THE LOST TRAVELLER is a County Cork Mystery written by Shelia Connolly.
Boston native Maura Donovan is living and working in the small town of Leap in County Cork in Ireland. She unexpectedly inherited Sullivan’s Pub after the death of her grandmother.
Maura discovers a dead body in the ravine near the pub and the book revolves around this ‘mystery man’, for no one can identify him.

I want to like this title and this series so much. I have visited the area many times and I like the locale and the premise for Maura being in Ireland. The book cover (on my Kindle Fire) is beautiful and beckons you into the book. I think Ms. Connolly has traveled, herself, in the area and tries to weave some local color and incidents and issues into her story. But there is very little plot. There is page after page of Maura complaining and whining over and over again about the same things. She takes no responsibility for anything - can’t and won’t learn to use a computer for her business; doesn’t ‘do the books’ for the pub; has been barely out of Leap after a year in Ireland; knows no local laws, rules, regulations. Whine - Whine -Whine - that is the plot!
The whole issue of immigration is ‘sort of’ brought up, as Maura needs employees to help run the bar, but the issues and rules are glossed over and not fully explained.
I really don’t like these ‘cozy mysteries’ where the local police force is written off as incompetent. It is just not true. The main character comes off as an interfering, ignorant busybody.
This title is a no-go for me. ( )

I like this series but this was not one of the better ones. A mutilated body is found in the ravine behind Maura's pub by her and she starts investigating and asking questions. She seems unaware of the danger until the end of the book. Meanwhile, she's thinking of adding a kitchen to serve lunch and dinner, wanting to hire more help while not having any knowledge about how to implement the changes. ( )

I have loved this quirky series since the first book, but I have to say that this one was my least favorite so far. The story was slow and repetitive. You have Maura asking questions or being in a situation and then repeating all of that to the next three or four people she encounters. The Maura in this book didn’t seem like the Maura in previous books. This Maura just seems to be floating on the surface of life without really participating in it. She has employees she has worked with for over a year, and they have become very close, but she doesn’t even know where they live – in a very, very small community. She owns the pub, but she seems more like an employee than the owner. I don’t mean she should be dictatorial, I like the participative management style, but she seems to let the employees just manage things and she shows up to work. What I think is that she should know how to do all of the jobs (including the internet, etc.) whether she is the one who actually does them or not. In this book, she also appears very indecisive – should she do the kitchen or not, etc. She seems to be leaving all of that in the hands of a seventeen-year-old girl rather than being responsibly and actively involved. Anyway, if this is your first book in the series, please don’t judge the series by this book. The series really is better read from beginning to end because you get the full character development and come to understand the relationships.

One of the things I love is the way the writer manages to write regular, every-day English and makes you swear you ‘hear’ an Irish lilt there. I love the descriptions of the Irish culture and countryside. Makes me want to move there and visit with Billy, Mick, Rose, Bridget, Sean, and Gillian.

The mystery in this book seemed a bit flat. It seemed to be more about discovering the identity of the dead man rather than what happened to him. I think it could have been much more interesting if the Travellers had played a more central role in the whole thing. Just as an FYI – the title is misleading. Maura seems to just leap to the conclusion that the murder has something to do with illegals entering the country rather than it being a crime of passion or a vendetta or – well – just anything else.

Maura wanted to enjoy the sunshine on a beautiful day and took her lunch outside to eat. As she’s sitting there thinking, she looks up toward the bridge that crosses over the ravine that gave the small town of Leap its name. She’s amazed that she sees a bag of garbage that has been dumped near the midpoint underneath the bridge. Well, since it is on her property, Maura supposes she is the one who should clean it up – until she takes a closer look and discovers that it is a dead body. She immediately calls her friend at the local Gardai (police) station, Garda Sean Murphy.

Not only was the body dumped on Maura’s property, but the face had been mutilated so that it was impossible to identify it. Was someone trying to send Maura a message? Could it have something to do with her staff or a local patron of the pub? Was it maybe even meant to be a message for the previous owner Old Mick? Lots of questions, and few answers.

I am already anxiously awaiting the next book in the series and hoping that it will be better than this one. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, but it just isn’t the quality I have come to expect from this author and this series.

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"I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher." ( )

The Lost Traveller in the seventh book in the A County Cork Mystery series.

I love stopping into Sullivan’s Pub to catch up with the engaging residents of Leep. Maura is settling and is enjoying managing the pub, but still has doubts about adding meals. Her young helper, Rose, thinks this is the next thing that needs to be added. She’s working part-time in a small restaurant in Skibbereen learning food preparation and the management side and feels confident in being able to handle the cafe side of the pub. Maura and Mick’s relationship seems to be going just fine, they’re taking it one day at a time. Seamus and his pals are again around to help Maura with her sleuthing and of course to have a lottery as to who might be the killer. As always, Billy can be found sitting in his favorite chair near the warm fireplace. Billy, having lived all his life in Leep knows and for the most part has remembered everything and everyone in Leep. His clues that he gives Maura may be rather cryptic but are always spot on.

It’s rather a quiet day at Sullivan’s Pub and Maura decides to grab her lunch and go outside for a breath of fresh air and enjoy the nice weather. Soon she notices what looks my trash in a ravine and when she goes to investigate she finds that it is fact a dead body. A search of the body provides no identification and the victim was badly beaten about his face that it will be a while before it can be learned who he was.

As Maura starts to investigate the death, speculation begins to be centered around some Travellers who have recently shown up in the area or possibly might be an illegal immigrant as there seems to a shortage of workers in the area. Maura asks her garda friend, Sean, for measurements of the victim’s face and she will give that information to Gillian, her friend, and a local artist, to see if she can provide what the victim may have looked like to aid in the investigation.

I thought the story was very interesting, well-.told and plotted and a cast of very interesting and believable characters.

I am looking forward to my next visit with Maura and the wonderful residents of Leep. ( )