A Worthy Addition....
A Reverend Mother historical mystery, and the seventh in this series, which finds the Reverend Mother with a case of murder possibly prompted by greed. With a compelling plot, credible characters and solid sense of place this is an atmospheric and engaging mystery. A worthy addition to the series.

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Irish historical murder poses quite a puzzle!

A variation on the locked room mystery, with a dead body, seven heirs and other sundries gathered in the house to await their wealthy relative's decision on whom will inherit her fortune. Amongst them the Reverend Mother. This relative, Charlotte Hendrick, is also a slum lord. Feelings are running high about the conditions and rents in these areas around the Cork of the 1920's.
That same night a crowd has gathered to witness the reenactment of the building of a Viking house. An incident that turns into a riot. Another slum lord dies at the hands of the crowd. Eileen is present and her observations are particularly salient.
I must admit I'm enjoying following the growth of Patrick and Eileen into their roles, and how they're developing their strengths. Old friends are welcomed and new characters introduced.
Front and center in this particular murder, the sharp mind of the Reverend Mother once again helps to pull things together.
This read is a comfortable return to the Cork of the times and this ongoing historical mystery series.

A Severn House ARC via NetGalley
(Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.)

It's 1920s Cork, Ireland and Charlotte has decided to make her seven possible heirs argue their case to inherit her money. Among those in attendance is Reverend Mother, our heroine but let's face it, a woman who could make good use of the money for her charitable works. Regrettably, Charlotte is found murdered (!) the next morning and the game is afoot. Inspector Patrick Cashman is assigned to figure out which, if any, of the people present committed the crime. Note also that there was considerable civil unrest right outside that evening-is this relevant? I especially liked the atmospherics of the period. This has the feel of a closed room mystery and you will shift your view on who is guilty as you read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good quick read.

The Reverend Mother finds herself at a gathering at her cousin’s home, with hopes of a legacy to be promised to one of the family members invited. Instead, the cousin is found with her throat slit, and few clues as to the murderer.

I enjoyed the setting of this novel, Cork, Ireland, in the 1920’s. The descriptions of civil unrest and social upheaval were interesting and engaging. I wish there had been more of the bit characters, Eileen and Patrick. I found the Reverend Mother herself to be somewhat cold and off-putting as a main character.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Seven relatives are expecting a share of Charlotte Kendrick’s estate, but six are about to be disappointed. Reverend Mother Aquinas was invited to a gathering at Charlotte’s home where each of the heirs must explain what they would do with their inheritance. One person would then be selected who would receive everything. As each plan was presented, Charlotte criticized and embarrassed everyone with the exception of her late husband’s nephew, making him the obvious favorite. The next morning her body was found in her locked bedroom.

In a house filled with disappointed heirs, Inspector Patrick Cashman is grateful for Reverend Mother’s assistance. The evidence points to Julie, Charlotte’s companion and caretaker. She spent years catering to Charlotte’s every demand while suffering constant abuse. Now she finds herself facing eviction with no money. There was a mutual hatred and that makes Julie the prime suspect. As she proclaims her innocence, Reverend Mother investigates the crime scene and activities of the guests to ensure that Charlotte receives justice.

Cora Harrison provides a mystery that fans of Agatha Christie will enjoy. She sets a scene that is atmospheric with a victim who antagonizes everyone. While she is an influential citizen. She is also a landlord collecting rents from the poor whose homes are over-crowded and unhealthy. There is a possibility that her death was the result of the unrest among the tenants. As Patrick concludes his investigation, it is Reverend Mother who provides a final unforeseen twist. This is the seventh book in the Reverend Mother Aquinas series but it can be read as a stand-alone. It will definitely have you looking forward to other entries in this series. I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for providing this book for my review.

Money is the route of all evil. The Reverend Mother is one of Seven beneficiaries to her cousin’s will. They have been asked to stay at her cousins home on Bachelor’s Quay and give their reasons for receiving the money. Local riots cover up the death that night of her cousin. The Reverend Mother will help Inspector Patrick Cashman to follow the clues to the only suspect. There is another twist at the end which will keep you page turning till the last.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Cora Harrison brings back the Reverend Mother in the Death of a Prominent Citizen. Her cousin has invited her potential heirs to make a case for their right to the inheritance. Then the cousin dies in the night, apparently murdered. The cousin's relative and servant is suspected. Whodunit? The IRA was involved in a riot outside the house of the dead citizen. The Inspector has seven suspects in the potential heirs. Reverend Mother has her work cut out to solve the case.

‘This is a strange business, isn’t it?’

Ireland, in the 1920s. Charlotte Hendrick is a wealthy widow, living in a substantial home on Bachelor’s Quay in Cork. She’s always said that her wealth will be divided equally between her seven closest relatives when she dies. But she’s changed her mind. Her relatives, including the Reverend Mother, are summoned to her home. Mrs Hendrick wants each of her relatives to make a case for why they should be the sole beneficiary of her will. The person she adjudges the winner will inherit it all.

And so, after an uncomfortable evening during which different family members make their pitch, the guests retire for the night. In the meantime, there are riots on the quays outside as recent flood waters rise.

The next morning, Charlotte Hendrick is found dead. Who killed her? Was her murder connected to the riots on the quay? And what impact might her murder have on her will?

Inspector Patrick Cashman is called to the scene. And just after he starts speaking to those in the house, Mrs Hendrick’s solicitor arrives.

Although this is the seventh novel in the Reverend Mother series, it is the first of the series I’ve read. It can definitely be read as a standalone. There is no shortage of suspects: there are seven people who stood to benefit from Mrs Hendrick’s estate as well as numerous tenants to whom she was an indifferent slumlord.
Set in post-independent Ireland, this is a tense and engaging story. The contrast between wealth and poverty, heartbreaking but hamstrung efforts to replace slums with new housing. I didn’t work out who killed Mrs Hendrick until the end.

I’ve read quite a number of Ms Harrison’s novels over the years (piecemeal, from different series as I can lay my hands on them). I’ve enjoyed each one of them, and this is no exception. Carefully plotted and well written.

Highly recommended, especially to readers of historical mystery.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Severn House Publishers for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This is book 7 in the Reverend Mother series, but it easily works as a standalone.

In the middle of the night, wealthy Charlotte Hendricks has her throat slit. While it's possible that the killer is an outsider, the book has the feel of an Agatha Christie-ish locked-door mystery. There are plenty of interesting suspects. So who is it?

THE SUSPECTS

It could be . . .

Julie Clancy, the long-suffering unpaid companion/servant of her cousin Charlotte, will be destitute and homeless . . .

Lucy is financially secure, but she would do anything to help her daughters be safe, secure, and spoiled with lovely things. But does anything include murder . . .?

Claude's pub/club is almost bankrupt . . .

Brenda wants to restore her husband's wine business . . .

Florence is the orphaned niece of Brenda. She has grand dreams of touring Russia and Europe to study art. But travel is expensive . . .

Professor Hendrick is Charlotte's favorite. He plans to do archaeological research into the Viking influence in their area. Everyone expects that she will leave all the money to him, but what if she changes her mind? She might live another decade or more . . .

And the bedroom window is open, with a rope hanging down the side of the house. After all, that night, violent men protested against this hated landlord's house while the guests pitched their ideas. Could the killer have come from the outside?

THE DETECTIVE(S)

Even the Reverend Mother has a motive: that money would help build houses for the destitute she sees each day. But from the start, we know she is an upright character who won't stoop to murder. The police investigator, Patrick, is one of her former students and he allows her to assist him in the murder investigation because of her level head and observant behavior.

While the Reverend Mother is clearly the heroine of the story, I have to give Patrick his dues. He investigates every possible solution and refuses to allow social class or money to influence his behavior, even when pressured by his supervisor. I liked him a great deal.

I also liked Eileen, a university student, newspaper writer, and former IRA member who has been helped by the Reverend Mother. Her keen eye for details and lively personality are helpful in the investigation. (I "shipped" her and Patrick. I strongly suspect that the Reverend Mother finds the idea amusing, too. These two need to be in a romantic relationship.)

Reverend Mother won my sympathy on page one with her discomfort at a committee meeting dealing with the slum clearance in Cork. She's horrified by the statistics of how many families live in this unlivable slum. I admired her willingness to work in these conditions, given her advanced age and the feeling of futility that often accompanies the fight against poverty.

THE VICTIM

Most of the committee members are less than sympathetic. These people claim to care about the poor, but it's obvious that they don't. They use churchy language to justify their idiotic and unchristian attitudes toward others. And no one is more guilty of this than the Reverend Mother's cousin, the reviled landlord Charlotte Hendricks.

Charlotte is a victim you'll love to hate. The woman is despicable even before she shows up on the page, and even more so when she deigns to make an appearance and disparage all except the professor's ideas. So when she dies, well, no one's exactly grieving. (Except the Reverend Mother, who does say the prayers for the dead for the woman.)

THE SETTING

The tension is thick throughout this book. Floods threaten to overrun the Quay and damage the crumbling slum houses. A Viking exhibition turns into a drunken protest against poverty. The IRA shows up, much to witness Eileen's horror. I was almost breathless as Eileen described the scene, especially when violence broke out.

Cora Harrison captures post-independent Ireland in all its complexities. Freedom from England hasn't brought all the happiness and prosperity that the rebels promised. The gap between the wealthy and poor grows larger every year. Even those sympathetic to the poor don't know what to do. And the poverty is heartbreaking.

Yet there are glimmers of goodness in this squalor. Patrick's insistence on an impartial investigation. Eileen's courage. A city developer's passion for building new homes for those in the slums. And when eight children return home from school to find their widowed mother has died in childbirth, the Reverend Mother helps them find new homes. Neighbors who have next to nothing generously take in these orphans. Their generosity stands in contrast to the wealthy's tight-fisted control.

THE SOLUTION

The book's ending satisfied me. Oddly, this suspect had briefly flitted through my mind, but the author deftly bounced me around with other possible solutions. Even 95% of the way through the book, I didn't know the ending to this whodunit. Cora Harrison knows how to build a well-constructed plot!

RECOMMENDED for historical mystery fans, any mystery fans, and anyone interested in 1920s Ireland.

I received a copy of this book from Severn House and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

(Note: This review will appear on my blog on July 6, 2020.)

The city of Cork, Ireland, in the 1920s plays a major role in this newest volume in Cora Harrison's Reverend Mother series.

A house party given by Reverend Mother's cousin to determine which relative will inherit her fortune ends in murder on a stormy night that floods the city's quays, whips up violence against slumlords and highlights the plight of spinsters dependent on the kindness of relatives.

All the regulars of the series appear: Mother Superior's former students Eileen, subsidizing her university education as a newspaper reporter, and Patrick, who leads the murder investigation; Dr. Sher and childhood friend Lucy.

The solution is a real surprise.

I have a soft spot for historical mysteries that feature clerical protagonists. I love Father Brown. I love Brother Cadfael. And, I just might be able to work up some passion for The Reverend Mother featured in Cora Harrison's DEATH OF A PROMINENT CITIZEN.

As someone educated i a parochial school, I enjoyed The Reverend Mother's reminiscences and insights based upon her experience teaching local children. Her perception of their adult behavior was informed by their personalities on the playground and in the classroom. (a little of Miss Marple here, comparing everyone she meets to someone from her Village of St. Mary Mead). But, it endeared me to The Reverend Mother and I enjoyed the deft blending of her worldly experience with her theological ruminations. In other words, I got a tremendous kick out of her.

The story itself was of less interest to me. Other than the charming policeman and his impish "bad-girl" friend---I found the characters shallow and lacking in interest. The deceased was such a vile person that it didn't matter one whit to me who killed her---perhaps that was the point, after all.

Netgalley provided me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for a candid review.

Huge thanks to Severn House, Cora Harrison, #NetGalley for this advance copy of #DeathofaProminentCitizen. I adore this series, Reverend Mother Mystery #7, and found myself unable to put this book down, except to sleep. The period detail and the characters are so entrancing to me, not the least as details I know happened to my ancestors are unfolded. What a terrible time for all but the upper class citizens at this time, the immediate aftermath of the Irish Civil War.

"Money is the root of all evil, according to the Reverend Mother – but is it the motive for her cousin's murder?"

Wealthy Charlotte Hendrick, first cousin to the Reverend Mother and 6 others, was not a warm character as well as being a slum landlord. She decides to change her will and exclude 6 of her cousins and invites them to her mansion to "present their cases" on what they would do with an inheritance. The evening of the presentation falls on a night of riots on the nearby quays and in the morning Reverend Mother finds her cousin deceased with her throat cut.

Was this an outside murder related to the landlord riots or was it a distraught relative who did not want to be disinherited.?Reverend Mother, Inspector Patrick Cashman with his Sergeant Joe and Dr. Scher spend the following week finding the murderer. Of course Reverend Mother figures it out and it was a completely unexpected ending- but VERY satisfactory! Love this series.

224 pages

5 stars

Very wealthy Charlotte Hendrick changes her mind about her will. Instead of leaving equal shares to her seven closest relatives, she decides she is going to invite them all to her home to have them plead their cases for the money and the “winner” will get it all. This, of course, upsets the relatives, one of whom is the Reverend Mother.

They all attend an uncomfortable evening in which each person pleads their case.

The Reverend Mother is awakened during the night by a noise and in the morning Charlotte Hendrick is found dead with her throat cut. Inspector Patrick Cashman is called to the scene. Immediately, Patrick and his Sergeant Joe begin their interviews of the still present relatives. Mrs. Hendrick was unpopular with her tenants. She was a slumlord who had little respect or concern about her tenants. She didn't care about the sad conditions of the homes and did very little to care for their upkeep. Did one of the tenants murder her? Or, was it one of the disappointed relatives?

The ending of this book took me completely by surprise.

This is perhaps my most favorite book of Ms. Harrison's Reverend Mother series. It is well written and well thought-out. I truly enjoyed this book. I really like the level-headed Reverend Mother and she is still as sharp as a tack for a woman of her mature years. I like Patrick and Joe as well. However, Eileen drives me a little crazy. She picks some bad men friends and seems to make some pretty uninformed decisions. But she is young yet...

I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for forwarding to me a copy of this very great book for me to read, enjoy and review.