Finished book #27 in 2025

Book #27
Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin book cover
Book: Death by Leprechaun: A St. Patrick’s Day Murder in Dublin Author: Jennifer S. Alderson
Source: Free BookBub download
Format: Kindle
Pages: 189 Duration: 03/13/25 – 03/13/25 (1 day)
Rating: ★★★★☆ Genres: fiction, cozy mystery, holiday, travel, Irish culture
📕10-word summary: Bad guy, Guy, pisses off people and gets hisself kilt.
🖌6-word review: Typical cozy mystery. Decent “holiday read.”
💭Fun quote: “Sláinte!”
🎓A new-to-me word: coddle
Description:* When an old friend is arrested in Dublin, tour guide Lana Hansen will need the luck of the Irish to clear him of the crime. Lana is thrilled her friend Jeremy and his wife are on her tour to Ireland. The couple are having the time of their lives exploring the country’s rich literary and cultural history, until they run into Guy Smith, a reporter Jeremy recently exposed as a fraud. A tussle turns into a fight and leaves each man vowing to destroy the other. Yet cross words and dirty looks tell Lana that Jeremy is not the only client on her tour who has a grudge against the reporter.*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.
Thoughts: This book was “right on time” — holiday-themed and free — in my daily BookBub email. It was a short, quick read, although when at 50% complete without anyone having yet been murdered, I wondered how long without a murder in a murder mystery was “acceptable.” A search found the answer to be all over the place, but most said closer to 25% to 33% of the way through. While down that rabbit hole, in one page about what elements make a good cozy mystery, the author said to “include a plot twist that the reader won’t see coming.” I’m pretty sure you can’t write a plot twist that people will see coming. Not seeing it coming is the very nature of a plot twist. Needless to say, I’d be hard-pressed to take writing advice from the author of said writing-advice article. I found 3 editing misses in this book, which only made me happier that I got it for free.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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