In this 12th of the Corgis vs crime capers, the Corgis' humans, Zack and Jillian, come into a mysterious package with no way to open it that appears connected to a century-old Irish crime.
With two million book sales to her name, author Connie Shelton brings us Sweets, Begorra, the 7th book in her bestselling Samantha Sweet series, about a baker with a magical touch who mixes it up with mysterious doings.
After learning her Irish great-uncle left her an inheritance, Sam and her new husband Beau change their honeymoon plans to visit Ireland -- and a new mystery: a local charter boat adrift near the rocky Irish coast minus passengers and crew.
I picked out my favorite descriptive reader reviews for both books. Check them out below! Â
Now, an excerpt from my own Ireland-based mystery, The Trouble, now on sale for $0.99.
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KINCAID WATCHED THE TECHNICAL Bureau work the victim against the front door outside until the pathologist arrived. Kincaid raised the victim’s hand with a pen and looked at thumbs and fingers. All the skin was missing right up to the fingerprints.
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“Bit less than we’re used to working with, eh Adam?” the pathologist said.
“Where’s the insides of him?” Adam asked rhetorically.
“He does look a bit like a deflated balloon.”
“Inspector,” Garda Fields called up. “Someone down there asking for you.”
“Down where?”
“There. Thought she was with the newspaper at first.”
“She?” Kincaid looked toward the pavement. When he saw Sr. Grey, he walked down the steps.
“Inspector.”
“Sister. How did you get here?”
“Drove.”
“No, I mean—”
“It looks like another homicide.” She peered over his shoulder. “That is a body, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Sister.” He motioned the gardaà to stand aside and she went up the steps with him. “You prefer sister or doctor?” he asked.
“Sister. And my friends call me Jane. But we’re not there just yet. Oh, dear.” She stopped in front of the body and forced herself not to turn away. “He’s just sitting, almost casually. If he was alive when this happened—how awful. I can’t imagine. And . . .” She looked around. “No blood.”
“No splatter doesn’t mean no blood.” A Technical Bureau examiner turned around. “There was blood and lots of it. Body must have been cleaned thoroughly, then dragged up here on a tarp or something.”
As Sr. Grey came through the sacristy and into the church, “Did you follow me?” Kincaid asked.
“I try never to follow, but to lead,” Grey said. She looked at the unrolled poster on the back altar wall. “Michelangelo. The Last Judgment. I’d recognize it even in this crudely-commercialized form. It’s a fresco in the Sistine Chapel. Behind the altar there, too.” She stepped closer and looked it up and down.
“Sacristan who found the body said he’s never seen it before,” Kincaid said. He sighed and pushed his hair back from his forehead. “Greevey’s gonna be breathing down our necks.”
“Any idea who once inhabited that flesh?” Sr. Grey asked.
“No. But he has intact fingerprints. And good teeth.”
“One thing seems clear, then,” the sister said.
“What’s that?”
“The killer wants him identified.”
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GET YOUR COPY OF SWEETS, BEGORRA AT THIS LINK
From Amazon reviewer Bill King
Samantha Sweet and Beau Cardwell head off to the seaside town of Galway in Ireland to look into this inheritance of something or other left to her by her late uncle Terrance Samantha has no clue what it could be.
In a day or so Samantha meets with representative from the law firm handling the estate. Without giving too much away lets just say Samantha has become the owner of a small business.
As she and Beau attempt to sort things out a fishing boat is towed into the dock of Galway without anyone aboard. One thing leads to another and that leads to a investigation.
Beau being a sheriff back home in New Mexico sort of lends a helping hand unofficially to the local police who are known locally as the Garda helping in that investigation while he and Sam attempt some sighseeing along with there honeymoon. What happens ?
I'm not going to tell you that your going to have to read the book on your own. Sweets, Bogorra, the seventh in the Samantha Sweet series, is the strongest book to date.Â
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‍GET YOUR COPY OF CASE OF THE SHADY SHAMROCK AT THIS LINK
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From Amazon Reviewer June Price:
I deliberately saved this book to read in honor of St. Patrick's Day, the day I'm writing this review.
I've never been to Ireland but do have some Irish ancestry, which made it extra special for me.
Of course, the fact my own corgi mix has been alternately plopped down beside me or stretched out snoozing as I read might have something to do with the fact that I initially got into the series because of the corgi connection. Sherlock and Watson play pivotal roles in "Case of the Shady Shamrock (Corgi Case Files Book 12)", as they do in the entire series.
In this instance, they help their humans solve an old mystery involving.....oh, wait, I don't want to give away the plot. Let's just say the story is humorous, fast paced, and throws in an ample amount of Irish history to boot.
The "chase" scenes in the book are a hoot as is the climatic scene at the nursing home. Yes, nursing home.
Poole is an excellent story teller and I could definitely visualize the entire scene in all its hectic tension, bemusement, and good humor.
My corgi mix gives this one four paws up and says you won't regret reading it if you like intriguing mysteries, fun, believable characters, and a good mystery to solve. I'm already looking forward to the next book.
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Also by Michael Martin
THE FIRES OF LILLIPUT
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PZDFMWY
A very different story of the Shoah.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The fictional story of a a Catholic saint, a stigmatic, who was a simple person, and through his very simplicity he protected, cared for, and saved the lives of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, and then in the camps.
The conditions in the Ghetto and the camps are plainly and powerfully described, as are the actions of the characters for good and evil.
It is a reminder of what people can endure and survive.
I also learned something about stigmatics and the procedures for making a saint, as well as the desire of the Catholic hierarchy to find saints within the Holocaust because of their refusal to speak with one voice against the Nazi nightmare in 1938, when it might have mattered.
I did not enjoy this book. It is not that kind of book. But it remains with me.
-- Elisheva H. Levin, Amazon reader
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Thank you so much for reading! Until next time,
Michael Martin
2,869 subscribers
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