Author: Zara Keane
Publisher: Beaverstone Press
Publication Date: April 2017
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: “My career in the San Francisco PD ended the day I arrested my husband.”
Maggie Doyle gives her cheating ex and crumbling career in the San Francisco PD the proverbial middle finger and moves to the Wild West…of Ireland.
Lured by her aunt’s promise of a restful Irish vacation, Maggie agrees to help out at the Movie Theater Café in exchange for bed and board. Things are looking up—until the most hated woman on Whisper Island is poisoned at the café. With her aunt as the prime suspect, Maggie and her rock-hard muffins are hurled into the murder investigation.
With the help of her UFO-enthusiast friend, a nun, and a feral puppy, Maggie is determined to clear her aunt’s name. Can she catch the murderer before they strike again? Or will her terrible baking skills burn down the cafe first?
My Thoughts: The first book in the Movie Club Mysteries series introduces us to American Maggie Doyle. Formerly of San Francisco, Maggie’s career with the San Francisco Police Department went up in smoke when she arrested her creep of a husband. She may or may not have made those handcuffs excessively tight, but he totally deserved it. With her career out the window, Maggie accepts her Aunt Noreen’s offer of a place to stay on Whisper Island in Ireland. In exchange, Maggie will help her Aunt with her café. The only problem is Maggie isn’t much of a baker and hopefully Maggie’s help doesn’t drive off all of Noreen’s customers.
While working at the movie theater café for the monthly movie night event, the body of a local resident is found dead. Did she die by her own hand, natural causes or was she poisoned? After the local law enforcement appears to write it off as either a suicide or heart attack, Maggie’s investigative skills go into overdrive and before she knows it, her Aunt has become the prime suspect. Now Maggie, with the help of some of the locals are racing the clock to find out who wanted this woman dead. The list of suspects is lengthy as the victim had made plenty of enemies.
I enjoyed this story and meeting Maggie. When life goes pear shaped, picking up and starting over in Ireland sounds divine. Being half-Irish on her father’s side is a good thing so Maggie won’t have to go through the red-tape bureaucracy of staying like I would if I wanted to relocate. I liked her tenacity but I think it’s going to get her into more trouble with the local police Seargeant, who is not receptive to Maggie investigating, because it makes him appear incompetent, which he is.
I enjoy Zara Keane’s writing and am pleased to see her branching out into other genres. There are some humorous moments in this story as well as the possibility of romance for Maggie down the road. This made me happy as the last thing she needs to concern herself with right now is romance. However, I hope Liam Reynolds continues to appear in the series, as when the time is right for Maggie to entertain romance, he would be a great choice. The mystery was fleshed out very well. I was unable to decide on the killer’s identity so when it was finally revealed, I had a giddy moment of surprise and the explanation of why the murder occurred was quite interesting.
I thought the story moved at a good pace, giving me the time I needed to get to know all of the characters and follow along. Dial P For Poison is a good start to this series, which is currently at seven books. Each book is a play on classic movie titles, which is very appealing to me. I recommend this series be read in order so that the reader gets to experience the character’s growth and development throughout the series.
My Final Verdict: I recommend this series to fans of cozy mysteries as well as stories with interesting and charming characters. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of this series, getting to know Maggie better and finding out what she gets involved in next.
Thank you to the author, Zara Keane, for the invitation to read and review.
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