Some folks indulge in binge watching Christmas movies over the holidays, I binge on Christmas novels – preferably mysteries. I don’t know when this started but it’s been at least 10 years since I picked up Monica Ferris’ Crewel Yule (#6 in the Needlecraft series) and got hooked. But now Ferris hasn’t published in probably 5 years so I’ve been going elsewhere  David Rosenfelt’s Christmas books in the Andy Carpenter series are excellent. I just this year tried Alexandra Benedict and found her books quite fun.

Murder at an Irish Christmas
by Carlene O’Sullivan
2020
Read by Caroline Lennon 9h 19m
Rating: C / a cozy “who done it”
Irish Village Msyteries – #6 

From the publisher: 
The O’Sullivan clan of County Cork, Ireland, are back to investigate another case of murder–this time at Christmas! Garda Siobhan O’Sullivan’s holiday plans hit a sour note when murder rearranges the yuletide carols into unexpected eulogies…

This December in Kilbane, if you’re planning to warm up with a cuppa tea at Naomi’s Bistro, you may have a bit of a wait–the entire O’Sullivan brood has gone off to West Cork to spend the holidays with brother James’s fiancee Elise’s family, including her grandfather, the famous orchestral conductor Enda Elliot. Siobhan is so happy for James and Elise but also quietly disappointed that she must put her own wedding to fellow garda Macdara Flannery on hold. Mac will have to join them later, so he can spend part of the holidays with his mam.

When the O’Sullivans learn everyone will choose a name from a hat to buy a music-related Christmas gift for someone else at the gathering, it seems like their greatest concern–until the cantankerous conductor is discovered crushed under a ninety-pound harp in a local concert hall.

With the extended family–including Enda’s much-younger new wife Leah, a virtuoso violinist–suspected in his murder, it’s up to Siobhan to ensure the guilty party faces the music. But as a snowstorm strands both families in a lavish farmhouse on a cliff, Siobhan had better pick up the tempo–before the killer orchestrates another untimely demise…  

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Reading this book felt like being in a clothes dryer filled with too many characters all appropriately dressed but tumbled around. Also, the situations felt a bit far-fetched and messed with credibility, a very important factor in this genre. I managed to get accustomed to the accent of the reader but … I’m glad I tried a Christmas book and not a regular in the series because the character who acts as the love interest for the protagonist was away at his own parents home for the holidays – no romance scenes. But still, no thanks.