Irish Soda Bread Murder
It’s almost time for the delicious warmth of Irish soda bread, but be careful where you bite–some of these recipes call for murder in this delicious collection of cozy mystery novellas featuring the popular St. Paddy’s Day treat.
IRISH SODA BREAD MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR
There’s very little time left before her wedding, but nonetheless Tara Meehan is helping out at her Uncle Johnny’s salvage yard for the day. Aunt Rose set up a convention for local psychics, including a bake sale to raise money for charity, but now she’s sick and available only via an iPad Johnny is carrying. The event promises to deliver a real pot of gold until Rose’s biggest rival shows up. Before Tara can utter a simple “top o’ the morning” to the man, he drops dead—with Johnny’s soda bread in his hands. It’s up to Tara to identify the deadly baker before another victim ends up chasing the rainbow straight into a grave . . .
AN IRISH RECIPE FOR MURDER by PEGGY EHRHART
To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year, the Arborville, New Jersey, Advocate is sponsoring a soda bread–baking competition. Bettina Fraser is excited—her bake-off idea was the one to get the green light! But when a town councilman acting as a judge keels over after sampling an entry, the party atmosphere dies just as quickly. Now it’s up to Bettina and her Knit and Nibble knitting club bestie, Pamela Paterson, to find the killer responsible for the murderous morsel.
MRS. CLAUS AND THE SINISTER SODA BREAD MAN by LIZ IRELAND
When April Claus arrives in Cloudberry Bay, Oregon, to check on her flooded inn, her biggest worry is to keep everyone from realizing her three companions—Jingles, Juniper, and Butterbean—are elves. But soon enough she has more serious worries—it looks like her hapless caretaker Ernie has been storing stolen goods at the inn! Then one of Ernie’s shady pals is found dead, and the murder weapon turns up in a decorative loaf of soda bread at April’s craft fair booth. It’s up to April to uncover the killer before she spends St. Patrick’s Day in the county jail!
IRISH SODA BREAD MURDER by CARLENE O’CONNOR
There’s very little time left before her wedding, but nonetheless Tara Meehan is helping out at her Uncle Johnny’s salvage yard for the day. Aunt Rose set up a convention for local psychics, including a bake sale to raise money for charity, but now she’s sick and available only via an iPad Johnny is carrying. The event promises to deliver a real pot of gold until Rose’s biggest rival shows up. Before Tara can utter a simple “top o’ the morning” to the man, he drops dead—with Johnny’s soda bread in his hands. It’s up to Tara to identify the deadly baker before another victim ends up chasing the rainbow straight into a grave . . .
AN IRISH RECIPE FOR MURDER by PEGGY EHRHART
To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year, the Arborville, New Jersey, Advocate is sponsoring a soda bread–baking competition. Bettina Fraser is excited—her bake-off idea was the one to get the green light! But when a town councilman acting as a judge keels over after sampling an entry, the party atmosphere dies just as quickly. Now it’s up to Bettina and her Knit and Nibble knitting club bestie, Pamela Paterson, to find the killer responsible for the murderous morsel.
MRS. CLAUS AND THE SINISTER SODA BREAD MAN by LIZ IRELAND
When April Claus arrives in Cloudberry Bay, Oregon, to check on her flooded inn, her biggest worry is to keep everyone from realizing her three companions—Jingles, Juniper, and Butterbean—are elves. But soon enough she has more serious worries—it looks like her hapless caretaker Ernie has been storing stolen goods at the inn! Then one of Ernie’s shady pals is found dead, and the murder weapon turns up in a decorative loaf of soda bread at April’s craft fair booth. It’s up to April to uncover the killer before she spends St. Patrick’s Day in the county jail!
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Community Reviews
Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to preview the audiobook of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I really wanted to like this book as it has pretty much everything I love in cozy murder mysteries, but unfortunately it dragged badly and I couldnât wait to be done with it. Partially, the narrator is very deadpan and quite boring, but also the characters are extremely flat. I thought there would be some kind of connection between the stories, but there wasnât which made it hard to invest in the characters/plots. Additionally, especially in the middle story, there was so much unnecessary detail and explanation, you lose the mystery and the stakes entirely. The first story was definitely the best out of all three and I would absolutely read a whole book or series with Tara as an investigator, but it went downhill from there. The last story, while I thought it would be a cute and entertaining read in the holiday season, was kitschy and low stakes. Lastly, I know the unifying theme of the book is Irish soda bread, but the amount of times that the entire phrase was repeated also grated on my nerves.
I really wanted to like this book as it has pretty much everything I love in cozy murder mysteries, but unfortunately it dragged badly and I couldnât wait to be done with it. Partially, the narrator is very deadpan and quite boring, but also the characters are extremely flat. I thought there would be some kind of connection between the stories, but there wasnât which made it hard to invest in the characters/plots. Additionally, especially in the middle story, there was so much unnecessary detail and explanation, you lose the mystery and the stakes entirely. The first story was definitely the best out of all three and I would absolutely read a whole book or series with Tara as an investigator, but it went downhill from there. The last story, while I thought it would be a cute and entertaining read in the holiday season, was kitschy and low stakes. Lastly, I know the unifying theme of the book is Irish soda bread, but the amount of times that the entire phrase was repeated also grated on my nerves.
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