Murder at the Blarney Bash

A Beacon Bakeshop Mystery, Book 5

By: Darci Hannah

Narrated by: Amy Melissa Bentley

Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Follow the aroma of shamrock sugar cookies to the Beacon Bakeshop, a lighthouse on the shores of Lake Michigan where amateur sleuth Lindsey Bakewell is busy preparing for Beacon Harbor's St. Patrick's Day festivities—with a little help from her adorable Newfoundland, Wellington, of course!

Lindsey is baking up a storm—shamrock sugar cookies, Guinness chocolate cupcakes, Irish soda bread—for the well-timed grand opening of the Irish import gift shop, the Blarney Stone, owned by her boyfriend's uncle, Finnigan O'Connor, recently relocated from the Emerald Isle.

But it's Uncle Finn himself who seems full of blarney when he gleefully reveals a pot of real gold he claims he stole from an actual leprechaun. And Finn's fortune takes a turn for the worse when he's arrested for the bludgeoning of a small unidentified man dressed as a leprechaun—the murder weapon alleged to be his now-missing shillelagh.

Eccentric Uncle Finn may enjoy believing he's outwitted a leprechaun, but he would never be so deluded as to clobber one with his walking stick. Now Lindsey will need more than the luck of the Irish to seize a golden opportunity to catch the real killer . . .

©2024 Darci Hannah (P)2024 Tantor

Entertaining Read

What a fun trip to Beacon Harbor. St. Patrick's Day, lots of green baked goods, leprechauns, and pots of gold all make for a great time, as long as you don't count the murder, 0f course. I love spending time with Lindsay and company, and the addition of Rory's Uncle Finn and Cousin Colleen to the mix just amped up the enjoyment. Colleen's shop of all things Irish was interesting, and I now want one of the walking capes that Lindsey coveted throughout the book. The mystery was particularly intriguing, and I only jokingly guessed the culprit just before the big reveal. I was quite surprised to be correct. The only downside to this book was Kennedy, Lindsey's BF. While Kennedy is always high maintenance, her high handedness is usually more humorous than obnoxious, but she was a brat of the first order in this outing. I do hope she is back to her old self before we visit again. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and cannot wait until I am able to spend time with Lindsey, Rory, and the gang again.

Amy Melissa Bentley did an excellent job of voicing the characters.

5 stars

Murder at the Blarney Bash is an entertaining cozy mystery with engaging characters and an interesting plot. I look forward to the next book.

Spoiler Alert - Not the best in the series

The previous novels were much better than this one, the characters (especially Rory and Lindsey), in my opinion "not nice". Kennedy is the same except that she has a new rich boyfriend but her characters is the same. Whereas Rory calling Kennedy PR (princess ridiculous) is just plain mean, which he wasn't in the earlier novels. Kennedy calls him "hunts-a-lot" which is Not mean in my opinion because he does hunt a lot. Lindsey especially, trying to keep her best friend Kennedy away from helping is not like her at all. In the other previous novel, Lindsey and Kennedy are together as equal and share in helping with solving the crimes but in this one they are not equal anymore because Rory and Lindsey are doing everything they can to keep Kennedy at arms' length. In this novel, I really don't like Rory and Lindsey's treatment of Kennedy. Not to mention Kennedy's new boyfriend is not right for her, I prefer Kennedy with Tuck, the policeman is a better friend (or boyfriend). What about the fact Lindsey is not so sharp this time around. There are 2 people working at the flower shop but instead Lindsey and Rory only concentrating on 1 person instead. Even I as was listening to the book I came up with 2 suspects because there are 2 people working at the flower shop. I think the writer wanted Kennedy to be kidnapped again, why?