Irish Eyes

This is my first Callahan Garrity mystery, although it is 8th in the series. I was pleasantly surprised by the novel and the grittiness of the investigator.
Callahan, owner of House Mouse, a cleaning service, returns to her old life as an investigator when one of her friends is shot in the head after stopping at a liquor store one night. Callahan wonders if he was part of the Irish ring of criminals. When another cop is killed, Callahan knows that there is something amiss and she and those around her are in danger.
I was really surprised to know that MKA wrote such gritty mysteries. I will probably read more of this series.

Callahan Garrity is the owner of House Mouse, a cleaning service that tidies up after Atlanta's elite. She's also a former cop and a part-time sleuth. When Callahan Garrity gets caught in a liquor store holdup on the way home from a St. Paddy's Day party, one of her best friends is shot. Callahan and her House Mouse cleaning crew dive into the investigation-only to discover that her old friend might have been working both sides of the law as an accomplice in a string of robberies.

Callahan is a likeable, no-nonsense character who doesn’t hesitate to get involved in other people’s business when a good friend and cop gets shot. With help from other ex-cop friends and her cleaning crew, she gets into a few risky situations trying to show more get information. The story was interesting and had a couple of surprises. It was a light and enjoyable mystery with a bit of humor. show less

I love Mary Kay Andrews' writing, especially her newer romantic comedies. After making my way through those, I became hooked on her nineties mystery series in the past few months and read each novel. Callahan Garrity, like the author's other heroines, is both frustrating and very likeable. The books are full of humor but also some genuinely good page-turning scares. I became very interested in the secondary characters-so I'm not sure if this installment is my favorite or least favorite Callahan book. I know that this is almost twenty years old, but I wish Andrews hadn't ended the series on this note, and that there was more to come from Callahan Garrity.

Julia Callahan Garrity (known to her friends as Callahan and to her family as "Jules") left the Atlanta Police Department 10 years ago when she was denied a promotion to Homicide Detective. Turning her back on the "glass ceiling" Callahan bought a cleaning business called The House Mouse and picked up a license to be a private investigator on the side. Over the years, she's relied heavily on her former partner and best friend Bucky Deavors (who got that promotion she was denied), for information on various cases, so when he invites her to a St. Patrick's Day party at a local bar, she can't say no. But the evening ends abruptly when Bucky is shot during an apparent liquor store robbery while they're on the way home. Callahan is show more devastated, and the talk that perhaps Bucky was a "dirty cop" only intensifies her pain. It doesn't help matters any when she learns that her long-time lover, Mac MacAuliff, is about to take a job in Nashville, and wants Callahan to drop everything, sell both her businesses, and move away with him. With her entire life in turmoil, she is determined to find the person responsible for shooting Bucky and clear her friend's name, and with the sometimes outrageous help of her "Mice", she swears she will pierce the veil of secrecy surrounding an Irish fraternal police organization if it's the last thing she ever does. But she's up against a nameless, faceless enemy and the bad guys could be anywhere. She no longer knows who to trust on the Atlanta PD, and her enemies are watching her every move while brewing up something far more lethal than a mug of green beer.

I really hate to see this series end. It's got everything I like in a mystery series: great characters, twisted plot lines, moments of sheer hilarity, and others that tug at your heart. But, this book was written in 2000 and nary another one since, in this series anyway. This one had an epilogue that attempted to tie up assorted loose ends and deliver everything with a nice bow on top, but it didn't satisfy me. I would far rather imagine that Callahan and her iron-willed, deeply Southern mother Edna, are still handling the day to day mundane business of cleaning houses along with Neva Jean, Ruby, Cheezer, and the most unforgettable pair of sisters I've ever run across, Baby and Sister Easterbrooks, both in their 80s, and ready for anything. I do recommend this series. show less

Irish Eyes is a book that has a beginning, middle and an end wherein all pieces are neatly tied up. The book was written by an author who likes her chosen profession because she did not just end the story leaving the reader wondering. Irish Eyes deals with brutal murders and robberies. It was a believable story in that no character just all of a sudden produces information. Because the book was neatly written, with a good story it received four stars here. It is recommended.

Sorry to see the Callahan Garrity Mystery series end (however, I jumped ahead and have two left to read --#5 Heart Trouble and #7 Midnight Clear).

Irish Eyes was suspenseful and hard to put down as it continues to build during the entire book and keeps you guessing as who all is a part of the murder ring.

As usual, Kathy Hogan Trocheck (Mary Kay Andrews) truly understands the south and knows Atlanta. It is always nice to catch up with the different spots in Atlanta, and visit the array of colorful, and humorous characters with lots of twists and turns.

Without giving away the ending, was expecting something different; however, was an engaging mystery full of humor and southern sass. Highly recommend as Irish Eyes and Strange Brew were show more my favorites in the series. Looking forward to reading the ones I have missed.

A big fan of Mary Kay, will continue to buy anything she writes as she never disappoints! show less

I jumped right into book 8 in the Callahan Garrity series, which wasn't a problem. The plot was good, the criminals twisted, the main character was smart and caring, the secondary characters appealing. A few of the recurring characters are a little like milder versions of Stephanie Plum's crazy friends; in other words, quirky but believable.

At this point in her life, Callahan is not working for anyone else; it's a personal issue. She's trying to find the person who shot her best friend, her former Atlanta police partner, so there are plenty of heart in this too.

The audio narrator, Hillary Huber, was fine, but rather slow for my liking. I know the idea was to use the southern drawl, but she still could have sped up a bit.