Murder at an Irish Session (Irish Village Mystery Book # 12) by Carlene O'Connor

As pregnant Siobhán O’Sullivan awaits bringing her new life into the world, she’s bringing new life to her village of Kilbane in County Cork, Ireland, with a music and matchmaking festival. But one matchmaker is about to find out that Cupid’s arrow can be fatal in the latest Irish Village Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor.

Siobhán loves to see the joy playing trad music brings to her brother Ciaran, but his concern that he’ll never find a mate pulls at her heartstrings. So, she proposes that Kilbane host a music and matchmaking festival to draw single trad musicians. While renowned matchmaker Liam Noone plays Cupid with his Lucky Book, music—and hopefully love—will fill the pubs and the autumn air.

Turning over his precious Lucky Book to Siobhán for safekeeping, Liam takes the stage to introduce matched musician couples who will kick off the festival in the
town square. Suddenly all goes black. When the lights come back on, the matchmaker has met his maker, impaled through the heart with an arrow made from the sharpened bow of a bass.

Was it the fiddle player, the flute player, the drummer, the piper, the squeeze box player, or the bass player who struck a sour note? Garda Siobhán and her husband Macdara must pick up the tempo to make whoever committed this crime of passion face the music…  (Summary via Goodreads)

Even though Siobhan has her hands full, with her new promotion to Detective Sergeant as well as being pregnant with twins, she will always look after her siblings and their happiness.  And in Murder at an Irish Session, the twelfth book in Carlene O'Connor's Irish Village Mystery series, the focus is on her younger brother Ciaran.

Seeing as Ciaran is a fiddler player and interested in music, when Siobhan learns of a matchmaker who combines music and love, she works with him and his assistants to host a festival in Kilbane.  The host, Liam, brings his two assistants as well as a group of couples that he successfully matched a year ago to town.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of the festival there is a lighting problem and when it is fixed and the lights come back on, Liam is dead, shot in the heart by bow and arrow.  Readers may think that this would be an easy case to solve, but with this being O'Connor's twelfth book, she knows what she is doing .... and she will have you guessing until the very end.

I am a huge fan of mysteries and cozy mysteries; however, I never try to solve the case.  Although there have been a few times where I was pretty sure I knew who the guilty party was.  I like to relax and read the story and just get lost in it all.  O'Connor knows how to write the story keeping readers on the edge of their seats.  And I hope you are a fan of this series as well and have come to love Siobhan, her family and Kilbane as much as I have.  If not, you have plenty of time to catch up.

Casket Case (Cynthia Shade Mystery series Book #1) by Lee James

Cynthia Shade. That's her name. She has ADHD and cynophobia. That's just a fancy way of saying she's terrified of dogs. Not all dogs mind you, just the tiny ones that come at you with their razor-sharp fangs and frenzied eyes. To make it worse, she can't find a job, rather, she can't keep a job, and she's about to be evicted. Just when she gets a glimmer of hope she's blackmailed into trying to solve a murder.

Wait-what?

Cue the handsome sheriff who awakens real interest in perpetually single Cynthia, and a cast of crazed suspects. One of whom is determined she doesn't make it out of this adventure alive.  (Summary via Goodreads)

In Casket Case by Lee James Cynthia Shade is just trying to live her life the way she wants to even though she is avoiding calls on her cell from collection agencies and she never knows if the lights will turn on in her apartment.  Cynthia has a dream and the only person who understands is her uncle Garrett.  And it looks like she might just get that dream come true.

Uncle Garrett has a food truck for Cynthia, yeah it needs some work, but she can see herself running her very own business in it.  Unfortunately, when she takes it for a test drive, she gets on a road where she has trouble turning it around.  And when she is in a driveway getting ready to back up, the crazy owner comes out yelling at her.  To make matter worse, when she is out of the truck, the truck starts to move on its own right over into the neighbor's very expensive water fountain.  And to make matters even worse when she meets the neighbor after tackling her from the moving food truck, she is brought into her house to find the woman's husband dead in the kitchen !!!

Sam insists that she didn't kill her husband.  She received a text from. him, rushed home and found him dead.  And because Cynthia doesn't have any money to pay for the damages done to the fountain, Sam ropes her into helping prove her innocence.  But Cynthia soon learns that Sam's live was full of secrets and lies and doesn't know what to believe.

Casket Case is captivating from the very first chapter.  You cannot help but fall in love with Cynthia and the rest of the characters.  You will love the storyline and want to read as fast as you can to see who killed Sam's husband. And you will even like the Sheriff.  I could not put the book down once I opened it and I'm sure that will be the same for you.

A Field Guide to Murder by Michelle L. Cullen

A cranky widower and his spirited caregiver team up to solve his neighbor’s murder in this charming and original mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Benjamin Stevenson.

Once a globe-trotting anthropologist, Harry Lancaster is now certain that all his grand adventures are behind him. Recently widowed and suffering from a fractured hip, Harry spends his days and nights behind a pair of binoculars, nose-deep in his neighbors’ affairs. His millennial caregiver, Emma, is determined to get him out of his armchair and back into the world.

Fate intervenes when Harry’s mysterious neighbor Sue phones, pleading for help. But instead of rescuing her, Harry and Emma find Sue dead: poisoned, days after a break-in at Sue’s house. Harry resolves to find out what happened, and Emma insists on going along for the ride. Together, they discover motives and suspects abound in Harry’s quaint condominium community—putting them both in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded killer.

Readers of Kristen Perrin and Deanna Raybourn will be charmed by this quirky, cross-generational murder mystery.  (Summary via Goodreads)

I had so much fun reading A Field Guide to Murder by Michelle L. Cullen.  I did not want it to end.  You cannot help but fall in love with Harry and Emma.

In A Field Guide to Murder main character Harry is recovering from injuring his hip from a fall and he has Emma as his temporary caregiver.  Harry lives on Lakeview Lane with a cast of colorful and fun neighbors.  Unfortunately, one day one of his neighbors, Sue, calls him and is having trouble talking and breathing.  Luckily Emma is there so she rushes over to help until the paramedics arrive.  Sadly, it is too late and Sue passes away.  But Harry believes that she said she was poisoned during the distressing phone call.

When the detective informs Harry that Sue's death is ruled an accident and closes the case, Harry knows that something isn't right.  It takes a while but eventually Emma comes around to that conclusion also and the two team up and begin investigating the neighbors. During this investigating harry learns that he doesn't know his neighbors like he thought he did.

Emma, who was a critical care nurse but needed a change so she went into the caregiving job, is having some personal issues that are weighing heavily on her.  Harry doesn't want to overstep so he tries to help in his own unique way.

I love Harry and Emma together and hope that they continue working together or at least keep their friendship going.  They complimented each other very well throughout the story.  Getting to know them as well as the neighbors on Harry's street was fun and having the murder case centralized helped me keep track of things.  I look forward to whatever Cullen comes up with next.