Almost time for the last First Monday Crime event before the summer break. And it’s a corker of a panel! Literary royalty suitable for the Queen herself! Sarah Vaughan, Will Carver, Victoria Selman and Sinead Crowley will be joining Jake Kerridge on Monday 6th June on our Facebook page at 7.30pm BST. Thank you to Ayo Okojie at Aria for letting me read The Belladonna Maze by Sinead Crowley. Before I give you my review, here’s the blurb.
The Blurb
An old house can hold many secrets. Hollowpark in the west of Ireland certainly does. At the heart of the gardens is an intricate maze, named after a deadly poison, Belladonna. If you know the way through, it’s magical, a hiding place and playground like no other. If you don’t, it’s a place of fear and sinister riddles, where a young girl once went missing and was never seen again.
Grace comes to Hollowpark as a nanny for young Skye FitzMahon. Soon the mysterious past of Hollowpark has seduced her. Who is the woman she sometimes glimpses in an upstairs window? Or the apparition who keeps showing up unexpectedly, pleading, ‘Find me’. And how can she fight her growing attraction to Skye’s father?
My Review
The Belladonna Maze has everything you want in a country house murder mystery book – an old house being restored by a determined family, a deadly maze, a dual timeline which has a real Bronte feel about it and a plucky heroine who knows she has to stay until the bitter end. Oh, and ghosts. Definitely some of them around!
I loved this book and thought the dual timeline worked well as the two stories interweaved. Grace is a nanny in the modern section, working for Patrick & Isla, looking after their daughter, Skye. Having first met them in Greece, Grace is a little unsure about returning to her native Ireland but once she sees Hollowpark Hall, she falls in love with the place. Deidre FitzMahon was resident at Hollowpark in the 1800s. Her story is an interesting one but I don’t want to give anything away. Suffice to say, I loved the historical aspect and could easily have read more about Deidre.
Hollowpark Hall is a character in itself and I could visualise the ruined house being brought back to life. The Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade) maze has an atmosphere all of its own and is splendidly creepy. I wish I could visit it in real life. In fact, the more books I read by Irish authors, the more I want to visit Ireland.
This isn’t a fast-paced book but it’s not meant to be. A slightly slower pace allows the story to unwrap, atmosphere build and tension heighten. It’s a glorious read.
You can buy The Belladonna Maze here or better still, check out your local bookshop.
About the Author
With ghosts, a disappearance, a face at the window and a hint of romance, The Belladonna Maze is a Big House mystery set in the west of Ireland. This is my first stand-alone novel, I’ve also written three books in the DS Claire Boyle series which were all shortlisted for the Crime Book of the Year awards at the Irish Book Awards.
By day I’m Arts and Media correspondent with RTE News in Dublin, and when I’m not reporting or writing I spend far too much time on twitter @SCrowleyAuthor, and I can be found on Facebook too!
joykluver 