The Drowning Sea continues the series' exploration of the inner life of its main character: Maggie becomes increasingly obsessed with the case, her dogged detective work serving as a distraction from the reasons for her retirement and the question of whether to uproot her and her daughter's lives by permanently moving to Ireland...The Drowning Sea‘s gorgeous backdrop and stalwart sleuth will satisfy and impress mystery readers, particularly fans of traditional whodunits.
... a perfect mystery novel. Not only are we presented with numerous suspects, the motive for any potential murder may lie in the village’s deep history. Ireland is a beautiful and mysterious place, and Ross Head is no exception. Sarah Stewart Taylor deftly handles all of this and more without letting the narrative become overstuffed. The finale is quite suspenseful with more than a few surprises, and I look forward to seeing how the series progresses.
... terrific ... Taylor creates a full portrait of the appealing Maggie and her family, reveling in her characters' intelligence and emotional landscapes, while balancing domestic scenes with a police investigation. By exploring the Irish community and its history as related to Rosscliffe House, Taylor gives readers a vivid, enthralling look at Ireland. These are characters that readers will want to revisit.
In this atmospheric Gothic mystery, Taylor weaves Irish history and folklore together with secrets and hidden relationships to reveal potential motives, such as xenophobia. This story, which could be read as a stand-alone, is perfect for readers of Wendy Webb, Ellie Griffiths, Sarah Waters, and Simone St. James.
... filled with stunning local color featuring Ireland. It combines a police procedural with family challenges. The large cast of characters and various crimes can be overwhelming, but fans of the series, and those who appreciate the setting, will welcome the return to Ireland.
Taylor’s thoughtful third mystery featuring former Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy finds Maggie and her school-age daughter, Lilly, spending the summer on a remote peninsula in Cork with Maggie’s boyfriend, Conor, and his son, Adrien...While Maggie wrestles over whether to move to Dublin to be with Conor and uproot Lilly from friends and family in New York, developers have begun to convert a crumbling Anglo-Irish manor house into a hotel...Taylor is adept at balancing police procedure with the domestic drama of Maggie’s mixed family, and her descriptions of the Irish coast and the small town where Maggie is staying will have armchair travelers itching to grab a pint and head to the local pub...Readers will be looking forward to more from this heartfelt series.
Now that she’s quit her job as a homicide detective on Long Island, Maggie D’arcy assumes her long summer vacation in West Cork will be free of past entanglements...As if...Maggie’s 17-year-old daughter, Lilly, instantly spots a spectral figure in the window of the cottage they’re renting on the grounds of Rosscliffe House with Maggie’s sweetie, history professor Conor Kearney...he logical candidate is Dorothea Reynolds, a governess to the children of the Crawford family, who vanished from Rosscliffe Manor in 1973...The customary squabbles between haves and have-lesses are upstaged at least briefly by the discovery on Crescent Beach of the late Lukas Adamik, a Pole who worked for Nevin before he too went missing...The two women uncover a diffuse web of intrigue that implicates so many suspects it’s a relief when one of them is finally arrested...So many crimes and misdemeanors that you’ll need a score card...Nice local color, though.
