A Shocking Assassination (Reverend Mother Mystery #2)

by Cora Harrison

Overview

“Well-drawn characters, including a lead capable of sustaining a long series, complement the clever plot” ― Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)

Reverend Mother Aquinas is asked to prove a young man’s innocence in the second of this atmospheric new Irish historical mystery series.

Ireland 1924. Reverend Mother Aquinas is buying buttered eggs in the Cork city market at the very moment when the city engineer, James Doyle, is assassinated. Although no one saw the actual killing, a young reporter named Sam O’Mahoney is found standing close to the body, a pistol in his hand, and is arrested and charged.

Following a desperate appeal from Sam’s mother, convinced of her son’s innocence, the Reverend Mother investigates ― and, in this turbulent, war-torn city, uncovers several other key suspects. Could there be a Republican connection? Was James Doyle’s death linked to his corrupt practices in the rebuilding of the city, burned down more than a year ago by the Black and Tans? Cork is a city divided by wealth and by politics: this murder seems to have links to both.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727895363
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	05/31/2017
Series:	Reverend Mother Series , #2
Edition description:	Large Print
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.75(h) x (d)

About the Author

Cora Harrison published twenty-six children's books before turning to adult novels with the ‘Mara’ series of Celtic historical mysteries set in 16th century Ireland. Cora lives on a farm near the Burren in the west of Ireland.

Read an Excerpt

Reverend Mother Aquinas was buying buttered eggs in the English Market on the Friday morning when the city engineer was assassinated.
 No one screamed. She remembered that afterwards. They just moved away.
 The gas lamps in the gallery above the stalls were extinguished, quite suddenly. Seconds later the shot rang out. Her heart thudded, just a single stroke, and her breath quickened as she was swept back by the moving bodies all around her. The thick darkness intensified the smell of blood, of raw meat, of wet clothes, stale sweat, dung and the pungency of damp sawdust, mixed in with the almost palpable odours of fear.

Editorial Reviews

Period ambience, an absorbing plot, and a wise and intrepid amateur sleuth in the form of the Reverend Mother make this an engaging historical mystery.

Booklist

Period ambience, an absorbing plot, and a wise and intrepid amateur sleuth in the form of the Reverend Mother make this an engaging historical mystery.

Booklist

2016-06-21
The burning and looting may have subsided, but Ireland's struggle for independence has left the city of Cork still very much on edge in the 1920s.Reverend Mother Aquinas is shopping at the English Market for eggs for her ailing gardener when she witnesses the shooting of city engineer James Doyle. The killer appears to be Sam O'Mahony, a young reporter whose mother, a stallholder in the market, struggled to educate him for a life better than hers. Sam claims that someone dropped the murder weapon on his foot, startling him enough to pick it up in the darkness when the lights went off. Although Sam's arrested, the Reverend Mother is inclined to believe in his innocence, since she saw his face after the murder and also spotted a trench-coated man, a hat hiding his face, who vanished before the police arrived. Luckily, the detective in charge is one of her former students, Inspector Patrick Cashman. Despite the evidence against Sam, Cashman has a certain amount of faith in the clever Reverend Mother and is willing to look for other suspects. Doyle had the reputation of being open to bribes during the city's rebuilding, favoring those with money and political influence over the small businessmen and poor folk who lost their homes and livelihoods. As the Republicans continue to harass the remaining English forces, another of the Reverend Mother's students, a young woman in love with Sam, plans to break him out of jail. Meanwhile, the Reverend Mother, who has highly placed connections in Cork, is using them to search for others who might have motives to kill Doyle. Her suspects cover a wide range of the social and political scale, and getting too close to the truth puts her own life in danger. The second in Harrison's historical series (A Shameful Murder, 2015) paints a fascinating picture of life in Ireland as it makes the painful transition to a republic. A vexing mystery and a clever sleuth cap it off.

Kirkus Reviews