This fast-paced mystery grabbed me from the first pages. The writer beautifully evokes the atmosphere of a coastal village on a remote peninsula in West Cork, Ireland. The dilapidated former "big house" of the village, now fallen to ruin and rumored to be haunted, gives a gothic feel to the novel, and the tensions amongst the village families run like a strong undertow under seemingly peaceful waters. Newcomers Maggie, an Irish-American former cop, and her daughter Lilly have come for a two-month visit to recuperate after a traumatic experience. Maggie's boyfriend Conor, an Irish history professor, and his son Adrien make up the rest of their party. They are soon plunged into mystery and danger after the body of a Polish immigrant worker washes up on the shore nearby. Before long, they realize that his death is only the beginning of a tangled web of conspiracy, drug-running, and murder.
The authenticity of the characters, both main and secondary, adds to the story's appeal, and the suspense builds
at a perfect pitch as the novel reaches its climax and the various threads of the mystery come together. The relationships between Maggie, Conor, Lilly, and Adrien develop believably, as does Lilly's romance with a local musician. Though The Drowning Sea is number three in a series, it can be read as a stand-alone with no problem, however, I will definitely be searching out the first two books in the series now!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press Minotaur Press for the eARC.
This is the third in the Maggie Darcy mysteries. I hadn't read the two first in the series, but found it easy to read this as a standalone.
Maggie, her daughter and her boyfriend and his son have rented a cottage on an Peninsula, when the body of a young Polish worker is found on the beach. He had been missing for about three months and was presumed to have gone home. A young Polish woman is found dead shortly after that. Maggie is trying to find out where a woman disappeared to in the 1970's and solves that riddle.
Her daughter starts to sing with a local band and is in love. Maggie is hoping she can talk her into moving to Dublin and leave Long Island behind.
The descriptions of Ireland is wonderful, I loved it!
The ending was a surprise and so was the identity of the killer, I did not see that coming...
I enjoyed this read and definitely recommend it!

#Netgalley #TheDrowningSea

Gorgeous and atmospheric murder mystery! If you love Ireland, you will enjoy this read immensely, as the setting is well depicted. Highly recommend for lovers of female detectives, gothic novels, and slow-burning suspense.

I enjoyed this contemporary mystery that had the shadowy feel of a gothic novel. The setting on a rocky cliff line along the coast of West Cork, Ireland, also played a major role in the atmospheric feel of the book, not to mention the abandoned and thought to be haunted manor house on the hill.
This is the third book in a series featuring Maggie D’arcy, a former Long Island, NY, homicide detective, who happens to be vacationing on a remote peninsula with her daughter, boyfriend and her boyfriend’s son when a body washes ashore on the rocks below the cliff where the manor house and their cottage sits.
Maggie of course wants to find out who the dead man is, but the local authorities are reluctant to accept her help. She is thinking about moving to Ireland to be with her boyfriend but is facing many obstacles including the time and training needed to resume a career as a detective and maybe more importantly, the happiness and well-being of her teenage daughter who would be uprooted from her life back in New York.
The author has written an interesting mystery with well-developed characters. I would recommend it to other readers. I would like to thank the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

This was a good book, but not a great book. I read the first book in this series and was completely blown away by how much I loved it. But this installment left me a bit disappointed. It was slow, there was very little character development, and the various mysterious happenings in the story felt disjointed. If you have not read the previous books in the series you might feel as though you are missing key facts, as well. Having said all that, if I had not absolutely LOVED the first book in the series I may not have been expecting so much out of this book and I might have liked it better. If you are looking for a slow-paced mystery set in a cottage on the Irish sea-side, then you might want to check this out.

The Drowning Sea by Sarah Stewart Taylor. Maggie D’arcy Mysteries #3. St. Martin's Press, Minotaur, 2022.

With her fiancé, his teenage son and her own teenage daughter, Long Island detective Maggie is enjoying some summer vacation on the Irish coast when a body washes up. Despite warnings from the Irish police to stay out of it, Maggie sees overlooked clues and starts investigating.

There is everything to like about this book – the plot, the characters, the setting, and under everything, compassionate insight into why people do what they do. It is easy to read, easy to visualize and free of all irritating distractions.

Although the third in the Maggie D’arcy Detective series, it stands on its own; hints of what happened in earlier books made me want to read them. The best book I’ve read this year, and akin to Ann Cleeves and Elizabeth George.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of The Drowning Sea for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. #TheDrowningSea #NetGalley.

The Downing Sea is the third book in the mystery series starring Long Island homicide detective Maggie D'arcy and I think it is her best one yet. In this book Maggie and her teenage daughter leave NY after a pretty traumatic few years. She plans to spend the summer with her boyfriend and his son in Ireland to see if that is where her future lies. The plot is strong, the characters believable and the sense of place vivid. Right up to the end of the book I did not know who perpetrated the crime although there were lots of suspects. I look forward to where life will take Maggie and her family.

The third in the fascinating Maggie D'arcy mystery series again features the juxtaposition of a mature love affair and family challenges with a murder mystery and local color in the Irish countryside--this time on the Ross Head peninsula on Ireland's southwest coastline.

Formerly a homicide detective on Long Island, Maggie and her teenage daughter, Lilly, are spending the summer in Ireland with Maggie's history professor beau, Conor, and his son, to decide whether they want to move there permanently. When the battered body found at the bottom of the cliffs is identified as a young Polish man who worked in construction and was believed to have returned to his home several years back, Maggie can't help but get involved. At the same time, her daughter, who has been troubled by her father's death, is experiencing the throes of first love.

The setting is a full-fledged character in the story. A creepy manor house with an uncertain history is being turned into a luxury hotel, to the dismay of the locals. But there are picturesque cottages, including the one Maggie, Lilly, and Conor are renting, and the bracing water of the nearby beaches to enjoy, not to mention the popular pubs frequented by the townspeople. It's a twisty plot with plenty of suspects--maybe too many? I found it challenging to keep track of all of the characters, many of them with unfamiliar Irish or Polish names. But it is a strong series, with hopefully more in the offing.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, for affording me the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Good book! This book had a bit of everything! It had suspense, intrigue, action, heartache and heartbreak and great police work! A good who done it too! I would definitely recommend reading this book! Its well worth reading! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sharing this book with me!

The Drowning Sea is aesthetically beautiful. I felt as though I were sitting on the shores of Ireland and could feel the gulls flying by. The scenery set was just extraordinary.
The body of a missing person, Lukas, shows up in a popular swimming area, drowned perhaps. With a new detective now investigating his case, old neighborhood secrets seem to show up as well. I wanted to love this book, but there were so many characters, I found myself having to go back to reread a lot. It was a very slow burn, and also part of a series in which I have not read. I would recommend starting with the first Maggie D'Arcy book, and reading this at a time when you have no distractions! I truly enjoyed the details and scenery of the Irish beach.

Thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and the author for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Long Island detective Maggie D’Arcy is spending the whole summer on the coast of Ireland with her fiancee, Conor, her daughter, Lily and his son, in preparation for Lily’s upcoming move to Ireland. But Maggie will need her detective skills when the remains of a Polish construction worker wash up below the cliffs. Locals believed that Lukas had simply returned home, now they believe he committed suicide by jumping from the cliffs. Maggie, however, senses something more sinister simmering just beneath the surface of this little village, and when her daughter begins dating one of the dead man’s friends, the need for answers becomes much more personal