An Early Wake (A County Cork Mystery)

Summer is ending in County Cork, Ireland, and with it the tourist season. Expat Maura Donovan is determined to keep Sullivan’s Pub in the black as the days grow shorter—but how? When she hears that the place was once a hot spot for Irish musicians who’d come play in the back room, she wonders if bringing back live music might be Sullivan’s salvation. As word gets out, legendary musicians begin to appear at the pub, and the first impromptu jam session brings in scores of music lovers. But things hit a sour note when Maura finds a dead musician in the back room the next morning. With a slew of potential suspects, it’s going to take more than a pint and a good think to force a murderer to face the music.My Thoughts: In this third County Cork outing, we find Maura Donovan in a contemplative mood, pondering the six months she has run the pub, an unexpected inheritance.  An Early Wake (County Cork series Book 3)  offers a glimpse of the bucolic life Maura has come to accept, even though she realizes that, at this point, she doesn’t really have a plan.She doesn’t have ledgers or a computer, and her take from the pub seems to be all cash. She manages to pay her staff, which consist of Old Jimmy and his daughter Rose…and Bridget Nolan’s grandson Mick. She also manages to keep in the supplies and pay for electricity.Next door to Maura’s cottage, also a part of her inheritance, lives Bridget Nolan, who offers tea and wisdom each day.Old Billy, who takes up daily residence in the back corner of the pub, feels like a fixture, but he offers stories, wisdom, and somehow brings the musicians to the pub by word of mouth.While this story offers little in the way of in-depth information on the villagers or even the regulars who show up at the pub, we still have a sense of the easy-going life of those who have become Maura’s new world. I loved the idyllic feeling, and even when the musicians’ jam fest brought the hint of violence along with the death of the musician, we could also feel secure that the steady law enforcement, embodied by Sean Murphy, could handle whatever came up.As I settled into the story, I found myself wanting more. Knowing another outing could bring additional layers and more depth to Maura’s life, I felt a surge of hope that she could even find a love interest. 4.5 stars.

... but the main character really began to turn me off from this series. I get that Maura Donovan has basically no social skills (how she can run a pub on her own without alienating anyone who walks through the door is anyone's guess) perhaps the locals in Leap are just more forgiving of her annoying personality than I am. I liked the premise of this book, which is why I continued to read it, but it was despite the character of Maura rather than because of her. Which is a shame, because this has so much potential, but the characterization of the lead. What I find annoying is just how uninterested she is with her new surroundings (she works the pub every day and seems to be a bit of a control freak, and has no interest in exploring her new home, which I find rather hard to believe for someone transplanted to a new country.) She also seems completely inept when it comes to figuring out how to maintain her own house - the fact she isn't really managing her staff or her business is even more disturbing. If not for a chance encounter by Trinity student (and who hasn't heard of Trinity, other than Maura?) Tim Reilly and with Billy's help in basically saving her business by putting the word out for a night of music at Sullivan's pub, she probably would have to shut down by the end of the book.It's funny that the author can create such memorable and likeable characters, with the exception of the lead character. Maura gets annoying to the point where you just want to hand the business over to Mick or even Billy who could do a better job than she does. I began wondering whether the clientele came back only out of habit, since it sounds like there's other places they could go, but they are just too stuck in their ways. I think this book could have been a whole lot better with some more thought in making Maura more likable and less annoying, It did beg the question as to whether I wanted to read any more in this series. Since I had already bought the next one, I figured I'd give it a read after a break to some other story. Perhaps with some distance she will get less annoying. And that's a real shame because the book could be so much more than it was for me.

It's a book.

Very Good Read !

REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK, HOPE THERE ARE SOME MORE IN THIS SERIES