Customer Reviews

In Dublin's Fair City (Wheeler Hardcover)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In Dublin's Fair City by Rhys Bowen is the most recent book in the Molly Murphy mystery series. As often happens within a long-running series, Bowen removes Molly from her familiar environs to create new crises and advance character development. This works very well with Molly Murphy who returns home to Ireland to investigate a long-lost sister of a wealthy Irish-American theater producer. Molly needs the opportunity to get out of New York for awhile and reevaluate her feelings for her off-and-on paramour Daniel Sullivan. So she jumps at the opportunity to return to her homeland, and instead finds herself in the middle of a missing actress, a murdered maid, and the Irish movement for independence. Bowen juggles the multiple stories remarkably well and manages to ties them all together in an almost completely believable way. I love Molly's foibles and her refusal to be treated as second class. She realizes that she's not much of a detective but never gives up. She's one of the most realistic, truly human characters in cozy mysteries today. This was a fantastic read, one of those books that's hard to put down, but when I was done and preparing the review a few holes in the plausibility started showing. So it's one of those books to read and enjoy, and don't spend a lot of time thinking about later. But don't miss it, Molly Murphy (and Rhys Bowen) are truly a joy to read.

When Molly ran away from Ireland with a price on her head, she figured she could never go back. But now she's been offered just that chance. Theatrical producer Tommy Burke wants to hire Molly to return to Ireland and find his long lost sister, left behind 50 years ago when the family fled the potato famine. Since Daniel is driving her crazy and she needs the money, she decides to risk it. Surely she can slip in and out again without being noticed.

Molly really should have known that would never work. When she boards the ship, she gets an offer to switch places with famous actress Oona Sheehan. She can hardly turn down extra cash and a chance to travel first class. But then she finds a body and Oona disappears before they can switch back. Now she's the chief suspect in the murder. Can she clear her name and find the missing woman without being connect to the previous warrant for her arrest?

I've really come to care for Molly and look forward to each new entry in the series, but this one was a disappointment. Molly is her normal entertaining self, and I didn't miss her New York friends as much as I thought I would.

The trouble came with the plot. It starts way too slowly and then gets lost in the historic story going on around Molly. The ending, while logical, is abrupt and not satisfying.

What saves the book is the historical saga. I love a novel that can bring another place and time to life, and this book does. The mystery is really just an excuse to get Molly into the historical plot, and anyone who cares for her will want to see how that sub-plot ends.

As a mystery, I give this book 3 stars, but as a historical novel, I give it 5. If you aren't already familiar with Molly, start with the earlier books before picking this one up.

We return to New York City in the early 1900s to find Molly Murphy, private investigator, struggling with internal and external issues. She and her lover Daniel are on edge, awaiting Daniel's trial and/or exoneration from multiple crimes, which is causing them to review their feelings for one another and their relationship. Molly is also working to keep her private investigative agency alive, but cases are few and far between. When Molly's friend Ryan introduces her to self-made New York theater mogul Tommy Burke, she decides that Tommy's case is just the thing for her. She needs the money, and she also could use the break from her current situation - the case is in Ireland.

We follow the 6th installment of Molly's life in New York straight back to Ireland, the land she fled as a wanted criminal two years prior, after almost killing a man who attacked her. Molly decides that she is safe enough to return with a common name and to a different area of Ireland unannounced - until her plan flies out the porthole. Upon boarding the ship, she is approached by famous actress, Oona Sheehan, with a strange request - to replace Oona on the ship so that Oona may have a respite from her own fame. Molly agrees, thinking it not much of a hardship to stay in a first class cabin for a week. However, after 6 days at sea, Molly decides to attend the costume party anonymously only to return to the cabin to find her maid dead - in the other costume she'd tried on.

Molly's ruse as Oona is exposed, but she remains a suspect even as she lands on her home soil to pursue her own case. She is nostalgic, but aware of her status change as she tries to move amongst the people she used to live with. As she follows the leads for Tommy's case, she somehow manages to become entwined with many (now) well-known names and with the Irish Republican movement, unknowingly making herself a mark for murder.

Bowen's work doesn't disappoint, and she is a master storyteller who is able to keep the reader guessing. However, I highly suggest reading her previous Molly novels in order to catch all the back history and nuances that are inherent in Molly's return to Ireland, not to mention her history with Daniel Sullivan.

Thank you, Rhys, for another wonderful mystery featuring America's favorite immigrant investigator!

Rhys Bowen delights the reader with her unique style of captivating our hearts and minds when writing of Molly Murphy. Molly is there for the long haul - no matter the situation or the case she undertakes in her fledgling New York City detective agency. Molly is able to take care of business and family and friends at all times, just by her wits and cleverness and good sense.

There is only one negative about the entire Molly Murphy series for which Rhys Bowen cannot seem to manage a solution - the book is over far too quickly!! The reader wants to "play with Molly" just a little longer, because being in her presence, the reader shares the fun and quirkiness of Molly's life. Anyone who follows the series is not too sure of a long-term future Molly might have with Daniel Sullivan, the love interest we've embraced through six books, Murphy's Law, Death of Riley, For the Love of Mike, In like Flynn, Oh Danny Boy and now the delightful, In Dublin's Fair City. But most assuredly, the intrigue Bowen creates will cause you to champion her next book, whenever it arrives.

If you want a little fun diversion in your reading, something joyful and fascinating, start with the first book and take the carnival ride through the entire series. You will not regret it - in fact, you will love the experience like a fond memory of that wonderful "day at the beach".

.

Molly Murphy, who had fled Ireland in 1901 to avoid prosecution, returns to the Emerald Island as a private investigator. This is the sixth historical novel starring the spunky Molly, and it is a suspense filled action adventure.

Offered a commission to find a rich man's sister in Ireland, Molly reluctantly accepts the job. She takes assignment for two reasons. First, she needs to ponder her life while away from her boyfriend, Captain Daniel Sullivan, who pursues her but avoids talk of marriage. Second because, despite recent success in her business, she needs the fee.

On the boat she meets a famous actress who asks Molly to take her place so the actress can avoid the harassment of the press and unwanted suitors. Molly agrees and the trip becomes complicated. The actress's maid is killed and Molly is suspected.

While in Ireland Molly encounters her brother and gets involved with IRA by mistake. She tracks the rich man's sister and finds she needs to avoid her former Irish landlord (who she thought she killed when he attacked her).

Excellent historical novel with vivid descriptions of Ireland's countryside and Dublin's neighborhoods of the early 1900s. The novel is sensitive to the Irish politics of the time and the growing demand for independence from England. In Dublin's Fair City is full of intrigue and rousing action. This is a fun read.

Rhys Bowen never disappoints in this latest installment of the Molly Murphy series. As Molly returns to Ireland we find her in a fast paced adventure as she seeks to solve a case and help get her brother out of jail. This series is one of my favorites (along with Victoria Thompson). You will finish the book wishing that you knew these people.

I love Molly Murphey, but I thought this one wasn't quite on par with the previous books in the series. It was still good, and enjoyable to spend time with Molly, as always, but I had been trying to get my mother interested in the series and she chose this one at her library. She didn't care for it and now, disappointingly, she says she won't read any of the others in the series.

The first of this series was "Murphy's Law." Each book seems to me to be better than the last. My suggestion is to get all six, arrange them in order, and go on a reading binge. Although this book takes place in Ireland, most of this series takes place in turn of the century New York...a wonderful setting for historical novels. If you like historical mysteries, you will like these.

IN DUBLIN'S FAIR CITY is the latest book in Rhys Bowen's Molly Murphy mystery series. The book's heroine, a private investigator, is an Irish immigrant living in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. She is an independent and clever young woman with a secret --- and a knack for solving mysteries. Because of her reputation as a successful "lady detective," she is sought out by Tommy Burke.

Burke is an Irish immigrant who, decades earlier, survived passage on a famine ship and arrived in the United States with nothing. Now a self-described "self-made man" with lots of money but no children, Burke recently learned from his mother --- on her deathbed ---that he may have a sister back in Ireland. Mary Ann was left behind because she was too sick to make the voyage to America. When Molly accepts Burke's assignment to return to her native land and search for Mary Ann, the story --- and Molly's adventure --- begins.

Shortly after Molly boards the Majestic ocean liner and settles in her second-class cabin, a steward delivers a note from the beautiful Irish-American Broadway actress, Oona Sheehan, who is a friend of Burke's. In the note Oona invites Molly to her first-class cabin, where she has "a matter to discuss."

To safeguard her privacy during the voyage, Oona asks Molly to trade places with her, and she gives Molly a check for $100 for her trouble. In exchange, Molly agrees not to leave Oona's cabin, except in rare instances, and only when disguised as the actress. Molly, Oona and the maid, Rose, are the only ones in on the deception.

The ruse appears to work, but after several days at sea, Molly grows tired of being cooped up in Oona's cabin. The night before the ship docks, Molly learns about a costume ball, which she decides to attend disguised as Marie Antoinette. After returning to the first-class cabin, Molly discovers Rose's body. Molly summons the ship's authorities, who become skeptical when she explains why she is occupying Oona's cabin, especially after they determine that the actress is not aboard the ship. To prove her innocence, Molly relies on her wits and detection skills.

Rose's death and the actress's mysterious disappearance are only the beginning of Molly's troubles. Ashore in Ireland, her search for Mary Ann Burke turns up one dead end after another. Complicating matters, Molly keeps bumping into men from the ship and is sure one of them means her harm.

Then there's the matter of Oona's luggage, which Molly has been instructed to safeguard until it is picked up. After Molly accidentally opens one of the cases, she discovers a hidden cache of weapons that she assumes are destined for the freedom fighters. Even more shocking is the appearance of Molly's brother, Liam, who comes to collect the baggage and then flees after Molly calls out to him.

Despite disappointing setbacks, and more encounters from the Irish underground, Molly continues her search for Mary Ann, but the secret she thought was buried when she fled Ireland continues to haunt her. As she becomes entangled with the freedom fighters, Molly is called upon to make a decision that could jeopardize her life, as well as the lives of her loved ones.

The engaging character of Molly Murphy, the turn-of-the-20th-century setting and descriptions, and the cameo appearances of some famous Irishmen --- including James Joyce and Oscar Wilde --- make IN DUBLIN'S FAIR CITY an entertaining read.

--- Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt

OK, more of a romance/mystery. Not very exciting, but was intriguing. It will be interesting to see her next book.