6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"The dead don't give up anything, but the living do", January 17, 2008
This review is from: St. Patrick's Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 14) (Hardcover)
A headless corpse and two eccentric Irish visitors provide gossipy fodder for the townsfolk of the chilly Tinker's Cove, Maine, also for intreped Pennysaver reporter Lucy Stone who is thrust into a dangerous collection of events that even she doesn't see coming. The quinessential New England sound, Tinker's Cove is the perfect backdrop for a tale of murder that all comes to a shattering climax in this harsh and unyeilding wintry landscape.
Beginning her day like any other, Lucy's interest is caught by a handful of people gathered outside the Bilge, a Tinker's Cove landmark and a steady source of news. A dark and dingy dive where the beer is cheap and the gossip is good, the up has a reputation; Old Dan Malone never turned a paying customer away, not even if he was straight off the boat and stank of lobster bait. But the Bilge is uncharacteristically closed, which is peculiar because Old Dan has always opened his pub at ten o'clock like clockwork.
When Lucy discovers the Bilge has been shut for over three days, the investigation becomes the focus of her attentions. But what is even more suspicious is when the new harbormaster Harry Crawford spies the ice in the bay breaking up and something coming to the surface. Soon enough, everyone discovers that the object is a badly decomposed body, possibly that of Old Dan. The problem however, is that the body is headless, which makes an authoritative identification difficult at best.
When Dan's wallet and his driver's license are found in his pocket, Lucy is of course eager to get back to the office and file her story. His death is big news, especially to the crowd of unemployed fishermen and construction workers who begin their day at the Bilge and word spreads quickly about the gruesome find in the harbor, the beheading obviously done by someone with a sharp blade and a good bit of strength. But who would want to have murdered the seemingly harmless old publican?
Almost immediately, suspicion falls in local boys Dave O'Reilly and Brian Donahue. It seems that Dan owes five thousand dollars to Dave and he'd been moaning around town about how Dan stiffed him on money he owed him for some repairs. Little grudges can get out of hand, and a lot of people had a bone to pick with Dan, but the local police offer little hope of solving the mystery of Old Dan's death anytime soon.
When Lucy learns from Father Ed O'Neil that this year's gala production on of Finian's Rainbow is to be held on St. Patrick's day and the show is to be directed by a professional actor from Ireland, Dylan Malone, Dan's younger brother, she becomes certain that he's somehow connected to his older brother's death. When Dylan arrives in town from Ireland with Moira, his wife and their little girl, Deirdre wondering where his brother actually is.
Dylan is obviously shattered at the news of Old Dan's demise, but Lucy just can't help wondering if Dylan Malone is genuine or if his has been staged for her benefit. She wants to believe both Dylan and Moira them, but she can't help remembering that they are actors, after all, trained to manipulate the audience's emotions.
Lucy's ten year old daughter Zoe strikes up a friendship with the ethereal Deirdre, but the child is too flighty and too caught up in make-believe. Everything comes to a climax when the children go missing and Lucy finds herself vulnerable and afraid, caught up in an ancient vendetta where the innocent little Deirdre is placed in grave danger.
When the rehearsals for Finian's Rainbow begin to fall apart, Moira's increasingly frequent emotional outbursts draining everyone's patience and Lucy finds herself wanting things to be like they were before Dylan and Moira came to Tinker's Cove bringing all this murder and mayhem with them. Even the overly dramatic Moira admits that they have unleashed forces that can't be explained or controlled. Obviously Dylan remains at the center of the mystery even as he's happy to infiltrate the lives of the local population and use whatever he can to pursue his own motives such as upgrading the Bilge.
The strength of Leslie Meier's work lies is in her attention to regional detail as she brings out all the colourful attributes of the inhabitants of Tinker's Cove, vividly recreating all of their eccentricities. Unquestionably the star of this novel is the chilly and wintry landscape of Maine, its locales a perfect backdrop for all of the escapades that play out in this lighthearted murder mystery where everything seems to connect to an old and legendary Irish curse that finally rears its ugly head. Mike Leonard January 08.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent regional cozy, December 30, 2007
This review is from: St. Patrick's Day Murder (Lucy Stone Mysteries, No. 14) (Hardcover)
Tinker's Cove, Maine is a quaint New England town, but nobody can call the Bilge anything but a dive; a bar known for its customers constantly fighting. The owner Dan Malone ignores the laws that might trim his profits. He is a rebel with a cause of making money regardless of what he does to others. He opens when he wants and closes long after the legal time set by the town. He is not a well liked person as his avarice drives people away while his conning of folks out of their money makes him a pariah. When he vanishes for three days, no one except his bar regulars blink. His body is found floating in the nearby icy harbor; his head sliced off.
His younger brother Dylan comes to town to direct the production of Finnegan's Rainbow for the church. He is shocked by what happened to his sibling, but since they were not even remotely close he moves on. However Dylan does not make himself popular with the locals when he calls his wife actress Moira Malone to perform in the play and she angers the townsfolk further when she brings her daughter along for the excursion. When Moira's child is kidnapped, reporter Lucy Stone's knowledge of Dan Malone's activities gives her an idea where the girl is being held; she follows up on her hunch knowing she places herself in danger.
Leslie Meier writes some of the best regional cozies around. She captures the ambience of a small Maine harbor town. Her characters from the lobstermen to the fisherman to the rest of the locals provide a strong look at the work ethic especially in winter. Lucy displays those qualities as a nurturing mother, loyal friend, and hard nosed working journalist. The outrageous Moira the drama queen provides comic relief with her hyperbole hysteria and arrogant airs as she adds privileged pampered preening into the working world of New England.
Harriet Klausner
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