Lisa Q. Mathews’ cozy mystery, The Jig Is Up, launches her new Irish Bed & Breakfast Mystery series. It’s a delightful kickoff to a series set in Shamrock, Massachusetts, a year-round theme town. But, the town’s St. Patrick’s Week celebration starts with the death of an Irish step dancer.
Kate Buckley is an accountant and single mom living in New York with her two daughters. But, when her sister, Colleen sends her a desperate text asking her to come home, she packs up Maeve and Bliz and rushes home, only to discover that, as usual, her sister doesn’t have time to talk about problems. Instead, she asks Kate to accompany her to the local pub while picking up Colleen’s friend, Deirdre, on the way. It’s Kate who notices the blood coming from behind the curtain at the rehearsal hall for the St. Paddy’s Day dancing. While she calls the police, and their father, the former chief of police, Colleen desperately tries CPR to save Deirdre. But, nothing is going to help now.
Instead, Colleen becomes the primary suspect in her best friend’s murder. The two had an argument over Colleen’s money problems. Now, those texts could become evidence. Kate might be frustrated with her younger sister at times, but she knows Colleen did not kill Deirdre. There are a few others in town who might have been angry with the Irish dance teacher and former star.
Colleen and Kate both have secrets. While Kate investigates the murder, they refuse to talk about the biggest family secret of all, one that could blow apart the close-knit family. Kate is so frustrated that her sister refuses to take her situation seriously, but she’s not going to let some killer railroad her sister.
As with other cozy series, it takes a little while to introduce the main characters. But, it’s easy to guess ahead of time that Kate and her daughters have found their way home to Shamrock. Can Mathews sustain the series set in a theme town? I hope so.
Lisa Q. Mathews’ website is https://www.lisaqmathews.com/.
The Jig Is Up by Lisa Q. Mathews. Crooked Lane Books, 2024. ISBN 9781639108510 (hardcover), 298p.
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