Siobhán’s brother Eoin’s new family restaurant, The O’Sullivan Six, is so close to opening—but waiting on the necessary permits plus the heat of July in the village of Kilbane in County Cork is driving everyone a bit mad. Macdara Flannery comes to the rescue with a plan—take a holiday by the sea and stuff themselves with fish and chips to support the struggling business of the aptly named Mrs. Chipper.

But when they arrive, a crowd is gathered in front of the closed shop: a local fisherman with a fresh cod delivery, a food critic, Mrs. Chipper’s ex-husband who’s opening a competing fish and chips shop directly across the street, and a repairman to fix the vent for the deep fryer. With Siobhán and Macdara as witnesses, a local handyman gets the locked door open, only to find the proprietor lying dead and covered in flour at the base of a ladder, its rungs coated in slippery fat. Clearly this was not an accidental tragedy . . .

Even as the local garda take over the murder investigation, Siobhán and Macdara can’t help themselves from placing their long-delayed honeymoon on hold—at least until they can help apprehend an elusive killer.

Just when I gave up of ever correctly guessing a murderer in a murder mystery, I did it! And on the 7th chapter too, it was surprising. I don’t know if that means the mystery was lackluster if I guessed it that easily, but it was still cute nonetheless. Also it did not involve a wood chipper like I had initially thought. Apparently Irish chippers refer to fish and chips. Also police are called garda.

This is the 11th in a series, but you don’t really need to know the background of Siobhán and her family to enjoy it. Although, I must admit I first thought Siobhán’s siblings were her kids for like half of the book before I realized she was the parentified older sister. Like any good mystery, the small town is filled with quirky potential suspects. Even though I guessed it quickly, there was a mid-climax twist that threw everything we thought we knew about the murderer and his motives into doubt.

There were a few things that were left hanging, but nothing egregious, and it was a cute, cozy mystery. Just made me wonder if the rest of the series goes to different villages like Dublin, Galway and so on.

Yay, we finished our last book club read of the year! We plan to be a lot more proactive next year, but we’ll see. I do know we’re going to start on an adorable note with The History of the World in 50 Dogs by Mackenzi Lee. See you next year.