Romance is in the air. Or on the ‘Gram, anyway.When an influencer-turned-bridezilla shows up at the lighthouse to capture Insta-perfect wedding photos designed to entice sponsors to fund her lavish wedding, Gethsemane has her hands full trying to keep Eamon from blasting the entire wedding party over the edge of the cliff.Wedding bells become funeral bells when members of the bride’s entourage … start turning up dead. Frankie’s girlfriend, Verna, is pegged as maid-of-honor on the suspect list when the Garda discover the not-so-dearly departed groom was her ex and Gethsemane catches her standing over a body.Gethsemane uncovers devilish dealings as she fights to clear Verna, for Frankie’s sake. Will she find the killer in time to save Frankie from another heartbreak? Or will the photos in her social media feed be post-mortem?
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Execution in E” earns 5+/5 Wedding Photos…“Insta-perfect!”
Alexia Gordon’s Gethsemane Brown mystery series is a big favorite I look forward to every year. This fifth book was well worth the wait with a Kardashian-like Bridezilla entangling everyone in Dunmallach, Ireland. Bride, American heiress, and “social media influencer,” Sunny Markham, is hoping to gather internet support and sponsors for her elaborate wedding, but it’s the groom that interests Gethsemane and has caused venomous threats from a few locals. Verna and her sister hold serious animosity toward the groom due to a tragic “accident,” and he left Verna at the altar. Gethsemane’s early “musical” warning system (Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique”) has been loud and annoying when around several in the wedding party which usually heralds the coming of a dead body. At dawn, Inspector Sutton emphatically pounds on the cottage door; the groom was found hanging at “her” lighthouse. The sisters will need much to explain away their textbook motive, means, and opportunity.
Alexia Gordon’s well-written drama uses a third-person narrative debunking the idea what happens in the past, stays in the past. Secrets, past events, and character connection seemingly unrelated are revealed, but not soon enough to avoid several murders. The descriptive language brings out the Irish countryside, the Inn and lighthouse, and character appearances along with banter to show tone and personalities and provide a few giggles with snarky humor. I love a bit of the paranormal in my cozy, but I demand realism, too. With this series, I get both. Eamon McCarthy is the perfect roommate, exasperating at times with colorful auras, energy orbs, and snarky retorts. He is a good listener, gives sound advice or criticism, and plays the piano. He also eavesdrops, levitates, transports, and makes coffee, the perfect detective’s assistant. It isn’t juvenile hocus-pocus; “Irish” is an effective character and the ghostly manner can be overlooked as just another quirk. And a cliffhanger? Oh, to wait another year…
I ordered this book as a holiday present for my Irish-American mother-in-law, who has read and loved the entire series, which is set in Ireland. I couldn’t resist taking a peek, and before I knew it, I’d read the whole thing in one sitting!
The premise, setting, and characters are unique and charming. This series defines the quintessential cozy mystery, yet has so many distinct features: it’s genre-blending (paranormal, romance, crime, mystery), has a POC as the protagonist, is set in a lighthouse…I could go on, but you get the idea. Highly recommend not just this book, but the entire series.
Execution in E is the 5th in the Gethsemene Brown mystery series by Alexia Gordon. In the latest installment, social media influencer Sunny Markham, set on the village of Dunmullach for her insta-perfect wedding, is choreographing the engagement photo shoot to line up her sponsors for the big event. Unfortunately, the wedding party begins to dwindle as the murder count starts to add up.
Gethsemene, with her ghostly counterpart Eamon McCarthy, jumps into sleuthing action when her good friend Frankie’s girlfriend becomes the primary suspect. With each book in this series, I look forward to reengaging with a sleuth who is loyal, sensible, and smart. The descriptions are so vivid, without being overdone, that I can imagine myself pedaling along with Gethsemene on her vintage Pashley Parabike or having a pint in the local pub with her friends.
With the quirky yet charming villagers, the curmudgeonly but likable ghost of Eamon McCarthy, and the abundance of spine tingling moments, you won’t want to miss this book! Well done, Alexia Gordon!
Since joining the Lone Star Book Blog team, I have heard nothing but rave reviews about the books in this series, so this year, I was finally able to read one, and I am so glad that I did! Though this is the fifth book in the series, I never felt that I was missing anything, but I will definitely be returning to the previous installments to spend some more time with Gethesmane and this fascinating life she has built in Ireland.
Amid these challenging times, if you are looking for a wholly new place to escape to, then look no further than the quaint Irish village of Dunmullach. The picturesque descriptions create such a captivating and atmospheric story that you will truly feel like you are in fact walking among the characters. Everything from the cliffs, the lighthouse, the church to the community itself are all captured in such intricate detail as to truly bring this rich setting to life. And it certainly isn’t hard to imagine just how beautiful the Instagram photos would be!
Gethesmane is the perfect amateur sleuth to walk with through the story. She’s charismatic enough to get people talking even when they don’t really want to, inquisitive enough to try her hand at solving a mystery in the first place, and stubborn enough to find herself in some very precarious and dangerous situations. Her sidekick, Eamon, a ghost stuck on this side of the after-life, brings some levity and the right amount of common sense to fashion together the perfect crime-solving duo. This clever plot has great use of red herrings to keep you guessing until the very end, but add in a lot more than just a dalliance into the occult, and the twists keep coming! But ultimately, the story’s cast of shady characters with all of their convoluted and conflicted relationships is intensely fascinating to read about and unravels into an unforgettable and grisly conclusion that should not be missed!
The author’s deft storytelling created an unsettling, suspenseful, and slow-burning mystery that is so well done as to rival the great mystery writers of our time. This is definitely a series that will be highly recommended as an example of a great place to start with cozy mysteries. An absolutely fantastic and well done story that I can’t wait to go back to with the first book! I’m so glad I had the chance to read this one and look forward to reading more.
Many thanks to Lone Star Book Blog Tours and the author for providing me with a free copy of the book. This is my honest and thoughtful opinion.
In Execution in E, Gethsemane’s landlord rents out the lighthouse next to her cottage to a social media influencer for her wedding. The bridezilla is there with an entourage to take pre-wedding photos to use to entice sponsors for her wedding. No one, including Eamon, the ghost who haunts the property, likes the obnoxious group. When the groom turns up dead, one of Gethsemane’s friends is a suspect due to her prior relationship with the man. When things go from bad to worse, with more members of the wedding party turning up dead, amateur detective Gethsemane dives into the investigation and finds herself in far more danger than she could have anticipated.
This paranormal mystery is a fun and fast read with lots of suspects, all of which have interesting backstories and motives. The mystery is well-plotted and engaging. I recommend it for those who enjoy paranormal mysteries..
Thank you to the publisher and Edelweiss for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.