"Murder in Connemara" by Carlene O'Connor delivers a delightful cozy mystery set against the picturesque backdrop of Galway and neighboring Connemara. Former New Yorker turned interior designer Tara Meehan takes center stage in this engaging tale of grand openings, antique treasures, and a murder that keeps readers guessing until the very end.

One of the novel's strengths lies in its charming setting. O'Connor skillfully captures the beauty and allure of Galway, creating a vivid backdrop that enhances the overall atmosphere of the story. The detailed descriptions of Tara's architectural salvage shop, Renewals, and the historic Ballynahinch Castle Hotel add a touch of authenticity to the narrative.

The character of Tara Meehan is both relatable and endearing. Her transition from the bustling city life of New York to the quieter, more idyllic surroundings of Galway is portrayed with authenticity. Readers will find themselves drawn to Tara's passion for interior design and her determination to unravel the mystery surrounding the murder. The use of social media elements, such as the #Killerbrooch hashtag, adds a contemporary twist to the traditional cozy mystery genre.

The plot is well-crafted, with a murder that occurs in the ruins of Clifden Castle, setting the stage for a classic whodunit. The introduction of heiress Veronica O'Farrell and her quest for redemption adds a layer of complexity to the storyline, and O'Connor skillfully weaves a web of motives among the potential suspects. The pacing is well-maintained, keeping the reader engaged with a good balance of suspense and character development.

The supporting cast of characters, each with their own motives and secrets, adds depth to the story. The mystery unfolds gradually, allowing readers to piece together clues alongside Tara as she plays amateur detective. The small-town dynamics and interpersonal relationships contribute to the cozy charm of the narrative.

While "Murder in Connemara" excels in many aspects, some readers might find the resolution to be a bit predictable. The familiarity of certain cozy mystery tropes might be evident to seasoned readers of the genre.

In conclusion, "Murder in Connemara" is a delightful addition to the cozy mystery genre, offering readers an engaging story with a charming setting, well-developed characters, and a touch of humor. Carlene O'Connor successfully combines elements of tradition and modernity, making this a recommended read for those who enjoy a cozy mystery with a dash of Irish charm.

I really loved this first book in a new to my series and author. I can't wait to read the next one. The characters and location really add to the plot. This book keeps you guessing until the end.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed reading it the plot was interesting and the characters made me want to know more about them. I highly recommend.

Murder in Connemara is the second in the A Home to Ireland series by Carlene O’Connor. Tara Meehan, the protagonist, who is an interior designer from New York, is looking forward to the grand opening of her new architectural salvage shop in her adopted new home in Galway County. Veronica O'Farrell, an heiress, bursts into her shop before the opening, and demands that Tara help her make amends to seven people that she wronged before her first year of sobriety. Unfortunately, Veronica is found dead a few days later, and Tara is a prime suspect. Tara must investigate to find the real killer before she spends time in prison.

Fans of O’Connor’s previous series already know she is a great storyteller. The story in this novel will grab readers from the start, and with the building suspense as Tara becomes endangered, the novel will; be difficult to put down. O’Connor also captures the Irish culture, and most readers will want to visit Ireland after reading her novels. O’Connor also does a good job of developing her characters. While Tara is down-to-earth and likeable – a good protagonist - , Veronica is characterized as being entitled, spoiled, and unpleasant. The characters are believable, since most readers know someone in real life who is similar.

Although this is a cozy series, there is plenty of suspense (although no graphic sex, violence, or language), as well as twists and turns to keep readers’ interest. It is fast-moving and fun to read. This is a recommended novel for those who like the Irish culture, good characters, and an interesting story.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

Loved reading this book and author. If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend her and her books.

The plot of the book was such a great page turner. The plot of the book was very well written. I truly cannot wait to read another wonderful book from this new to me author. This was a truly great book.

Tara Meehan can’t believe she’s found another dead body! All she’d wanted to do was visit the old stone house she’d seen in a flyer left at her store, Renewals. Instead, her quiet and charming drive in the hills of Ireland has turned into stress and worry. Things only get more stressful when Veronica O’Farrell sweeps into her store and insists that Renewals store be the host site for where she makes her amends. Veronica has invited several guests to Ireland to make amends for when she was drinking heavily and wronged them… but will she have a chance to make those amends? And can Tara uncover what is really going on when she finds herself the prime suspect in a murder?

MURDER IN CONNEMARA is the second book in the Home to Ireland series but can easily be read as a standalone story. We’re still getting to know the recurring characters and their histories while all the murder suspects are new to the story line. And oh boy do we have some interesting suspects to choose from! Veronica has done quite a bit of damage in her years of drinking and it’s anyone’s guess who actually wanted her dead the most.

I love how Carlene O’Connor ties in Tara’s theme of Renewals with Tara’s new life in Ireland with Veronica’s new life in sobriety. It’s a beautiful correlation and somehow makes Veronica’s story all the more poignant to Tara. However, I have to admit I’m becoming less and less of a fan of Danny and his ambiguity over the relationship with Tara. I’m normally not a fan of the love triangle in cozy mysteries but I’m starting to hope one pops up so Tara can also have a Renewal in her love life.

Carlene O’Connor has crafted a very intriguing cozy mystery with a surprising twist at the end. Even as I figured out “whodunnit”, I completely missed the clues amongst the red herrings for the actual why behind it all. And as always, O’Connor’s descriptions of Ireland are superb and leave me wanting to travel to Ireland immediately. Carlene O’Connor is brilliant at creating complex characters who stretch the cozy mystery genre just a tad and her lush depictions of Ireland are simply breathtaking!

*review is in the editing queue at Fresh Fiction*

Former interior designer Tara Meehan has relocated from New York City to Galway in Ireland. She’s just days away from the opening of her architectural salvage shop called Renewals when she stumbles across the body of a woman at a property for sale that she’s looking at. If that’s not enough, heiress Veronica O’Farrell shows up with a job for Tara. Veronica is sober for a year and wants to make amends to seven people in her life. She tasks Tara with finding an appropriate gift for each.

Then Veronica turns up dead, stabbed in the heart by the antique brooch Tara had taken a picture of and posted on social media with the hashtag #Killerbrooch. That bumps Tara right to the top of the police’s suspect list and puts Tara on the trail of the real killer.

Author Carlene O’Connor takes you right into the heart of beautiful Ireland with her vivid descriptions of the countryside, the sea, the castles, the feel of the country.

I found the story started slowly, perhaps as a result of the author taking time to build the community and the quite large cast of characters. But when the story gets rolling, it moves right along with lots of action and is well worth the read.

Tara Meehan is excited. She is getting ready to open her store, as long as the city sends her permit. After leaving New York City and moving to Ireland, she is ready to take her interior design skills and open up her shop of architectural salvage and reclaimed treasures. She’s been working hard for weeks, getting everything set up, and she feels like she’s earned a day off exploring the countryside. Having just learned how to drive, she takes her new Jeep and heads for the hills.

Someone had left a flyer in her door for a stone cottage for sale, with a map attached. When Tara drove out there, she could see why someone had left the flyer for her. It needed a lot of work, but the stones could be repurposed, the cottage built into something new but with its original structure. Looking around, Tara finds a tiny pug, scared and thirsty. She does what she can for the dog and then looks around for the owner. What she finds is a woman in a track suit, lying still. Tara checks to see if the woman is okay, but the heat that had been beating down on them lately was not kind to her, and there was nothing Tara could do for her. She calls the police for help and stays until they show up. With no one around to care for the dog, “Savage,” according to his name tag, Tara offers to take him home with her for now.

Eventually, Tara finds out that the woman she found was named Nancy Halligan, and they are saying that her death was due to the heat causing a heart attack. Tara offers to keep the dog until the family shows up to claim him. Her dog, Hound, has no issue with pug staying around, so Tara goes back to waiting for her business permit and planning her grand opening.

When Uncle Johnny and his fortune-telling girlfriend Rose come by the store to check on her, and Rose has nothing but warnings for her. She says Tara shouldn’t be left alone and that she should just take the day off. Tara’s shop isn’t really open yet, so she doesn’t put too much stock in what Rose says and stays in her store. And later that day, a woman comes into her shop, saying that she wanted to rent the place for a small gathering because she had seen a newspaper article about Tara and her new shop.

Tara can’t have host a gathering without her permit, so she suggests another location, the salvage shop where she gets her pieces, run by her friend Danny. The woman, heiress Veronica O’Farrell, agrees to the new location but asks Tara to do a job for her. She is celebrating her sobriety and wants to get some friends together to celebrate with her and for her to make some amends to those she has wronged. She wants Tara to choose a thoughtful gift for seven different people who will be at her gathering. But as she talks, Tara realizes that she knew Nancy Halligan, the woman Tara had found dead a week before. Nancy had been Veronica’s sponsor in AA. Veronica is devastated, but she still wants Tara to buy amends gifts on her behalf. Tara, knowing how hard it can be to make a living working for yourself, agrees.

But when Veronica is murdered, stabbed by the brooch that Tara had been admiring just the day before, Tara isn’t sure what to do. Should she continue with the job she was hired for, or should she walk away? And when she meets the individuals that Tara had been asked to buy gifts for, she is even more uncertain about finishing the job. But she is curious about Veronica and is worried that her store’s reputation may forever be tarnished because of Veronica’s death. Tara decides to go through with the job, both to honor Veronica’s memory but also to try to find the killer.

But the more she learns about the group of people that Veronica pulled together, the more Tara sees motives. There is her former best friend, who has been in love with Veronica’s first husband, because she stole him away. There is the couple she evicted who suffered a miscarriage shortly after that. There is the woman she pushed on the mountain who fell and then needed extensive medical care and physical therapy after, all at Veronica’s expense. Then there is her first husband’s daughter, her personal assistant, her bodyguard/attorney, and her most recent ex-husband, all with their own reasons for coming and their own reasons for hating Veronica.

The more Tara learns about the people in Veronica’s life, the more she realizes that one of them killed her and is playing games with the rest of them. Will Tara be able to sift through the gossip and the rumors, the secrets and the lies, in order to find a killer and save her store? Or will she find herself with a target on her back that she can’t get out from under?

Murder in Connemara is the second in the Home to Ireland Mystery series. Written by Carlene O’Connor, who also writes the Irish Village mysteries about garda Shioban O’Sullivan, this charming series sheds light on a different part of Ireland, the western harbor town of Galway. Featuring interesting Irish characters and the small town culture, this cozy mystery is a bit of craic in a lovely part of the world.

I enjoyed Murder in Connemara. I love these Irish mysteries from O’Connor, and this book is an action-packed whodunnit with lots of Irish flavor. Tara is a strong, smart character, and I look forward to seeing what kinds of trouble she gets herself into and out of in the future.

Egalleys for Murder in Connemara were provided by Kensington Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

The Irish setting in this cozy series is one of my favorite aspects of the book. I appreciated that this took place right where book one left off. The mystery was grand and fun to try to solve!

I really enjoy this author’s cozy mysteries set in Ireland. Tara is an American, now living in Galway, preparing to open up her shop of antiques and decor. When Veronica visits her store, and is murdered the day after, Tara becomes embroiled in a mystery with a large cast of suspects, all people Veronica was to make amends to for her poor behavior. The setting of castles in Connemara, and the interesting characters enhance the mystery. Recommended, and thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Tara is ready to open her shop in Galway. She gets an unexpected client who wants her to find gifts for all the people she wronged while she was an alcoholic. Tara is excited to help but then dead bodies start turning up, including Tara's client. Tara inserts herself in the group gathered together to try and figure out what happened.

I love Carlene O'Connor's books. I love that she is able to bring the reader to Ireland with her characters. I especially love that I've been to Galway and can recognize some of the places and events mentioned. I really like Tara as a character. I like her outlook and the fact that she moved so far away from what she knows. I am enjoying getting to know the other characters that she interacts with. I'm not sure I'm convinced on her love interest quite yet, though. I was kept guessing throughout the whole story and I loved that! I can't wait to see what's next in this series!

Murder in Connemara by Carlene O’Connor is the 2nd A Home to Ireland Mystery. It can be read as a standalone, but I believe readers will have a better understanding of Tara if they read Murder in Galway first. I enjoyed the beautiful descriptions of Ireland, the architecture, and the items in Tara’s shop. The author really brought the Irish countryside to life for me. Tara Meehan is a character that I am not sure that I like yet. Tara’s behavior and attitude bothered me at times. I really did not like her thoughts about the Garda (she thinks they are stupid). Tara is one of those people who will do what they want even if it gets in the way of others completing their job. The mystery has quite a few suspects. The author tried to the whodunit complicated, but the resolution was easy to suss out. The apparent clues made it a cinch to solve. The why is also not a challenge to figure out. I did not like Tara mucking up crime scenes (she is giving amateur sleuths a bad name). I got fed up with suspects arguing (I ended up skimming through some areas). Tara tended to go off on tangents at times that took her away from her goal. There are some quirky characters in this series including Tara’s uncle and the psychic, Rose. I loved little Savage with this adorable collar. I wanted to like Murder in Connemara, but I just did not find it that appealing. Murder in Connemara transports readers to Ireland in this cozy mystery with the sweet Savage, amends gone awry, a prophetic psychic, a forceful woman, business license tribulations, and a problematic photo.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book takes a good while to actually get going. So much so, I almost threw in the towel. However, once it hits its stride, I couldn't put it down. It sort of reminded me of CLUE or an Agatha Christie type story. A lot of potential suspects, all with secrets of their own. A lot of red herrings to throw the reader off. I also enjoyed Tara as a lead (mostly) and the setting was lovely. Overall, it was a very enjoyable read and I'll definitely keep my eyes open for the next book in this series!

**ARC Via NetGalley**

An interesting story with a plot twist I didn’t expect! Kept me reading straight through the story. I will definitely read more of this authors work in the future.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars, it was okay.

Book two in the series.

This one was just okay. I didn't realize this wasn't book one, but I didn't feel like I missed anything. I had a hard time liking the protagonist, Tara Meehan, and the whole thing felt a bit slow. I'm not sure I would read the next one, since it wasn't anything that really stood out.

I love the setting of these books, Ireland, but this series is definitely missing that little extra something that makes her other series so good. Tara is a decent character but there's nothing special about her. At times, she seems assertive and I think the story is going to pick up but then she seconds guesses herself and becomes meek, which makes it a little annoying. I also can't figure out why anyone would confide in her while she investigates. The mystery itself was also not that intriguing. I will continue with the series but hope it gets better.

What I Loved:

The “Closed Universe” Mystery. I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie (can you tell?) so any mystery that has a limited pool of suspects with a wide range of motives is a hit for me. While the pool of suspects stay in a ritzy hotel, the concept is still the same: limited suspects, short window of time, unlikeable victim, and one outside observer to solve it all. Tara is in the unenviable position of being the one person who didn’t want the victim(s) dead, but in the thick of the investigation with a lot on riding on finding the killer. I loved how all of Veronica’s family and friends had motive to kill her, and how she one upped them in death. I was kept guessing until the very end. The dynamic between the suspects was also deliciously dramatic!

Ireland. For anyone who reads this blog, you know I am an absolute sucker for all things Ireland/Scotland, especially cozy mysteries. There is something about the bucolic, green, seaside settings that set the perfect stage for a murder or two. Murder in Connemara was no exception. O’Connor writes about the crumbling ruins of an old cottage, the rolling hills, the beautiful gardens, and walkable towns. She writes about friendly shop owners and dogs that roam the countryside. You feel like you’re in Ireland, and it is perfect.

What Didn’t Work For Me:

Tara and Danny. I get it, a cozy isn’t a cozy without a “will they, won’t they” relationship. However, Danny and Tara are an objectively awful couple. Danny goes off and does his own thing, Tara pines for him but doesn’t want to seem like she is pining, but when she gets involved in the murder investigation, Danny acts like he owns her and is “so concerned” for her? You can’t have it both ways, guy. Either you are in a relationship or you are not, and there is no controlling a girl like inquisitive and stubborn Tara. Tara, for her part, admits that the majority of the attraction is sexual, but no other guy has been introduced to give the audience some spice. I wish O’Connor wouldn’t make their relationship so turbulent, because it is more distracting than endearing.

Tara’s Sleuthing. On the one hand, I love heroines that are great amateur sleuths who piece together the clues and solve the mystery in the end (every cozy ever). On the other hand, Tara managing to convince the garda (Irish police) to officially involve her in their investigation is farfetched, especially since she was a suspect in the prior book in the series. I like the garda in this series, since they seem mostly competent and willing to dig deeper than the surface, but Tara genuinely doesn’t seem to think they can do their jobs. I generally dislike the “bumbling detective” trope, and here O’Connor avoids that but still makes the heroine have a lack of faith in the law. It feels ingenuine.

Funny enough I have book 1 on my shelf but I haven't read it yet. Note to self, read faster!

I love Carlene O'Connor's books, they are fun, cozy mysteries set in Ireland, one of my favorite places. I am excited to read book one and then move onto book three when it is released. Can't wait to see what the rest of this series brings to the table.

"Murder in Connemara” the 2nd instalment in the Home to Ireland Mysteries series by Carlene O’Connor. I adore her other series, so I bought book one in paperback but I don’t think I read it yet. In Galway County, a chance at redemption is denied by an unforgiving killer...

I loved this story, and I will definitely be adding it to my paperback collection. I always love visiting Galway, in Northern Ireland. I like the interaction between the protagonist Tara, her uncle and Rosie as well as his employee Danny.

The mystery is super interesting and well plotted, and loaded with red herrings. I loved the characters which are well developed. I kept guessing and second-guessing myself on whodunnit right to the very end.

I highly recommend this book to all my cozy loving friends.


I requested and received an advance reader copy of this book from Kensington Books and Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.