Fiona Walsh thought her family's secrets would follow her to her grave, but when her diary is found by a young postman, Niall, the truth about her untimely demise--and that of her sister and aunt--begins to see the light of day. It's the most tragic love story he's ever heard. Niall soon becomes enveloped by the mystery surrounding Jim--an itinerant storyteller who traveled through Ireland enrapturing audiences and wooing women with his macabre mythic sagas--though a trail of murder followed him wherever he went. The Walsh sisters, fiercely loyal to each other, were not immune to "darling" Jim's powers of seduction, but found themselves in harm's way when they began to uncover his treacherous past. Niall must now continue his dangerous hunt for the truth--and for the vanished third sister--while there's still time.
Amazon.com
A quick, entertaining murder mystery set around the Dublin area of Ireland. Three women are found dead inside their home -- two sisters and their aunt. It looks to be perhaps a case of murder-suicide but now the police are trying to figure out who killed who and what happened to lead up to this outcome. Some time later, a postal worker comes across a journal left in the "dead letter" bin (mail deemed undeliverable). The journal turns out to be that of one of the victims, disclosing what happened up to the final days of the writer and how a mysterious drifter storyteller named Jim was tied to it all ---- not sure how the journal got there but I went with it.
I liked the premise and enjoyed the tone of the early chapters, settling myself in for a good mystery. Somewhere down the road the story started to fall apart for me. The voice of Fiona (the writer of the journal) started to get irritating to me and her sisters didn't really come to life for me either. I wished there had been a little more of Niall to the story. Also, the wolf story, while a neat idea to incorporate, I thought ran a little long whenever it was brought up. Strong beginning but by the end I was bummed to find there wasn't a stronger mystery / thriller aspect to the whole thing. While I enjoyed it, it didn't quite get up to the level of tense creepiness I was hoping to find. And I never saw where promoters got "the most tragic love story ever". Yes, the crime was a sad one but "most tragic" is a bit much for what happened. Seems like it was largely brought about by unfortunate life choices. But points for the story incorporating two important names from my own family tree -- Finbar & Houlihan! :-D
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