eyes.2c Reviews

The Deadly Weed  (A Reverend Mother Mystery #10) by Cora Harrison     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Well this was a shocker! The twist at the end left me speechless. Oh, I suspected something was up but just didn’t expect the resolution to land where it did, But back to the beginning. A man was found aphixiated from smoke inhalation when a fire broke our in a riverside factory. A cigarette factory just newly begun by one of the Rev. Mother’s cousins, Robert Murphy Robert had employed ten of her ex-students, school leavers, for six shillings a week to pack cigarettes from tobacco plants dating from Sir Walter Raleigh he’d found growing wild on his property. A brave new world was opening up and for these girls. A job is everything. Unfortunately a busybody, Mrs Maloney has watched the comings and goings for sometime and has seen one of the girls, Maureen leave after the others. Of course there’s all  sorts of rumours about that. Maureen, a wild fourteen year old young lass, unfortunatel...

The Winter Guest : A Mystery  by W. C. Ryan      ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Ireland after the first World War. It’s 1921. The IRA has murdered one of their own, a woman, the Honourable Maud Prendeville, a hero of the Easter Uprising. Captain Tom Harkin has been sent by the IRA’s top people to investigate. Firstly because he had been engaged to Maud, and because he was once a secretary to Maud’s uncle, John Prendeville, who also is supplying a shipment of guns to the IRA. There was a legitimate insurance policy taken out for Maud which needs legally to be investigated. That would be his cover. He’d also received a telegram from Maud’s brother Billy asking him to come to Kilcolgon House.  His investigations lead him to make contact with a man who’s his opposite with the British Army, a man who was secretly associated with Maud, Major Hugo Vane. The man leading the British Auxilary Forces forces stationed in the district is Major Abercrombie. A harsh, sadistic leader who’d already...

Murder in the Cathedral  (A Reverend Mother Mystery #9)   by Cora Harrison   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A young Catholic boy, Enda O’Sullivan, who sang like an angel and lied like with a straight face even as he once “tumbled a stall in the market once and tried to to persuade [Inspector Patrick Cashman] that it was a dog that had done it. Even though his mouth was full of cake and his pockets bulging with more.” And an archdeacon of the Anglican Church in Ireland. Who would want them dead. Reverend Mother Aquinas is concerned that this child from the slums was thrown out like so much trash. Patrick is concerned because he has a list of suspects that seem on one hand likely, and on the other not at all. As Patrick investigates further he uncovers a lot about the ‘man who would be king’ (the archdeacon), none of it good. In fact he was ambitious for the job of the Bishop, he lied, cheated and blackmailed. Who would not want him to go, on the other hand who was going to risk all to do so? Ei...

Death of a Heretic  (A Sister Fidelma Mystery #33) by   Peter Tremayne   ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I found this story totally fascinating. I have always been drawn to the old laws of Ireland. To see the accepted tales of St Patrick’s turned on its head, to realize the way Christianity has been influenced down through the ages, is inspiring. This seventh century story has us in Ireland with a murder—and the solving of.  Into this mess comes Sister Fidelma of Cashel. A visit from the Frankish dignitary, Bishop Brodulf, results in disaster. The Bishop is dead, killed in a fire, and a building master has disappeared. Although this is adequately explained. The “law is based on compensation for the victim and rehabilitation for the perpetrator.” But Fidelma and her husband Brother Eardulf  of Seaxmund’s Ham,  are unsure as to whether this case invokes this law or one that transcends this. After all the Bishop we are told “ came here with the explicit authority of the F...

Murder in an Orchard cemetery (Reverend Mother Mystery #8) by Cora Harrison                 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1920’s Cork and Reverend Mother Aquinas is looking forward to the annual retreat at the Sisters of Charity Order for the religious superiors of the Cork area. She enjoys meditative and discussion times in the orchard, which is also a cemetery. When that quiet retreat is threatened by the annoying inclusion of prospective mayoral  candidates, prompted by the Bishop, she’s somewhat put out. There’s more to come: A novice with the Sisters of Charity, who is the daughter of one of the candidates and who rather surprisingly, chose the name Mary Magdalene And shockingly a bomb explosion in the convent’s apple orchard cemetry—possibly IRA? Once again I’m fascinated by the development of the Reverend Mother’s ex pupils Eileen, who’s just completed her studies at Cork University and is looking to be apprenticed in a solicitor’s office; and Inspector...

An Irish Hostage (Bess Crawford Mysteries #12) by Charles Todd         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bess becomes embroiled in the Irish Troubles—after the 1916 Easter Uprising, and some of those involved. Having said she’d be bridesmaid for an Irish friend and nurse, Eileen Flynn, whose leg she saved when the ship they were on sank, she flies to Ireland despite her father’s (Colonel Sahib) misgivings. Eileen’s cousin, a leader with the Defenders during the Dublin Post Office stand, wanted for his actions by the British, stands as surety for Bess’s safety. When the groom goes missing and then later the best man, Bess finds herself in house where the matriarch is rampantly anti British. Who could be trusted, who was at the bottom of the kidnapping. Then Bess has a run in with the Constable. Should she confess her identity or try to solve the problem? Bess has some close calls. My heart was in my mouth. Simon Brandon is on hand fortunately—in a very different guise. But just exactly what ...

Death of a Prominent Citizen (A Reverend Mother Mystery #7) by Cora Harrison           A variation on the locked room mystery, with a dead body, seven heirs and other sundries gathered in the house to await their wealthy relative's decision on whom will inherit her fortune. Amongst them the Reverend Mother. This relative, Charlotte Hendrick, is also a slum lord. Feelings are running high about the conditions and rents in these areas around the Cork of the 1920's. That same night a crowd has gathered to witness the reenactment of the building of a Viking house. An incident that turns into a riot. Another slum lord dies at the hands of the crowd. Eileen is present and her observations are particularly salient. I must admit I'm enjoying following the growth of Patrick and Eileen into their roles, and how they're developing their strengths. Old friends are welcomed and new characters introduced. Front and center in this particular murder, the sharp mind of ...

Murder at the Queen's Old Castle: A Mystery Set in 1920's Ireland (A Reverend Mother Mystery #6) by Cora Harrison     "Murder [thought the Reverend Mother] was like a cancer. Its tentacles spread out and infected those who had been touched by it." And nothing is truer than for this murder. A man dead from gas inhalation in the Queen's Old Castle, a grand name for a local department store in Cork. A young boy accused of murder by the distracted widow. A fractured family kept under the thumb by their tyrannical father, Joseph Fitzwilliam, are all disinherited and thrown over for the favorite son. Detective Patrick Cashman has his hands full, Eileen MacSweeney is in the mix and the Reverend Mother has an eye on all the participants. There are some wonderful touches including the whizzing around of the money canisters. I remember them from my childhood in an antiquated favorite store. I was just as fascinated as Brian Moloney. As a side note the practice of ...

A Hunt in Winter (A Joe Swallow Mystery #3)   by Conor Brady 1888 'Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow (now promoted to detective inspector)' is faced with the  murders of three young women sending the residents of Dublin into a frantic state of fear and panic. Are the murders linked or not? Is this a Jack the Ripper copycat or has the Ripper come across the Irish Sea? Swallow is part of the Dublin G-Dividion. 'Fifty-odd detectives investigated crime across the city, and were also the administration’s first and principal bulwark against political subversion. Their responsibilities ran from protecting the chief men who governed Ireland for the Crown to keeping watch on Fenians ... and the ever-multiplying groups that wanted, for one reason or another, to overthrow the established order.' At this moment the G-Men are needed to come up with answers to the murders. Not be diverted by the wishes of the whose sole motivation is to keep tabs on various Irish group...

Beyond Absolution: A mystery set in 1920s Ireland (A Reverend Mother Mystery #3)   by  Cora Harrison In this rather marvellous Irish historical mystery I  found myself immersed in the actions and times, set as they are in Cork, in 1925. My reactions to the wonderfully rich descriptive narrative was probably helped by the fact that I was actually in Cork at my time of reading. I felt  immersed in the history of the time. The vivid reality of the story intertwined with my real life journey. Reverend Mother Aquinas is a gem. When her long time friend, Father Dominic, a priest beloved by the people and respected by the Irish Republican Army is killed in the confessional, the Reverend Mother brings to bear her vast influence and intelligent mind to solving the problem. This includes childhood acquaintances and their remembrances of the great houses during that time, past students and current ones, police, bankers, and others. The mix of people the Reverend...