Murder in Galway

Written by Carlene O'Connor

Narrated by Heather O'Neill

New Yorker Tara Meehan’s first trip to Galway may be her last …

Tara never imagined her introduction to Ireland like this—carrying her mam’s ashes to honor her final request:
“Tell Johnny I’m sorry … Take me home.” She’s never met her mam’s estranged brother, Johnny Meehan, who owns an
architectural salvage business in Galway. Although Tara is immediately charmed by the medieval city, the locals seem
wary of strangers and a gypsy warns her that death is all around.

When Tara arrives at her uncle’s stone cottage, the prophesy seems true. A dead man lies sprawled over the threshold
in a pool of blood. The victim turns out to be Johnny’s wealthiest client, and her missing uncle is the garda’s numberone suspect. In trying to find Johnny and solve the crime, Tara uncovers her mam and uncle’s troubled past. But with
a desperate killer about, she had better mind herself, or they’ll be tossing her ashes in Galway Bay …

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781980076353

Carlene O'Connor

Carlene O'Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America during the Troubles, and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she's wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. She currently divides her time between New York and the Emerald Isle.

Reviews for Murder in Galway

[barbararogers-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

am an avid reader of this author’s Irish Village Mystery series and was very excited to see she has started this new series – also based in Ireland. I believe the author splits her year between living in Ireland and living in the United States.Tara Meehan has come to Galway, Ireland to spread her mother’s ashes and to carry a message from her mother to Johnny Meehan, her mother’s estranged brother. Tara doesn’t even know if her uncle Johnny is alive. She’s never met him, never corresponded with him – no contact, ever. She has no idea what caused the rift between her mother and her uncle, so she has no idea what kind of reception she’ll get from him. Almost as soon as she arrived, the box containing her mother’s ashes was ripped from her hand by a street juggler and ended up opened and covering a stranger who had tried to retrieve it for her – then, directly on the heels of that, she discovered a dead body in the doorway of her uncle’s cottage. What a way to begin her stay in Galway!Believing the body belonged to her uncle Johnny, she called the Garda (Irish police) and told them she’d found the body of Johnny Meehan. She also told others that she’d found Johnny’s body and nobody seemed surprised. Evidently, her uncle wasn’t an esteemed member of the community. When the body is officially identified, it isn’t Johnny Meehan but his best customer, Emmett Walsh, and her uncle Johnny is the suspect in the murder. With Uncle Johnny missing and the police not looking for other suspects, Tara believes it is her family duty to show that her uncle isn’t guilty – or – if he is, to help find him and turn him in.The mystery is a good one with lots of potential suspects and victims. I was pretty sure who the culprit was almost as soon as they graced the page, but I certainly had no clue why that would be the case. There are many red herrings, many possible scenarios for the murder to have happened, and some really strange happenings going on in Johnny’s life. Tara finds yet another body, and this one had her uncle’s business card lying right there in the blood. Goodness wasn’t that convenient. The Garda doubles down on Johnny as the prime suspect and tells Tara to leave Ireland immediately – for her own safety of course. Can Tara and her uncle’s employee, Danny O’Donnell, solve the mystery before Detective Sergeant Gable finds and arrests her uncle? Danny is not a willing participant in the investigation, but he does what he can to help Tara.This book just didn’t reach right out and pull me into the story. I didn’t care for any of the characters other than perhaps Danny. I also didn’t care for the anti-American sentiments which seemed to be espoused by the residents of Galway. I’m sure there are probably those with the anti-American sentiments in the real Galway, but I’d wager it isn’t as prevalent as the author intimated it was. With so many suspects, red-herrings, and things going on I would have thought the book would be fast-paced and suspenseful, but I actually found parts of it a bit dull.While I wasn’t in love with this first offering, I’ll definitely try the next book in the series to see where things go. The first book in a series often isn’t the best the series has to offer because it has to fill so many functions – such as introducing us to the characters, setting up the series's premise, etc., and providing a compelling story. If the second book is like this one, I’ll probably not follow the series, but I’m sure I’ll become a series fan if it picks up the pace.I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[kathy89_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

American girl, Tara, takes her mother’s ashes to Galway to be buried in the Bay and to meet her only living relative, Uncle Johnny. She finds the people unfriendly and when she goes to his cottage, she finds a dead body in the doorway. Believing it’s Johnny she contacts the Garda to discover it’s not her uncle but he’s the suspected murderer. She meets the charming Danny who worked for Johnny and helps her discover what happened.

[chazzifrazz · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the first book in a new series by Carlene O’Connor. I’ve read her Irish Village series with Siôbhan O’Sullivan and the activities in Kilbane and enjoyed them.This also takes place in Ireland and the lead character is female and independent. Tara Meehan has come to Galway to spread her mother’s ashes, per her mother’s wish. Tara also comes to meet her uncle Johnny Meehan and deliver her mother’s message to him. Tara and her uncle have never had contact, as her mother left Galway before Tara was born and had never visited back.Upon Tara’s arrival, she is greeted with a dead body in the doorway of her uncle’s cottage and her uncle is mission. Not the welcome she expected.The victim is her uncle’s best and richest client. Her uncle is the number one suspect in the eyes of the garda.Tara takes it upon herself to solve the mystery and catch the killer. Along the way she learns there are many secrets to be found among the residents of Galway and some can be quite deadly. She also finds that not all the residents are willing to be trusting or interested in making her acquaintance. She is considered an outsider.Tara does make the acquaintance of Danny O’Donnell, her uncle’s business partner, who also doesn’t believe Johnny is a killer. They work together and find there is a mutual attraction between them.The book moves at a good pace. I did get irritated with Tara a bit. She has no problem barreling into situations and being a bit rude and blunt when talking/questioning people about things. Finesse is not a part of her make-up.I’m interested to read another book in this series and see how it plays out.This book was loaned to my by the same person who introduced me to first series, Jerry Estes-Hardison.

[joannefm2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Tara Meehan goes to Ireland, it's to spread her mam's ashes in the sea and meet her Uncle Johnny for the first time. But when she arrives at her uncle's cottage, she finds a dead body, and assumes it's him. When she's later informed that it's instead a wealthy man who was her uncle's client, and that he's suspected of the murder, she doesn't want to believe it.So she sets about trying to find her uncle and discover who is framing him for murder. But after a dire warning from a local gypsy, and a threatening message on the side of her uncle's mill, Tara is more determined than ever to find a killer...unless the killer finds her first...This is the first book in a new series by Carlene O'Connor, who also writes the Irish Village Mysteries. While I have as yet to read any of them, I still am glad that I read this one. My feelings toward the book are conflicted, as on the one hand, Ireland seems like a charming place to visit, but on the other hand, the locals seem as if they don't want Americans in their country. None of the locals - save for Danny, our potential love interest - seem to like Tara being in their midst, and many are quite rude to her. Also, the characters aren't really fleshed-out, but I am hoping that in later books we learn more about Danny, Tara, and what their and others' lives were like in the past.That being said, the mystery was decent and kept me interested, and the ending was expected if one is looking for the clues which are throughout. The only thing I can add is that while I would have liked to have known more about the countryside, the characters, and Tara, perhaps this will be given in future books, and I plan to read the next in the series. Recommended.