Cruel Winter by Sheila Connolly. How I love being swept off to Ireland again. Maura, Rosie, Mick and Old Billy all feel like old friends. Snowed in the pub durring a rare but big storm Maura and her pub mates are engaged in solving a cold case. Diane, accused by public opinion, has come back to close up and sell her family cottage. Having been caught out in the storm, Diane comes into the pub for shelter. She is recognized by some of the older men. As the storm brews others take refuge from the storm, the musicians that were booked to play the weekend, and a Guarda who had worked the original muder case. As the storm rages Diane tells her side of the story. Between music and refill breaks this crowd hears the side that they'd not heard before and new details emerge, as does the truth. Excelent read.

Maura was from Boston. When the locals start warning her about the snow storm coming, she's not real concerned. After all they had snow all the time at home. But home in Boston her house wasn't on top of a steep hill. She decides to get a few supplies in and then wait to see what happens. She sure never expected what would actually happen...

Crooked Lane Books and Net Galley let me read this book for review (thank you). It will be published March 14th.

Maura and her work crew are all on duty. Billy, an old man who had a room in the building, joined them. Various customers straggled in. Many couldn't get home, the bed and breakfast and hotel were full, so she told them they could stay in the pub overnight. One lady keeps to herself and is real quiet. As the night goes on, Maura finally gets her to chat. She finds out she was accused of murder here in town over 20 years ago. She states she's not guilty. Maura believes her but others are hounding her as if she's getting away with murder. Maura decides to hold an informal court and see if it can be proved one way or another. Maybe somebody saw something that they never brought up before. Twenty years is a long time, though.

I found it fascinating to watch a group of about twenty go through their memories and discuss what happened and how she became suspect. Maura tries to keep it reasonable but some get angry and some get mean. However, by piecing it together, Maura finds the truth. It won't lessen the years of hurt but it will make the woman sleep better to know everyone now knows she was telling the truth.

This was an interesting mystery with an odd solution and I liked it.

I normally don't care for books written by Americans set in Ireland. They're off-key and inauthentic usually but this one is different. The main character is an American who has relocated to a small town in Ireland, Leap, to run a pub. She inherited it from a close friend of her grandmother's who came from Leap. The Americanisms are OK because the character is American.

A freak snowstorm hits the little town. Maura is surprised by the town's panic because she's from Boston where they are prepared. It's a big town that gets snow regularly so they have snow plows and ice and other help. Leap is small and it rarely snows so they have none of that. Maura tries to prepare but food is scarce and batteries are sold old. Still some town regulars, tourists with broken down cars, a musical duo scheduled to perform, and other stragglers gather in the pub for warmth and company. Then the electricity goes out and they are left with story telling as their entertainment.

A young lady who was the main suspect in a murder case twenty years ago makes an appearance. The snow bound group decide to hold a mock trial to discover the real killer. I think this is a clever idea. They have no Internet to check things out, they just draw from old memories and new ideas on what could have happened. The discussions are interesting.

This is the fifth book in the series and my first one to read. I had no trouble keeping up though. I really liked the story idea. I liked the fact that Maura is American so it explains those American slip ups. The writing is a cut above the average cozy mystery. I'll read more of this series.

Thank you Net Galley and Crooked Land Publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

The book and the characters lack chemistry too me. The setting is beautiful written but that characters lack depth

Written in a style that brings you into the pub to pull up a chair around the fire as one of the group, listening to the dialogue as they seek final justice for a murder years ago while waiting out the winter storm. Enjoy read for a cold winter's day.

First of all, I must have missed that this is book #5 in a series! At first I thought it was a new series and then I realized it was part of one but thought it was maybe #2 (remember, reading a digital copy you don't see the title very much!) Sheila Connolly did a great job making this book easy to read even for those who haven't read previous installments of the series. I am pretty new the the cozy mystery genre but liked this from the start. When I really enjoy reading a book I always think what a great movie it would make and picture it in my head as a movie. Reading this book I kept thinking would make a great stage play because the set/scenery doesn't change much. I actually laughed out loud later in the book when one of the characters talked about this story actually being like a stage play! I really liked the character development and would like to go back to read the series to see which ones might have been featured in previous stories. Connolly's descriptions of the cold Cork winter made me shiver and actually feel the cold. Well done. I am pretty sure 99% percent of readers will not figure out what happened before the truth is released. That is pretty rare to find these days.

Inspired writing! I felt transported to Ireland and the Pub that was the main location in this story. The writer truly wove a great story with characters you could relate to and a location that you felt you were at during the story. Truly showed how being an outsider can be a hardship if people aren't open to different ways of life. Loved it!!!

My review can be seen at RT Book Reviews

Very engaging story, believable characters, entirely enjoyable.

People stranded during a snowstorm in Sullivan's Pub in Ireland, a murder cold case with the prime suspect part of the stranded crowd, and a mock trial/jury...think TV's "Bull" with Irish atmosphere. I really liked this story with its Irish setting while the characters, new and familiar, slowly became caught up in the details of an unsolved murder from years ago. I look forward to the next book in this series. Disclosure: I am voluntarily reviewing an advance reading copy of this book received from Net Galley.

If you like the Irish and mystery, this is the book for you. A fun cozy story set in County Cork with a strong protagonist and an interesting cast of characters. It is unique in that the informal "trial" of a 20 year old murder takes place in a pub with a jury of people who sought shelter from a terrible snowstorm.

I missed a lot of sleep last night, I literally could not put this book down. Cruel Winter is the first book I've read in Sheila Connolly's County Cork Mysteries and it was gripping from the very first page. I didn't find Maura Donovan a completely likeable character, there is a toughness about her that I don't find appealing. However, she had many admirable qualities that were evident by the startling conclusion of the book, and mixed with the charm of Ireland's countryside it was a complete winner!

I will definitely be rereading this book since it grabs you from the very first page and doesn't let go until the very end.

The idea is good. Several people forced to stay overnight in a pub because of a snowstorm turn their attention to solving a murder committed some years ago. One of them was a suspect, though never charged; one was a young police officer at the time.
However it really needs some tight editing. Maura, the landlady, tells at least three newcomers how she came to inherit the pub. Several locals tell Maura what happened in the last big snowstorm. This theme of repetition continues throughout the book to the extent that I continued reading without really paying attention. And then when something important happened, I almost missed it!
A shame, as I think I would have enjoyed a more succinct version of the same tale.

For whatever reasons unrelated to writing style, I really enjoyed the story line of this book. Maybe because I grew up in a very closed community. Perhaps because of my years associated with the legal system and its failings. In any case, I read the book straight through except for a night's sleep. I simply wanted to know what had happened and what would happen.

I picked up this book because I enjoy Sheila Connolly's Relatively Dead series. I wasn't disappointed. Maura runs Sullivan's Pub in Cork County, Ireland that she inherited from a distant relative. She left Boston a year ago to honor her grandmother 's last request to visit. Snowed in at the pub with most of the town they rehash an old murder that was never solved. As the locals reminisce Maura's logic exonerates the prime suspect and several locals look like they could be the killer. Great cozy. Will look for the previous books in this series. The town sounds like a perfect village to visit.

Friday I finished Cruel Winter an up coming Irish based cozy by Sheila Connolly. I have really loved this Irish based cozy mystery and it felt like coming home again and spending time with family. This is book five in the series and this one is being published by Crooked Lane Books . The setting and characters are so richly written, endearing and realistic. This is a March 14th release and set in the dead of winter. Being surrounded by ice and snow myself with the winds howling I had no trouble settling into this captivating story. As Irish based series go this is one of my top favorites and this mystery based on loyalty and family and history struck all the right chords with me. It is my belief that you are in for a big treat with Cruel Winter!

I really enjoyed this book. I do like murder mystery books but this one had a different spin on it. It wasn't following the police trying to solve the crime this was the people of the village it happened in 20 years after the crime. Maura was brought up in Boston but her Nan lived in a village in Ireland on the death of her Nan's friend Mick Maura found herself the owner of the local pub. During an unusual Snow storm Maura opened the pub to anyone stuck in the snow. One of the people to turn up was Diane a lady blamed for the death of her neighbour 20 years earlier. To keep themselves entertained during the storm they decided to try and solve the mystery that the Garda hadn't been able to get to the bottom of all those years before. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a mystery this was a crime with a difference a great read.

I look forward to each addition to the County Cork series, but this was not my favorite edition. The basic plot line strands a group of customers in the pub during a nasty snowstorm. One of the patrons is a former resident who left the area after a local murder. She's always been thought to have a pivotal role in the murder of her neighbor, if not the murderer herself, although never charged. The bored and stranded residents decide that they'll hear out her story and see if their opinions change. Of course, in the end they solve the cold case murder.

As a read, I found it to be slow moving and kind of boring perhaps because the entire story takes place in the pub. It revolves around all new characters and the regulars are relegated to bystanders status for the most part. The motivation for murder didn't show up until the end, as well as another set of new players. I think this series succeed because of the colorful characters, culture and country. This book just didn't showcase any of that.