Book Review: Irish Soda Bread Murder by Carlene O'Connor, Peggy Ehrhart, and Liz Ireland

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Irish Soda Bread Murder   by Carlene O'Connor, Peggy Ehrhart, and Liz Ireland is a collection of three short stories that include Irish Soda Bread Murder by Carlene O'Connor, An Irish Recipe for Murder by Peggy Ehrhart, and Mrs. Claus and the Sinister Soda Bread Man by Liz Ireland. The expected publication date of this book is December 24, 2024, and my overall review of this book is four out of five stars. I'd like to thank NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) that I received for free in exchange for my honest review. Irish Soda Bread Murder  by Carlene O'Connor opens with Tara Meehan helping her Uncle Johnny and Aunt Rose with a local bake sale and psychic convention with the proceeds going to charity. When Rose's biggest rival shows up and ends up dying from her soda bread, Tara knows she must step in to help clear her aunt and uncle from the suspect list. I enjoyed this story a lot better than the last one I read in the series. The only complaint I hav...
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Book Review: The Engagement Party by Darby Kane

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The Engagement Party by Darby Kane opens with college friends meeting at a luxurious house on a private island in Maine to celebrate an engagement. Tensions arise when Emily's name is brought up and secrets about her death are about to be spilled. Will this friend group stay intact for the weekend?

A big thank you goes out to NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) that I received for free in exchange for my honest opinion. I was excited to read The Engagement Party by Darby Kane as I love "locked room" stories and always enjoy seeing if I can figure out who the culprit or culprits are before they're revealed.

Darby Kane did a fantastic job with throwing suspicion across various characters making me second guess myself at times. The characters I suspected are as follows:
  • Ruthie - the fiancé of Will
  • Sierra - the protector, friend, and business partner of Mitch
  • Cassie - attorney and wife of Alex, mother of Zara, friends with Mitch and Will
  • Alex - attorney and husband of Cassie, father of Zara, friends with Mitch and Will 
  • Dylan - a police officer who shows up to the island

Ruthie is the obvious suspect right off the bat partly because she isn't part of the original friend group. The author really set up the story to put this character in a bad light. I kept trying to figure out how she was connected to the death of Emily (or the person suspected of killing her), and I thought she might be a sibling or cousin. Sierra seemed like she might be in on it as a second culprit since she really didn't have a direct connection to the friend group either. It just seemed like she came into Mitch's life suddenly and took over.

Cassie is part of the original friend group and was there when Emily died. She is such an overpowering character that I didn't necessarily trust her . . . she's just too much of a control freak and too confrontational. Alex is part of the original friend group as well and is definitely hiding something that his wife Cassie is in on. This is why I thought he might be in on something, but I didn't really think it was anything too grievous, so Alex really was low man on the totem pole. I really hoped he was one of the good guys.

Dylan is a police officer that just randomly showed up on the island without much of a reason, and I definitely thought he was one of the people involved. When he shows up a second time, it definitely confirmed my suspicions. Even if he thought something fishy was going on, I don't think he would've left in the first place . . . he would've stuck around.

Was I correct in any of my assumptions? That's for me to know and you to find out. The Engagement Party by Darby Kane is a must read and a story that I gave five out of five stars. It's one of the best "locked room" stories I've read in a while, and there was just something that made me think of Richie Tankersley Cusick's Someone At The Door, which was a young adult locked room story that I adored when I was in high school.

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