Literature / Irish Village Mysteries

Irish Village Mysteries is an armchair/amateur sleuth/Cozy Mystery series by Carlene O'Connor (pen name of Mary Carter). The series features Siobhán O'Sullivan, who (along with her five siblings) runs the family business — Naomi's Bistro, named for their mother — after the O'Sullivan parents died in a car crash almost a year before the start of the series in Kilbane, County Cork. But when they discover a dead body at one of the tables, Siobhán sets to work solving the murder, with the help of her siblings, eventually putting her talents for solving murders into joining the Garda Síochána.

The series consists of:

• #01: Murder in an Irish Village (2016)
• #02: Murder at an Irish Wedding (2017)
• #02.5^*  By release date order it would be #3.5, but in-universe it's set here. : "Christmas Cocoa Murder" (2019)^note Collected in Christmas Cocoa Murder anthology, along with books #6.5 of Maddie Day's Country Store Mysteries and #7.5 of Alex Erickson's Bookstore Cafe Mysteries.
• #03: Murder in an Irish Churchyard (2018)
• #04: Murder in an Irish Pub (2019)
• #05: Murder in an Irish Cottage (2020)
• #06: Murder at an Irish Christmas (2020)
• #07: Murder in an Irish Bookshop (2021)
• #08: Murder on an Irish Farm (2022)
• #08.5: "Christmas Scarf Murder" (2022) ^note Collected in the anthology of the same name, along with books #10.5 of Maddie Day's Country Store Mysteries and #8.5 of Peggy Ehrhart's Knit And Nibble Mysteries.
• #09: Murder at an Irish Bakery (2023)
• #10: Murder at an Irish Chipper (2024)

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This series provides examples of:

• Accidental Murder:
  • What the deaths of the O'Sullivan's parents turns out to be. As it turns out, Seamus Sheady was riding alongside them on his bike one day, and while they were distracted talking to him, they were hit by Billy Murphy while he was driving drunk. Niall Murphy and Courtney Kirby, on the other hand, were very intentional murders.
• Asshole Victim: Aye, what's a murder mystery series without 'em?
  • Niall Murphy from Village. He was blackmailing several townsfolk in order to raise money to free his drunk driving brother. More often than not, he didn't even have real proof of whatever he was blackmailing people over. Unfortunately for him, his killer didn't know that.
  • Kevin Gallagher from Wedding, who's killed after insulting several people.
    • Colm Cahill from the same book is also an unpleasant and angry man.
  • Eamon Foley from Pub.
• Blackmail Backfire:
  • Niall Murphy tries to blackmail citizens of Kilbane in Village to earn money so he can get his brother out of prison. It ends up costing him his life.
    • Mary Murphy tries to pick up where her son left off, and ends up getting Courtney Kirby killed.
  • What the murder in Murder in an Irish Churchyard ends up being about. The victim refused to play along anymore with George's blackmail, so George shot him to prevent him from reporting him.
• Bludgeoned to Death: Kevin Gallagher was killed from being struck on the head with a rock from behind.
• Christmas Episode: The novella stories "Christmas Cocoa Murder" and "Christmas Scarf Murder", as well as the full book Murder at an Irish Christmas.
• Creepy Crossdresser: The killer of Churchyard does this as a disguise.
• Exact Words:
  • It's said in Village that no-one but Billy could have caused the crash that killed the O'Sullivan's parents because there were no other cars on the road. Siobhán realizes there could have been another vehicle on the road... like a bicycle.
• Healthcare Motivation: What guided the murder in "Christmas Cocoa Murder". The killer had set up a rigged Nutcracker contest to give his kid medical treatments he desperately needed. When he thought Paddy O'Shea had stolen the nutcracker, he brained him on the head with it, and then threw him into the tank of hot cocoa.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Each book is styled as "Murder in/at/on an Irish *blank*". Subverted for "Christmas Cocoa Murder" and "Christmas Scarf Murder".
• Locked Room Mystery: Murder in an Irish Pub. Professional poker player Eamon Foley is found hanging from a noose in the storeroom of a pub, the door locked from the inside. The key to solving the case is figuring out how someone could have locked the deadbolt. The deadbolt was put in the locked way by use of a tentpole put through a small window.
• Murder by Mistake: Kevin Gallagher from Wedding was killed because the killer thought she was killing her father Colm, who was wearing the same kind of tracksuit.
• Pain to the Ass: In "Christmas Cocoa Murder", Siobhán is put above a dunk tank while tied up and drugged by the killer. She escapes by moving backwards and falling onto her butt onto a concrete floor. She wishes she had a bigger bottom so that such a landing doesn't hurt so much.
• Tampering with Food and Drink:
  • Colm Cahill dies in wedding when Alice slips poison into his champagne glass.
  • The killer tries to do this in Cottage with the victim's whiskey. When that doesn't work, they smother her.
• Technologically Blind Elders: Mary Murphy from Village. She tries to blackmail people with emails from Courtney Kirby's computer in her shop, and she thought the "delete" key deleted what she had done after she sent the email so it would keep her anonymous.
• Trademark Favorite Food:
  • Siobhán loves the brown bread and cappuccinos she makes.
  • Jeanie Brady, the state pathologist, really has a thing for cashews, eating them almost constantly.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Mary Murphy of Village. With her trying to blackmail people around town and using Courtney Kirby's computer to do so, she accidentally sics the killer onto Courtney.
• Wedding Episode: Murder at an Irish Wedding (no duh), and Murder on an Irish Farm, which concerns Siobhán's and Macdara's wedding.

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