REVIEW: SCANDAL IN SKIBBEREEN, BY SHEILA CONNOLLY

 

 

 

In Book Two of the County Cork series, Scandal in Skibbereen, we connect with Maura Donovan again, as she runs the pub in Leap. The very pub she inherited from an old friend of her grandmother’s. The characters from the first book rejoin us, from Bridget Nolan to Old Willie. Rose, the teenage daughter of Jimmy, still helps out in the pub, and Jimmy has not lost his attitude.

An American woman, Althea Melville, comes into the pub early in the week, and from her clothes and her demanding tone, Maura concludes that she is probably from Manhattan. Soon Althea’s interest is revealed, and despite the entitled way she goes about making requests, Maura finds herself helping the woman, who is looking for a painting. A famous one, at that, and she immediately realizes that it might be at Mycroft House, where the Townsends live. In fact, Eveline Townsend, an elderly woman is the only one in residence now, except for her caretakers, Tom and Florence O’Brien, and a gardener named Seamus Daly.

Harry Townsend, her nephew, comes down regularly, though, to check up on her. An artist, who also spends summers in the village, Gillian Callanan, joins the group that has been drawn into the mystery of the painting.

On the same night that Althea arrives, Seamus Daly is killed and found dead the next morning. Sean Murphy, a detective, begins investigating, and in the ensuing pages, we learn a lot more about the inhabitants of this small village, and more about the art world.

I loved how the author’s descriptions of the characters, the village, and how things are done in Ireland seemed to wrap themselves around the reader and kept me intrigued throughout. Solving a murder mystery and an art mystery as well was an engaging way to capture this reader. 4.5 stars.

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