I really enjoyed reading this cozy mystery. Gethsemane, a musician, has found herself in Ireland needing a job. She accepts a position at a school needing someone to help win a local music contest. The job comes with a cottage once belonging to a famous musician. The cottage comes with a ghost asking her to solve the mystery of his wife and his death. I really liked the small town Irish setting and the characters. The mystery was good although I was able to figure out the who did it. I am looking for word to reading more in this series. Enjoy this entertaining cozy.

This is is a new series for me and has started well. Classical musician Gethsemane Brown has left Dallas to travel to Ireland for a position with an orchestra there. Once she arrives, she finds out that the job was given to someone else and she is stranded. Her luggage has been lost and she has not money to return home. She accepts a position turning a rowdy bunch of schoolboys into an award-winning orchestra. For living arrangements, she ends up housesitting in a lovely cottage that once belonged to one of her musical heroes, Irish composer Eamon McCarthy. As she settles in, she comes face to face with the ghost of the cottage's murdered owner. He is thrilled that not only can she see him, but she can hear him as well. Many years before, he was falsely accused of killing his wife then committing suicide. He begs Gethsemane to clear his name so he can rest in peace.

I love the character of Gethsemane Brown. She is a brilliant African American woman, who is an accomplished violinist and conductor, is quite beautiful, is athletic and has a great sense of humor. I also loved the setting of this story. The cozy village of Dunmullach is inhabited by a delightful cast of characters - a priest with a rather eclectic taste in reading material, a flashy psychic, a good-looking and hard-working police inspector, the attractive fellow teacher, who is known for his historical practical jokes, schoolboys who are either shy, or pugalists, yet very talented, and some less than savory gentlemen who try to intimidate Gethsemane, but do not have a lot of success. We can't forget the local village pub and all its customers.

As a newly conscripted amateur sleuth, Gethsemane sometimes gets in over her head, but her near scrapes only serve to make her even more tenacious. The dialogue in this story is one of the best parts of the story. The witty, light-hearted banter between her and Eamon's ghost sparkles and entertains. The boys and the way Gethsemane puts them in their places is so honest and refreshing, no wonder they like her so much. The ending is a bit of a cliffhanger, so I am glad the next book is already on my kindle to read. The mystery and investigation do not have a lot of clues; it is one of those, being in the right place at the right time, asking the right questions and using intuition to solve the crime. It was a bit unexpected, but the motive was true and the reveal was well done. I definitely recommend this cozy mystery to lovers of mystery with a little paranormal twist, Amateur Sleuths, and/or the Irish Setting of a small village.

Alexia Gordon created an original character in Gethsemane who even drinks a bit. A great beginning for this new writer with a series destined to be a winner. Gethsemane Brown is my newest favorite character. This new cozy series will garner many fans. Check this out; I know you’ll love it.

Thank you for the chance to review this book, however, unfortunately, I was unable to read and review this title before it was archived.

A very different take on your cozy murder mystery. A very different kind of heroine in a place you wouldn’t think you’d find her in. It had laughs,chills. And a great supporting cast complete with a very maddening new friend that had their share of attitude and challenges coming from all sides. So if you've never heard of this author, give it a chance. You just may be pleasantly surprised. So pick up a copy and enjoy.

I haven't read a cozy mystery in a while, and it made a nice change of pace. Gethsemane Brown was also a refreshingly original character. She is a black violinist/conductor from a high achieving family who ends up in the middle of Irish nowhere after an offer to be a conductor goes south through no fault of hers. Gethsemane needs a win, and not to go home to the USA to her somewhat judgy family, so she takes a gig as an instructor of music for a boys' school. This in and of itself would be interesting enough without the haunted house that she moves into.

Gethsemane has some experience with the supernatural. Tschaikovsky plays in her head when she's about to get into trouble, some of her family members have claimed to see ghosts. So it's not long before she agrees to help her haunting housemate to solve the murder, committed 25 years ago, of him and his wife.

Gethsemane goes about this in a practical way- finding a posthumous alibi for Eamon. However, she stumbles into the sights of a murderer who is still very much alive.

I thought the strengths of this book lay in the snappy banter between Gethsemane and Eamon. In fact, I'd say dialogue in general is a strength of this author. Gethsemane interacts with quite a few of the villagers and her spunkiness impresses the most stone-hearted Irishman. I felt like she had a couple of possible options for romance after the book was over, but nothing was too obvious. I'm interested to see where her relationships go.

Gethsemane notices smells (the notes in perfume and cologne, mostly) more than others, and her perceptiveness also becomes part of the story.

The weaker aspect of the book was the actual plot. Gethsemane isn't exactly subtle, and neither was the murderer, although I didn't guess too early who it was. And the part of the book that interested me- the musical instruction and contest that would earn Gethsemane validation- seemed really sidelined by everything else that was going on. I really did want to read about her musical talent and how she worked with her difficult orchestra and I felt like that part got short shrift. The plot ran all over the place, and it didn't feel like it really settled down.

This is a joint review for Murder in G Major and it's sequel, Death in D Minor. I had similar reactions to both.

I would love to give them more than an OK rating, but if I can put down a book and read 6 or 7 others before picking it up again, it just doesn't capture my interest and doesn't make it recommendation worthy like a 3-5 star review would indicate. Both stories have interesting and different plots, but I never connected to the main character and the secondary characters, of whom there are an engaging number. Gethsemane uses the secondary characters and we learn a bit more about a couple of them personally as the second story continues, but not enough to capture my interest.

G Major is a bit preposterous (aside from the ghost element which you should be willing to accept if you read the blurb) in that Gethsemane can win a competition in 6 weeks especially with a new piece of music with 4 weeks or less to go. She never seems to practice with the kids. One would think they'd have practice after school every day. Luckily in D Minor, the author has Gethsemane on holiday.

Gethsemane also appears to be the only person of color in town and it doesn't seem to be an issue. It's up to the author, of course, if she wants to make it an issue, but it definitely lacks realism. Small towns tend to be wary and not inclusive of any newcomer initially especially one who is visually different.

I received both copies from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Loved this mystery! Eamon's ghost really comes to life and the way his partnership forms with Gethsemane is brilliant and funny. The ending left me dying for more!

I have a fondness for literature that makes a strong connection to music. The two (written word and music) are surprisingly similar but are rarely combined (or at least not well). Seeing a mystery using music in the plot caught my eye and I knew it was something I would want to read.

This book is an absolute delight and I can't wait for more Gethsemane Brown stories.

Gethsemane Brown is a classically trained musician who accepts a job at an all-boys school in the Irish countryside. It's not an ideal job, but she needs some work. One of the (few) perks is staying in the house of a former famous composer, Eamon McCarthy. But Eamon, and his wife, died twenty-five years ago in what was declared a murder-suicide, but the ghost of Eamon still haunts the house and he appears to Gethsemane. He needs Dr, Brown to get his case re-opened and prove that he did not kill his wife, or himself. Eamon is persistent and Brown does get caught up in the search, but in return she convinces Eamon to write another musical piece that she gets to debut - conducting the boys' orchestra in a major competition.

As if the demand to re-open and solve a twenty-five year old murder wasn't challenging enough, there are problems at the school and the musical boys have no confidence in Brown (though only because of the history of revolving directors that have come and gone at the school.

Winning the competition could lead to a new, much more prestigious job back in the United States.

Author Alexia Gordon does such a fantastic job here. She creates a very real world, despite a sense of the supernatural (ghosts). And even within the supernatural aspects, Gordon has created some interesting rules ("I'm eternally banned from the church and church yard. Can only go as far as the front gate").

The mystery is pretty straight-forward - there aren't a lot of red herrings or diversions, but Gordon keeps the story moving forward because we are interested in, and care about, Gethsemane. Although incredibly talented and above the curve in her field, she is also a 'real' person with human reactions to problems.

There are moments when Gordon relies a little too much on convenience and when some characters don't quite live up to ... well ... their character (why does Eamon, after pushing for twenty-five years, doubt the most likely suspect, even when faced with a whole battery of reasons ("Could be a coincidence" he says, which struck me as so completely out-of-place)). And Gethsemane has a history of associates that proves a little too convenient. ("Don't you sound the right legal eagle?" "My eldest sister married a judge.")

Brown does get caught up in the murder investigation (it's a murder mystery after all) but I still would have liked being present at the boys school and seeing her get through to the kids a bit more.

Still, this was a superb introduction to a new series and I recommend it highly.

P.S. Dr. Brown happens to be African-American. It certainly makes her achievements more inspiring given the social status afforded to women and African-Americans today.

Looking for a good book? <em>Murder in G Major</em> by Alexia Gordon is a delightful mystery that embeds music with the supernatural and with a mystery of a decades old murder.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Didn't think I would Iike this book, but I did. It had humor and ghost and it gave me an African-American protagonist.