Secrets and Shamrocks

by Phyllis Gobbell

Overview

Meadows, hedgerows, and tree-lined lanes welcome Jordan Mayfair to County Tipperary, Ireland. She's accompanied once again by her uncle, travel writer Alexander Carlyle. Their destination is the charming little town of Thurles, where old friends Colin and Grace O'Toole own Shepherds Guesthouse Bed and Breakfast. But on their arrival, the rural peace at the B&B has been disturbed by the search for a missing toddler, and the secrecy surrounding Little Jimmie's disappearance and safe return sets the tone for their stay at Shepherds.

While Alex visits the spectacular sights in the region for his travel guide, Jordan is drawn into the local drama. From the warm and welcoming B&B to the traditional Irish pub, Finnegan's, where music is "the very air that we breathe," the guests and locals harbor secrets that put Jordan at risk.

Colin and Grace have secrets of their own. Their unstable daughter, Bridget, may be charged with the murder of a well-respected doctor. Bridget, Little Jimmie's mother, has run away to the woods to the cottage of an old woman named Magdala, a believer in leprechauns and fairies. Jordan's visit to the cottage alerts her architect's eye, and her discovery of a priest hole will eventually put her-and Alex-in the most perilous situation yet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645991298
Publisher:	Encircle Publications, LLC
Publication date:	02/17/2021
Series:	Jordan Mayfair Mystery , #2
Pages:	274
Sales rank:	735,014
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Phyllis Gobbell is the author Pursuit in Provence—the first Jordan Mayfair mystery—and co-author of two true-crime books based on high-profile murders in Nashville, Tennessee: An Unfinished Canvas with Michael Glasgow (Berkley, 2007) and Season of Darkness with Douglas Jones (Berkley, 2010). She was interviewed on Discovery ID’s “Deadly Sins,” discussing the murder case in An Unfinished Canvas. Her narrative, “Lost Innocence,” was published in the anthology, Masters of True Crime (Prometheus, 2012). She has received awards in both fiction and nonfiction, including Tennessee’s Individual Artist Literary Award, a nomination for the Pushcart Prize for short fiction, and the Leslie Garrett Award in Fiction twice—most recently in 2014. An associate professor of English at Nashville State Community College, she teaches writing and literature.

Editorial Reviews

10/03/2016
Gobbell’s enjoyable sequel to 2015’s Pursuit in Provence takes Savannah, Ga., architect Jordan Mayfair and her travel writer uncle, Alex Carlyle, to Ireland, the home of longtime friends Colin and Grace O’Toole, who run a bed and breakfast in the quaint little town of Thurles. On arrival at the Tooles’ house, Jordan and Alex learn from a fellow guest that the Tooles’ two-year-old grandson, Jimmy, is missing. When the toddler soon appears, Colin declines to answer Jordan’s question about where the boy has been. Unfortunately, Jimmy is kidnapped from his crib a week later. Meanwhile, the Tooles’ troubled daughter, Bridget, who’s Jimmy’s mother, has gone off to stay with a woman who lives in a cottage in the woods and believes in leprechauns. When James Malone, Bridget’s doctor, turns up dead, Bridget becomes a prime suspect in his murder. Jordan’s keen knowledge of architecture and history comes in handy in her efforts to uncover the truth. Fans of travel cozies will find plenty to like. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Sept. 7, 2016
A visit to the verdant Irish countryside is marred by murder.Architect Jordan Mayfair is accompanying her uncle, Alex Carlyle, to Thurles, where they plan to stay at Shepherds, a B&B owned by their old friends Colin and Grace O’Toole. Alex, a retired college professor now writing travel books, and Jordan, a widow whose children are grown, are delighted at the prospect of spending some time with the pair they knew in Georgia, when Colin was one of Alex’s students. But their hosts aren’t present to greet them because they’re out searching for a missing toddler. Little Jimmie is the child of Colin and Grace’s daughter Bridget, who’s under treatment for mental problems. At first Jordan thinks Jimmie is the son of Patrick and Enya, the O’Tooles’ son and unhappy daughter-in-law who live at Shepherds. But Grace explains that Bridget, who’s refused to name Jimmie’s father and spends most of her time living in a cottage in the deep woods with a witchy old woman named Magdala, sometimes gets the urge to have Jimmie and just takes him. Jordan and Alex enjoy their fellow guests, the historical buildings, the stunning countryside, and the great food until Bridget’s doctor is found stabbed to death near Magdala’s cottage. Although Bridget appears to be in the clear, Jordan wants to help her and another guest, Ian Haverty, who was shot in the arm while walking home from a pub with Jordan and Alex. Though solving a murder isn’t what Jordan (Pursuit in Provence, 2015, etc.) had planned for her trip, her bump of curiosity won’t let her ignore all the mysterious circumstances. The second in Gobbell’s travel series is filled with delightful descriptions of Ireland and offbeat characters, though some judicious pruning could have kept the story moving more smartly along.

Kirkus Review