My sadly now deceased mother-in-law of Irish descent was a huge fan of a chat. Regardless of whether or not you were in the room when she started the story, had the slightest idea who she was talking about, or what on earth the point of the whole thing was. There was something about the cadence of her style that I was reminded of when listening to A PLOT TO DIE FOR, written and read by Ardal O'Hanlon. Who I must admit I know of mostly from his work as a stand up comedian and then his turn as the central detective on Death in Paradise.
The blurb for this mentions it's for readers who enjoy the warmth of Graham Norton and that show in particular, and I have to admit I selected it from my audio queue mostly because of the potential of the accent. Which was lovely to listen to, made the rambling byways and side shuffles of the whole story worth every listening minute.
A cosy style mystery, with the deathly seriousness of a Tidy Towns competition at its heart, the main characters in this one are celebrity gardener Finn O'Leary, his aging mother, her carer, his mildly batty father, and a whole lot of people in a small town that if Finn didn't go to school with them, there was a very close relative involved. Like his best friend's sister, Aoife, the other "main" character in this tale which involves some murdering, a lot of vandalism, and the deadly serious and very closely followed Tidy Towns competition. There's a spot of gardening, a lot of personal stuff, some really funny dialogue, and a bit of romance. And I cannot tell you how grateful I was for a recent QI episode because one character deploys "Dundee" quite a bit and I knew exactly how disparaging that is, why and where it came from.
Highly recommended in audio format, for the gentle distraction and bit of fun (craic?) that this whole thing provided, I do hope they do another in this series. Finn and Aoife were lovely to take along on the endless car journeys.
A Plot to Die For
The first in a mystery series from the much-loved Irish actor, writer and comedian, for readers who enjoy the warmth of Graham Norton and the mystery of Death in Paradise , all wrapped up in one small Irish town.
When beloved celebrity gardener Finn O’Leary returns to his hometown of Abbeyford in Ireland to care for his aging mother, he is naturally roped into the Tidy Towns committee.
The Tidy Towns is a competition fanatically fought over by every town and village in the land. And for his best friend’s sister, Aoife, it’s a competition she’s determined to win. With everyone’s favourite gardener on board, she is sure that this year Abbeyford will take home the prize. But Finn’s not been back long when an alto-baritone at his mother’s choir practice drops dead during a rendition of ‘What the World Needs Now’.
With more at stake than just winning Tidy Towns, Finn soon finds himself trying to solve a murder – or two. For one of his many qualities is that people tend to confide in him…
With his mother, her carer and Aoife in tow, Finn sets out to discover just who has brought murder to Abbeyford.
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