Erin Hart

In this sequel to Haunted Ground, anthropologist Nora Gavin and archaeologist Cormac Maguire team up once again to solve the mystery of a pair of bodies found in an Irish bog. One man is from the Iron Age, and the other is from the twentieth century, but they have something in common: both men were killed in the ritualistic style of the “triple death.” As Nora and Cormac search for the identity of the modern corpse, they begin to uncover the secrets of the local villagers and the workers show more at the archaeological dig. Then more bodies begin to appear...and Cormac himself is one of the police’s main suspects. Will Nora be able to uncover the truth, clear Cormac’s name, and avoid getting killed herself?

By and large, I think Erin Hart is a very good writer. Lake of Sorrows is very atmospheric; as with Haunted Ground, I loved the evocative details of Ireland that she portrays. She also draws complex, well-rounded characters, which is unquestionably an attribute in a writer. However, in Hart’s case, I almost felt like she spent too much time on the various characters. There were so many of them, each with his or her own complete history and story line. I think the book would have benefited if she had cut a few of the characters and focused more narrowly on the central ones. The overall tone also felt a little dreary and depressing to me (although I guess I should have expected that, given the title!)…but maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood to read it. I do plan to continue with the Nora/Cormac books, as I believe there is at least one more coming out. show less

Cormac Maguire stands in an abandoned fisherman's cottage near Port na Rón, Ireland, and thinks about Mary Heaney, whose disappearance from this house more than a hundred years ago was explained away by claims that she was a selkie who had returned to the sea. As Cormac pulls a lone decaying woman's shoe from under an iron bedframe, he says to Roz, the woman who first told him of the mystery surrounding Mary Heaney's sudden disappearance, “Isn't it strange, though? Who leaves home wearing show more only one shoe?”

Across the ocean in St. Paul, Minnesota, the woman Cormac loves, forensic patholigist Nora Gavin, is trying to solve a different mystery surrounding another woman—her sister, Tríona—who was murdered five years ago. Convinced that Tríona's husband, Peter Hallett, killed her sister but unable to prove it in the months following Tríona's death, Nora has returned from her research work in Ireland to make another attempt at uncovering enough evidence to convict Peter, who has also just returned to St. Paul with Nora's 11-year-old niece, Elizabeth, to marry his fiancé. Meanwhile, the corpse of a woman who disappeared five years ago has been found by the river, and the autopsy indicates the wounds are identical to Tríona's. Detective Frank Cordova, who has never stopped working Tríona's case and who is very attracted to Nora, now begins a new investigation that seeks to uncover the connections between the two victims.

With False Mermaid Erin Hart has crafted a haunting mystery flavored with Irish folklore and topped off with a tang of suspense. Stories that start as parallel puzzles come to intersect across distance and time as the mysteries of Mary and Tríona unfold. Although the gothic notes near the end come off a bit strong, the overall effect is that of a memorable tale well told.

False Mermaid is the third book in the Nora Gavin series following Haunted Ground and Lake of Sorrows. This title can easily be read as a stand-alone novel without having read the first two in the series.

The audio version of this work enhances the overall effect of the story as readers experience the poetic passages as spoken in Irish. Narrator Roslyn Landor's lovely lilt enhances an already intriguing narrative. show less

In False Mermaid, Erin Hart does many things very well, moving this novel beyond the boundaries of whodunits. First, through the realistic characters she has created, she portrays vividly the destruction caused in a family by violent crime. Although the crime, in the end, is solved, there is no real closure, and the survivors continue to suffer.
Secondly, she weaves Irish folklore through her story. This adds a magical dimension to the novel. The mystery of the origins of one of the selkie show more stories is solved, along with the contemporary murder, but Hart leaves us thinking about the importance of stories in our lives. show less

It all begins when the head of a beautiful red-haired girl is found in a bog in western Ireland. Archaeologist Cormac Maguire and anthropologist Nora Gavin arrive at the scene to inspect the remains, trying to learn all they can about when and how she died, as well as the historical period she came from. This mystery of the past soon becomes linked to contemporary affairs: a local woman and her child disappeared two years ago, and her husband, Hugh Osborne, is the number-one suspect in their show more possible murder. Policeman Garret Devaney, who was taken off the Osborne case, nevertheless can’t get it out of his mind, and he teams up with Maguire and Gavin to solve this mystery as well. As the three investigators are drawn deeper and deeper into the case, they must come to terms with their own past secrets…but their own lives might also be in danger.

This book was actually about eight mysteries for the price of one. Who is the red-haired girl, and what happened to her? Where are Hugh Osborne’s wife and son? What happened to Nora’s own sister? Why does Irish farmer Brendan McGann hate Osborne so much? Who is the father of Una McGann’s child? As you can see, there are a lot of plot threads going on, and a lot of characters to keep straight. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this book. There were a few flaws in the characterization, and sometimes I did feel like there was a little too much going on. But Hart created an absorbing world, and that’s what kept me reading – she depicted modern Ireland with such beautiful descriptions that I felt like I was there. I also really liked the way she wove history and culture into the story: the mystery of the red-haired girl turned out to be one of my favorite plot lines, and there are several wonderful scenes in which the characters play traditional Irish music. This was a very satisfying read, and it’s definitely something I plan on buying! Can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel, Lake of Sorrows. show less