Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Murder in G Major - A Review




Murder in G Major.jpg


A Review


Gethsemane is a lost soul. She has lost her job, her fiance had a mistress, and the ghost in her current home is convinced that he was not guilty of his wife’s murder or of his own suicide. Too make matters worse, she had six weeks to turn St. Brennan’s all male, middle school, orchestra into a championship team that must win the 75th Annual All-County School Orchestra Competition - an award they had not won since the inaugural competition - if the school was to get the grant they needed to rebuild their music performance hall and Gethsemane Brown was to keep her job.


Though my description of the story above may sound convoluted, the author has done a very competent job of weaving the various threads into an enjoyable story that is neither boring nor simplistic. Additional murders accumulate like a rock collector gathers rocks.  And, like in any well-written cozy mystery, the problems are all resolved.


Except, as the final page is read, the reader is left unsure if Gethsemane Brown will keep her current job, we do not know what has happened to the friendly ghost that occupied her home, and what can we say about Frank, the math teacher, and Inspector O’Reilly, the local cold case squad?   


As a maestra with talent, whose career seemed to about take off, Gethsemane Brown is ready for the big time. When she finds that the boyfriend who recruited her to conduct a major orchestra is already committed to his mistress, she finds herself stuck - stuck in a small, Irish, boys, school - for which she is neither trained or equipped. But with the help of “Irish”, the ghost, she begins to move forward, both as she builds relationships with her students and as she solves the mystery surrounding the deaths of her ghost and his wife.


A great Halloween read, Murder in G Major will fill some the space between labor day and Thanksgiving (USA), which may also introduce the reader some unknown (at least to him or her) classical music that might make a great play list on Pandora. And after reading the current book, the reader will be wanting more and more of Gethsemane Brown and the kooky townspeople of Dunmullach, Ireland.
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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

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