In An Early Wake by Sheila Connolly, Maura Donovan has owned Sullivan’s Pub in Leap, Ireland for six months. One day Tim Reilly, a student from Trinity College in Dublin, comes into the bar and eagerly begins to ask questions about the 90s’ tradition of gathering musicians and having informal performances that packed out the building. Unfamiliar with the history of the pub, Maura directs Tim to Old Billy, a regular in the pub who gets free beer by telling local tales from the past to visitors. Old Billy eagerly tells Tim and Maura about the musical past of the pub, and the next day, a middle aged man walks into the pub. Tim can hardly talk out of excitement, as the man is Neil Cronan, an Irish musical star from the 90s. Soon, aging musicians begin streaming into the pub, and Mick Nolan, one of the pub employees, cleans up the back room where the jam sessions used to take place.
The next night people crowd into the pub as the musicians take turns playing together in a casual jam session. It brings new life to the pub and rejuvenates both musicians and locals alike. But the next morning when Maura shows up tp open up the pub, she discovers the body of musician Aidan Crowley, dead of a heart attack brought on by being throttled. Local police officer Sean Murphy gets to work trying to solve the murder, while Maura and her colleagues try to figure out how to carry on with life amid the hectic elements of life.
I really loved the first two books of this series, but I was disappointed by An Early Wake. The book had a very limited mystery plot, and besides Maura, I didn’t get a strong sense of the individualism of each character either. A lot of details seemed less than realistic and not as genuine as I would like, such as the fact that Maura doesn’t realize that the back room has many special features including a stage and a balcony.
Amy Rubinate performs the audio edition of this book. I enjoyed her voicing of the characters, using a variety of accents, in particular Maura’s Boston accent and the Irish accent of the locals. She brings out the passion of the musicians and local music lovers, doing a lot to make this book much more enjoyable than reading it visually would become.
An Early Wake was not up to the high standards I’ve come to expect from Sheila Connolly. However, even the best can have an off day, so I will still listen to the next book in the series. I give this book two and a half stars.
To purchase this book for yourself, click here on Amazon.
