Darci Hannah

Bridget "Bunny" MacBride is a Scottish chef who's come to live in the USA. She's part of a cooking show with a famous chef, having her own segment. But when she clashes with the woman, suddenly her life has changed. She's offered her own show -- Food & Spirits, -- and jumps at the chance. What she doesn't know until later is that the "spirits" part isn't about alcoholic beverages. It's about actual spirits. In other words, ghosts.

Bunny isn't happy about this, since she left Scotland to get away from ghosts of her old life. But soon enough she finds out that they're traveling to England to contact the Mistletoe Bride -- a woman who died on her wedding night at Christmas -- and there's no way out for her. What she really doesn't expect is to see the ghost of her white rabbit, Hopper, or to need the help of her grandma, who is an actual psychic. But here, the unexpected becomes reality, and she soon finds that reality isn't all what it's cracked up to be...

This is the first book in a new series by Darci Hannah, one of my favorite authors. It's a sort of a spin off from the Beacon Bakeshop Mysteries, in that Brett Bloom, who was a 'guest' ghosthunter in that series, and turns up again in this series, as part of the group. Saying that, let's get to the story without giving away any spoilers (if I can).

The crew is invited to the Manor by a historian who is chronicling the past of the manor and the tale of the Mistletoe Bride, and wants them to attempt to contact her. But on the night of the dinner -- being made magnificently by Bunny, and filmed by the ghosthunters, she sees the ghost of Hopper, and her life changes. Suddenly she's now a murder suspect, and calls her grandma for help. During the investigation, she doesn't know who believes her and who doesn't; but it doesn't matter anyway because she and grandma -- and the crew -- are trying to figure out who killed the person.

Unfortunately, it has to be someone who was at Bramsford Manor that night, which includes all of the staff, and even the owners. Can Bunny figure it out? But what's even more important, can she figure out what is going on with her, and can she stop running from herself at last?

I have to say that I just loved this book. It had all the elements of a good story -- a protagonist with a tragic background (explained in the book so no cliffhangers!); interesting characters all around, and the best, a little paranormal activity to keep you interested. And interested I was, finishing this book far too soon and wanting more! Giff is a hoot, and when he's with grandma, you have two hoots and a half...if I may say so (ha). Brett is a bit more skeptical, but being a ghosthunter, he'd better figure it out, and he does; but I think unwillingly, anyway. I also liked many of the secondary characters as well, which is a big plus.

When the ending comes and we finally figure out the murderer, I have to say that I was completely surprised by this. That's a good thing. I read far too many mysteries where I figure out the killer way before our protagonist does. But this also was intriguing in the fact that we find out more than the motive -- the killer gives us enough reasons to wonder how anyone in the manor couldn't even suspect them. They go to great lengths to keep it all hidden, and do so magnificently.

In the end, we are given a hint of what is to come in future books (which I hope will happen soon) and some truly delicious-looking recipes that I plan to try myself! Highly recommended.

I was given a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.… (plus d'informations)

Murder At The Blarney Bash is the fifth book in the Beacon Bakeshop Mystery series by Darci Hannah.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day in Beacon Harbor, and everybody is seeing leprechauns–it seems.

Lindsey is on her way to the groomer's to pick up her dog Wellington, who had gotten skunked earlier. The grocer tells Lindsey she had just seen a leprechaun looking in the salon window. Then, as Lindsey was passing a group of children dressed as leprechauns, a leprechaun ran into the side of her car. She stops to see if the person is hurt, but he has run off. Mrs. Hinkle comes running from Village Hall, calling out to Lindsey that Fred Landry has been brutally beaten.

At the Beacon Bakeshop, Lindsey’s boyfriend, Rory, is visiting with his Uncle Finn and cousin, Colleen, who have just moved to Beacon Harbor from Ireland. Uncle Finn plans to open a pub, while Colleen will open a gift shop featuring Irish goods. An evening meal is planned to welcome Finn and Colleen to Beacon Harbor. Uncle Finn doesn’t arrive until the dinner is almost over. He tells everyone that he is late because he tricked a leprechaun and took his pot of gold, which he put on the table. But when a man dressed as a leprechaun is found dead on a sand dune with Uncle Finn’s shillelagh near his body. Uncle Finn will become the prime suspect, and Lindsey and Rory must set off to find the killer.

This is a delightful series with a wonderful cast of characters. They are well-developed, believable, and enjoyable. In the previous books, I had enjoyed Kennedy, Lindsey’s BFF, who has returned for a visit. But in this one, I was put off by her. She seemed protective of her boyfriend, Niall, while simultaneously being jealous that Tuck, a local policeman, and Colleen were showing interest in each other. The book is well-written, plotted, and descriptively written, and I felt I was there with the characters. The book reads at a good pace. Wellington has a new playmate, Bailey, Finn, and Colleen’s dog. Hopefully, the next book will be in the Spring/Summer, so Lindsey’s parents will be in town along with their two Westies.

Delicious-sounding recipes are also included in the book.

I’m anxiously awaiting the next book in this engaging series.… (plus d'informations)

Murder at the Blarney Bash is the fifth book in the Beacon Bakeshop Mysteries by Darci Hannah, and while I enjoyed it, unfortunately it didn’t have me as excited to write up a review because I can’t gush about it like I did the previous four books.

It still has fantastic characters (although Kennedy was getting on my nerves a bit), wonderful animal characters (and we get a new dog, Bailey!), a great location in Michigan with a Haunted Lighthouse (so a touch of the paranormal, which is my favorite sub-genre in cozy mysteries), some delicious food and great recipes at the end (although I felt like some of the bakery offerings were repeated in the story… and not as much time was spent with the staff at the bakery… although I could see a Bigfoot book coming in the future, which would be wonderful!), and a solid mystery.

So why did I almost give this a 3 star rating? Besides the above things that were good, but not as great in previous books, Hannah did the number one thing that drives me nuts in cozies; when the main character and friends spend so much time going over the suspects and motives, usually this involves the main character just repeatedly thinking about it in her head or the gang getting together to go over it again, and again, and again.

I mean, you have to go through the suspects, but I loved how Hannah did it before by incorporating lots more storytelling to go along with the thinking, or more descriptions of baked goods or of the town. There were still some crazy, fun scenes which made the rating go up a bit, and just the fact that I love this series, and every series has some off books.

And what was up with Kennedy. She’s back from England (which is great because I love her spunkiness), but she seemed really, really mean this book, and not just being sassy towards Sir Hunts-a-Lot. I felt like she was brought back for a future love triangle… and anyone who has been reading my reviews for a bit knows how much I enjoy love triangles (spoiler, I don’t… especially if they continue on for more than three books!)… (plus d'informations)