

THE DISTANT GRAVE by Sarah Stewart Taylor! I really enjoyed this one! Thanks to my friends at @minotaur_books for my physical arc, this one published June 22 so you can grab your copy now!!

TW: murder, torture, kidnapping, gun violence, grief, dealing with the loss of a parent

This is my second book in this series. I haven’t read the first one yet, but I wasn’t confused or lost at all in this one. So you can read still read this one and be okay!

I read this one fairly quickly because I had to know what happens! The murder that took place- and all the digging into the murder victims life to figure out how he ended up dead, was really fascinating! I learned a lot!

Also, the main character goes to Ireland , supposedly for a vacation but is really working on the case. Ireland is on my list of counties to visit! Have you been there before?

I highly recommend this thriller! It gets real intense near the end as their is a bit of a chase to get to the bad guy, who also almost outsmarts the cops. Now I need to get my hands on the first book!

A Distant Grave is a chunky, complex mystery set in Long Island and Ireland.

This book is the second in the Maggie D'arcy crime fiction series. Maggie's latest investigation focuses on a man who was shot and killed while visiting the United States from Ireland. Coincidentally, her boyfriend Conor lives in Ireland and she's had a vacation planned to visit him (in part, to figure out what they're going to do long term now that they've fallen in love, given that they each have a child with roots in their home countries).

The real selling point for A Distant Grave is the plot of the investigation -- seasoned thriller/suspense readers and those newer to the genre both will find a lot to like in how the mystery unfolds.

At the same time, I could have done without a fair amount of the material on Maggie's romantic relationship (please forgive me, but I just don't care what Conor thinks or how he's disappointed). I think I'd have enjoyed this one more had that been edited down a bit, and the book itself been closer to 350 pages in length. (The pacing felt stronger when Conor's presence was limited!)

I alternated between the text and audio; if I had to recommend just one, I'd suggest the text. I liked the narration (and was grateful to have it) but the narrator's accents were sometimes difficult for me to understand. (I'd miss a word or two, even after rewinding and listening to a sentence a second time, and end up looking that part up in the text.) This may have been a consequence of listening at 1.75/2x (I typically don't listen to books more slowly than 2x after a chapter or two of settling in, but did find myself trying a slower speed for segments of this book). It felt like the narrator really leaned into the accents (so you might love the audio if that's your thing, might want to opt for the text if it's not).

The publisher says the series is a fit for "fans of Tana French and Kate Atkinson;" I'd add Mare of Easttown to that (though this book isn't nearly as sad as that limited series!).

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love that Maggie and Connor had to be adults and try and figure out how to make their long distance relationship work, with their jobs, their kids, and their obligations.

I love how Sarah Stewart Taylor parcels out the information, giving you a chance as the reader to try and guess who the killer is, although you are probably wrong. I know I was!

Can't wait to read the next installment to find out how Maggie and Connor navigate their future.

I received a complimentary copy of A Distant Grave from NetGalley.  Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I read the previous book, and although I wanted to like this one just as much or more, it just wasn’t as good as the first one. Maggie, the detective, was overly absorbed in her job and treated her long distance boyfriend, Conor of Ireland, like a doormat. Half of the charm of the first book was the reuniting of this couple, which there wasn’t much of in this one. The stand alone part—the new investigation—was interesting, however, so as a stand alone, it may be a better novel.

An incredibly intriguing premise and definitive next step in the Maggie D'Arcy series. This second book is set more in the U.S. (so I missed Ireland a bit); however,the twists and turns of the victim's journey to this point on Long Island are fascinating and the ever-evolving emotional story of Maggie, Connor and their families kept me up late at night. I am all ready for the next title in the series!

Ms Taylor does a fine job of building suspense in a complicated mystery in this second novel starring Maggie D’arcy. Maggie is a brave, tough detective on Long Island. Her love interest, Conor, lives in Ireland and her new case takes her to Ireland as she tries to discover who the man shot on the beach is and why. This is a solid follow up to The Mountains Wild. Hopefully there will be more to come in this series

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this ARC.
It took me a few chapters to really get wrapped up in this story. Like the first book I really enjoyed the characters. The ending wasn't as shocking as the first book but it still ended with a bang.
I will defiantly be looking for the third book in the future in this series.

A distant grave is the second book with Maggie D'arcy as the lead character. I struggled to read this one. I never got pulled in to the story and it didn't hold my interest. There were many characters that I had to go back to figure out how they fit into the story. It just wasn't for me.

Published by ‎ Minotaur Books on June 22, 2021

Sarah Stewart Taylor understands the mechanics of storytelling. She tells her stories with fluid prose. That display of talent overcame my reservations about The Mountains Wild, the first book in the Maggie D’Arcy series. It isn’t quite enough to earn a full recommendation for the second book, A Distant Grave.

Maggie is a homicide detective in Long Island. In the first novel, Maggie traveled to Ireland, the home of her ancestors, and solved the disappearance of her cousin twenty years earlier. She made friends with some Irish cops and developed a love interest.

In the second novel, Maggie has planned a vacation to Ireland so she can shag her Irish boyfriend (my interpretation of the trip, although Taylor presents it in a more romantic light). Before she leaves, a man is murdered in a park. Maggie is worried that she won’t be able to take her trip because, it seems, she is the queen of Long Island homicides and therefore indispensable. I found that difficult to accept since Maggie doesn’t seem to have any deductive or procedural abilities that are beyond those of typical police detectives. When she isn’t using her work hours to take care of her personal problems, she’s giving mundane assignments to other cops. The qualities that make Maggie so special are difficult to recognize. In any event, by a happy coincidence, the murder victim turns out to be visiting from Ireland, giving Maggie a chance to combine work with pleasure, although her vacation turns out to be mostly work, much to the consternation of her boyfriend and daughter.

Taylor’s development of Maggie’s character focuses on how much she loves her daughter, how guilty she feels about disappointing her daughter and boyfriend because of her commitment to work, and how she worries that she won’t be able to make a life with her boyfriend because her job is in America and he doesn’t want to leave Ireland. Long distance relationships never work and Maggie should probably understand that, but Taylor’s instinct is mix a romance novel with a crime novel. In romance novels, love conquers all, so perhaps there is hope for Maggie. By the book’s end, I was so tired of Maggie fretting about her woes that I didn’t care. Nor did I care about Maggie’s tedious concern that she can’t be the supermom she wants to be despite telling her teenage daughter at every opportunity how much she is loved. All of that is meant to build characterization, but it isn’t terribly engaging and it seriously distracts from the story’s development. Perhaps insecure moms will have a different take on Maggie than mine.

Maggie is distracting in other ways, as well. She frets about an ongoing threat from a fellow who drove past her house, although that storyline eventually fizzles out, accomplishing nothing apart from giving Maggie another source of anxiety. Maggie frequently feels the need to tell us how her boyfriend smells, presumably to let us know how important everything about him is to his existence. One day he smells like rain and dog. Another day his deodorant smells green and his laundry detergent smells fluffy. Are green and fluffy even scents? It turns out that I don’t care.

The plot relies on too many coincidences. The story is needlessly convoluted. It involves the victim’s work for a humanitarian organization, his experience as a hostage in Afghanistan some years earlier, his rescuer, and a couple of politicians who feel the need to cover things up that, in a time when the public shrugs off scandals, could as easily have been ignored. A related murder occurs while Maggie is visiting Ireland. If her Irish cop buddies had any sense, they would tell her to stay home since her visits portend trouble, but they can’t because she’s just so loveable and perfect, even as she worries that she’s just not perfect enough.

The novel works a perceived social problem into the plot. Babies in Ireland who were born to a woman out of wedlock were given to a Catholic orphanage so the mothers could avoid shame. The babies were shipped to America where they were placed for adoption with Catholic families. Maggie is outraged about this, not because unwanted children were given the loving parents they deserved (which seems like a good thing), but because the children were not told they were Irish by birth. This seems to me to be a failure of the adoptive parents who kept that fact a secret, not a systemic evil that traces to Ireland, but the novel is largely driven by Maggie’s sense that all the players (other than the adoptive parents) were part of a monstrous plot to deprive babies of their Irish identity. In the grand scheme of social problems, I found it hard to share Maggie’s outrage.

So we have a well written novel with an unlikable protagonist and a convoluted plot that depends on unlikely coincidences and misplaced moral outrage. A Distant Grave isn’t awful but to continue reading the series, I would need to care about Maggie D’Arcy. I just don’t, so this will be the end of the series for me. Fans of romance novels that are driven by women who prevail despite their self-doubt might love this series, so as always, your mileage may vary.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

I adored book 1 in the series, The Mountains Wild, so I knew I'd probably race through this second book, and I was right! Literally finishing at 230 am,, once this book takes off, it's a race to keep Maggie's daughter safe from an unknown enemy, while trying to keep her promises for an Ireland vacation, to recover from the events in the first book, and ultimately to keep her job. But wherever they go, trouble seems to follow, until they have to return. And that is where you need to be prepared to stay put and read, as you will NOT want to put this book down. It will be interesting to see what's next for Maggie, and how her, and her team, recover from the events in this book will occur.

Sarah Stewart Taylor has written an amazing sequel to The Mountain Wild. A Distant Grave picks up about six months after the end of the first book. Maggie D'Arcy and her daughter Lilly are still reeling from the death of Lilly's father and the fate of her long missing cousin, Erin. Maggie gets called out on a strange new case a few days before she and Lilly are leaving for Ireland. An Irish man is found murdered a mere blocks away from Maggie's home and it seems the gun is the same one used in a gang killing the year before. She is able to identify the man, but makes little progress on the case before she's due to leave. Maggie barely manages to get away with Lilly to Ireland to visit her boyfriend Connor who she reconnected with while investigating Erin's disappearance. Maggie being who she is, manages to investigate the origins of the dead man while she's in Ireland and makes some startling discoveries before she's called back to the States to wind up the case. Set against the backdrop of a chilly Long Island winter and the gorgeous Irish countryside, Taylor gives us an intricately detailed mystery that is so much more than a police procedural. She weaves in a well-developed family story as well as delving into foreign aid and government involvement. On top of all that, Maggie tries to balance being a good detective with being a good mother, niece and girlfriend. I loved this book as much as I did the first one - no sequel slump for Sarah Stewart Taylor!! I sincerely hope that she continues the series as I'd love to read more Maggie D'Arcy. Many thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read the ARC!!