Alexia Gordon

An African-American violinist suddenly stranded in Ireland faces two daunting tasks: preparing the village school’s orchestra for a high-stakes competition they can’t possibly win and solving a pair of murders now celebrating their 25th anniversaries.
We meet Gethsemane Brown. (who would give their kid a name like that) She's a very accomplished classical musician who has abandoned her life in the states to take a job in Ireland. Unfortunately, that job has been pulled out from under her, show more given to some someone else, and now she finds herself stranded with no luggage and no money and a one-way ticket to Ireland.

Luckily, she’s offered to stay at a cottage in a tiny village in the Irish countryside and soon finds herself teaching at St. Brennan’s School for Boys. The orchestra has a big competition coming up and…they need help. A LOT of help. In the midst of all of these life changes, Gethsemane also comes to realize the cottage is inhabited by the ghost of a suspect in a long-ago murder-suicide case. He claims he’s innocent and wants Gethsemane’s help in clearing his name. “Definitely a ghost.... not a hallucination: a hallucination would’ve had better manners.”

The story is written, with a few healthy dashes of humor and several good tense moments. Gethsemane is an incredibly likable character, and her interactions with the ghost in the story were some of my favorites. I’m not a big fan of cozy mysteries as a rule, but I am very interested in trying another in this series. show less

Gethsemane Brown doesn’t shy away from problems, and living with a ghost doesn’t bother her. But when she needs to talk to him, and he doesn’t come to her, she does have a problem. She uses an ancient spell to conjure him up, but gets a sea captain instead! She is trying to save the cottage where she lives from a developer, but that problem takes a backseat to more pressing problems. Her brother-in-law is accused of the theft of a antique sampler. Somehow, Gethsemane must prove him show more innocent. Working undercover with the police, she tries to find evidence of art theft. And don’t forget, she has the sea captain dogging her steps and needing her help as well. This series is one you don’t want to miss. Its refreshing setting and well-developed characters would be enough to keep the reader interested, but throw in a well-thoughtout intricate plot and ghosts, and you have the makings of an excellent tale. show less

Orchestral conductor and seer of ghosts, Gethsemane Brown is back in this third installment of the music-murder-paranormal series that takes place in lovely rural Ireland. I absolutely LOVE the setting. The descriptions of the quaint little Irish town where Gethsemane teaches school and deals with ghost Eamon (who happens to live in her house) completely make this book. Add in a team of ghost hunters visiting her village, a curse that feels like it’s straight out of Phantom of the Opera, show more and a classroom full of teenage boys eager to get on TV, and this was a fun ride.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

Gethsemane Brown is a music teacher in Ireland, a fairly new life. She lives at Carraigfaire Cottage, once the home of a famous Irish composer, Eamon McCarthy. While Eamon's ghost once haunted the cottage, he has since disappeared. And Gethsemane wants him back - mainly because his descendant Billy, the current owner, is planning to sell the cottage to an American real estate developer named Hank Wayne who will destroy the heart of the cottage while turning it into a hotel. Because of this, show more she asks for help from the local priest in the form of borrowing a book to summon spirits, in the hope that it will bring Eamon back to get rid of Hank, who has a deathly fear of ghosts. But instead, it brings the spirit of a sea captain who needs her help.

To add to this her brother-in-law Jackson Applethwaite arrives looking to purchase a needlework collection for his museum. But when a small piece of the collection - now stolen - is found in the pocket of his overcoat, he is suspected of the crime. In order to clear his name, Gethsemane agrees to go undercover at a private function for Olivia McCarthy-Boyle, a serious art collector, as one of the musicians in order to find a bill of sale for the collection.

But while searching for the bill of sale, Gethsemane encounters a few slight problems...first, that the ghost she conjured up isn't that of Eamon, but a Colonial sea captain, and while she's still adjusting to it, she finds Mrs. McCarthy-Boyle's body in the bushes below the office balcony.

Now art fraud has escalated to what appears to be murder. At first it seems that Gethsemane is the guilty one, but luckily there was a witness to her whereabouts, yet Jackson's still not off the hook, and suddenly her simple task seems to have become much more complicated. Only her wits and hopefully, the help of Captain Lochlan, will help her find the truth before Jackson isn't able to return home to Virginia at all but remain in Ireland, and in a lot more cloistered area than the remote village where she lives...

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. I thought the plot was well thought out and the writing was very good. What bothered me though is that I had a hard time believing a priest would actually give anyone a book on summoning spirits - especially knowing why she wanted it. I seriously doubt if you went to a priest and asked him for a book so you could summon 'just one' ghost that he would willingly give you a book (if there was one in his possession). It's not the sort of thing they do.

Secondly, Gethsemane is just a tad arrogant - it was apparent in the first book, but I hoped it had been toned down a bit for this one. However, she believes herself such a good detective that she actually compares herself to Poirot - yes, Christie's Poirot. That's arrogance. Don't get me wrong, I like strong female characters, but when she withholds potential information so that she can investigate, and in a country she's still unfamiliar with? It doesn't ring true.

Aside from these things, the ending was satisfactory, and while I enjoyed the first book more, I will probably read the next in the series. show less