Path into Darkness

June 1, 2017
Something dark and twisted in the Irish village of Lisfenora brings American Merrit Chase together again with DS Danny Ahern (Whispers in the Mist, 2016, etc.).After Elder Joe, a regular at the local pub, is brutally stabbed in his home, Merrit is the unfortunate who finds his body. Joe had been exploiting Cecil Wallace, his elderly lodger, but Cecil doesn't seem to have anyone who would avenge him. Ahern's on the case even though his thoughts are with his wife, who lies comatose in a hospital bed. Merrit is also inclined to meddle, but she's distracted by her ailing father and his wish that she take on his role as village matchmaker. Meanwhile, potter Nathan Tate is profoundly traumatized, and his beautiful, charming, and unsettlingly attentive daughter, Zoe, somehow only seems to make him worse despite her falsely modest claims to be a miraculous healer. What helps Nathan more is his burgeoning romance with Annie Belden, but she must cope with her own haunting past and present threats. An urgent text message sends Nathan and Merrit rushing to Annie's home, where they find her corpse along with an ominous bouquet of dead flowers. Danny interviews Annie's therapist and finds yet another severely mentally ill person in her past. Is Nathan terrified of ordinary human evil, or is Zoe truly supernatural? The story moves slowly, and its telling includes excessively didactic explanations of Irish vernacular. The results are atmospheric but unsatisfying.

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July 1, 2017

In Lisfenora, Ireland, DS Danny Ahern is struggling. His wife is on life support, and his weekly trips to the hospital are difficult. Then an old pub mate is murdered, and Danny discovers the man was running a scheme to take in older lodgers with no nearby relatives. One of the last people to see Elder Joe alive is an artist who suffers from PTSD. Danny tries to get answers from a troubled man who doesn't always know the day or time. As he investigates, two other characters view the case from their own perspectives. One is a woman whose father has proclaimed her the next matchmaker in the village. A third narrator remains anonymous while writing in a journal. VERDICT Alber's third series outing (following Whispers in the Mist) is an atmospheric story of Ireland, filled with myth and darkness. The characters are as hard and mysterious as the land itself. Fans of Erin Hart's dark Irish crime novels should welcome this series.--LH

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017
Long-buried secrets and current troubles come to light in Lisfenora, Ireland, as Detective Sergeant Danny Ahern investigates the murder of a local man in Alber's latest County Clare mystery. Meanwhile, Nathan Tate, with his spotty memory and tenuous grip on reality, struggles to deal with the return of his irrepressible daughter, Zoe, who fancies herself a healer; Annie Belden is hiding from her past, terrified it will catch up to her; and Merrit Chase, recently returned to Ireland from California, is appalled when her dying father anoints her the next village matchmaker. Ahern, whose wife is comatose and not expected to recover, contends with guilt and the inability to let go as he tries to shield his children from the reality of their mother's situation. These various stories, past and present, are slowly revealed from multiple points of view as Merrit, against Ahern's wishes, meddles to unravel the truth. A dark, compelling mystery with numerous plot twists and well-drawn characters interwoven with an involving portrait of life in a small, insular Irish village.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)