Genre: Mystery
Hardcover; Trade Paperback: Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781635113075; 9781635113044; 9781974902866
Henery Press Publishing
288 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $29.99; $4.99 Amazon
March 6, 2018
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She saved Carraigfaire - but can she save her friends? Gethsemane Brown fought off an attack by a sleazy hotel developer who wanted to turn her Irish cottage into a tourist trap. Now she must face a vengeful ghost determined to exact revenge for her murder centuries ago. This ghost's wrath spares no one - not Gethsemane's students, Inspector Niall O'Reilly, fellow teacher Frankie Grennan, or a group of ghost hunters descended on Dunmullach to capture proof ghosts exist. Proof Gethsemane has to quash to keep Eamon, her resident ghost and friend, from becoming an Internet sensation. As if a spiteful specter wasn't bad enough, a crooked music review turns up dead in the opera house orchestra pit, a famous composer is arrested for the crime, and Gethsemane must team up with a notorious true-crime author to clear his name. If she doesn't, friends will die, a ghost she cares about will never know peace, and she'll star in a final act gruesome enough for any opera.
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Gethsemane Brown is looking forward to a visit from a once-famous composer whose career was ruined by a scathing review. When she meets Aed, she is glad to have the chance to hear his new opera. But on the other hand, she's disgusted by the fact that her landlord Billy McCarthy (nephew of her resident ghost Eamon) has ordered her to open her little cottage to paranormal investigators to prove that Eamon exists. But that's not all. She also has to deal with a true crime writer, Venus James, who wrote a book on Eamon and his wife Orla that was claimed murder-suicide (not true) which hasn't endeared her to Gethsemane.
But as if things couldn't get any worse, they do. Bernard Stoltz, the man who wrote the career-ending review, has also arrive in their little village and it's not just Aed who hates him, but she notices that Venus doesn't want anything to do with him, either. In fact, Aed and Bernard get into a fight and Venus refuses to stay at the same hotel as Bernard, leaving only Gethsemane to offer her refuge.
But it's the legend the opera is based upon that is causing the most problems - a young woman who was walled up in a castle by her own family. Maja has cursed anyone who writes of her, and one of the investigators, a woman named Poe, seems almost excited about Maja returning. When the opera is given a rehearsal, for all appearances it seems Maja has returned, along with her curse - that all first born men will die. There is an actual death, of course, but then something strange happens - Inspector O'Reilly takes suddenly ill, along with Gethsemane's fellow teacher Frankie Grennan - and half the boys who were attending; an investigator, and probably more in the village.
Now Gethsemane has to wonder how to stop the curse, keep the investigators from finding out about Eamon, find out who killed the man at rehearsal, and suddenly everything seems to be swirling around her when she gets help from two unlikely sources - Eamon and Saoirse Nolan, a twelve-year-old genius - who may be her only chance to save the lives of her friends...
I will say that of the three books I've read so far, I liked this one the best. Gethsemane has lost some of the arrogance I found to be present in the previous two, and has become more attached to her little village, and in turn, her new friends. While she hasn't lost her sharp wit, she has mellowed her sharp tongue which before seemed to me to be snarky. Therefore I like her better as a person. I also liked the fact that it showed in this book how much she cares about Niall and Frankie and how their health was foremost in her mind.
I liked the intrigue and the search for a killer; there were enough suspects with everyone hating the man; and soon secrets began to come to the forefront that only muddied the waters and made it harder for Gethsemane to find the answers. Unlike other books, this time with Frankie and Niall both being under the curse, it was up to her - with a little help from Venus - to find a killer and look for ways to stop the curse. It was an interesting journey with lots of action throughout.
There were a couple of things that bothered me - why would Maja take it out on everyone's children for what had happened to her? They had done nothing, and should not have been punished (and to tell the truth, the first born thing reminded me too much of The Ten Commandments); and when push comes to shove, I found the ending Not Quite Believable. The method used - and I won't state it here - just seemed a tad far-fetched for me (and for the record, I do believe in ghosts). It wasn't quite jumping the shark, but it came close - and that's just my personal opinion. However, I didn't allow it to influence my enjoyment of the book.
All in all, the killer was found (as we know they must be), justice was served in its own way for all involved, and there was of course, sadness involved, as you can't always have happy endings all around. A satisfying read and I look forward to the next in the series. Recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Sharp-Gethsemane-Brown-Mystery/dp/1635113040/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2306077948
More on Alexia Gordon's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/alexia-gordon/
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