In Murder in an Irish Pub by Carlene O’Connor, competing card sharks stir up a quiet Irish village and turner a poker tournament into a game of Hangman. Pair this page turner with a cup of Stash Super Irish Breakfast and your favorite scone recipe.
Message from the Author
I come from a long line of Irish storytellers. My great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America in 1897, and the stories have been owing ever since. Of all the places I’ve wandered across the pond, I fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick. at idyllic place inspired me to create the setting of my Irish Village Mystery series, where Siobhán O’Sullivan investigates crimes, wrangles her five kooky siblings, and helps run her family’s local bistro. Ireland is full of colorful phrases and slang. Like all languages, some phrases are particular to certain counties. Some are also used in the UK. Here are a few of my favorites, which I first heard in Irish pubs and uttered by Irish friends, and now appear in the Irish Village Mystery series.
Deadly – Awesome, cool
What’s the craic? – Craic is the Irish word for fun. This translates to “what’s up,” “what’s going on.” If the phrase is “That was some craic,”
it means that they had a really good time.
That’s gas – Funny
That’s class – Cool, awesome. Something admired.
Give a bell – Make a phone call
What’s for you won’t pass you – Advice given when a person is longing for something, usually a love interest. A gentle way of saying “What will be, will be.”
Doing my messages – Doing errands/shopping
Jammers Knackered – “The place was jammers!” (Full to capacity, busy) Tired
Up here for thinking, down there for dancing – Accompanied by pointing to the head, then the feet or midsection. Usually said after one utters something intelligent.
About Murder in an Irish Pub
In the small village of Kilbane in County Cork, for a cuppa tea or a slice of brown bread, you go to Naomi’s Bistro, managed by the many siblings of the lively O’Sullivan brood. For a pint or a game of darts—or for the poker tournament that’s just come to town—it’s the pub you want.
One player’s reputation precedes him: Eamon Foley, a tinker out of Dublin, called the Octopus for playing like he has eight hands under the table. But when Foley is found at the end of a rope, swinging from the rafters of Rory Mack’s pub, it’s time for the garda to take matters into their own hands. Macdara Flannery would lay odds it’s a simple suicide—after all, there’s a note and the room was locked. But Siobhán suspects foul play, as does Foley’s very pregnant widow. Perhaps one of Foley’s fellow finalists just raised the stakes to life and death.
With conflicting theories on the crime—not to mention the possibility of a proposal—tensions are running high between Siobhán and Macdara. Soon it’s up to Siobhán to call a killer’s bluff, but if she doesn’t play her cards right, she may be the next one taken out of the game.
Get your copy of Murder in an Irish Pub here!
Carlene O’Connor is the USA Today best-selling author of the Irish Village Mystery series, which was inspired by a walled town in County Limerick. In the series, she has renamed the town and nudged it over to County Cork, just so the folks in the real town wouldn’t get browned off. In the latest Irish Village Mystery, Murder in an Irish Pub, competing card sharks stir up Siobhán O’Sullivan’s quiet Irish village as a poker tournament turns into a game of hangman. Learn more at carleneoconnor.net.
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