Some of Us Are Looking by Carlene O'Connor Book Review! #SomeofUsAreLooking #NetGalley

 

320 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication October 24, 2023 by Kensington

In late summer, the Dingle peninsula is thronged with tourists drawn to County Kerry’s dark mountains and deep, lush valleys. For Irish vet Dimpna Wilde, who has returned to run her family’s practice after years away, home is a beautiful but complicated place—especially when it becomes the setting for a brutal murder . . . 

In Dimpna Wilde’s veterinary practice, an imminent meteor shower has elevated the usual gossip to include talk of shooting stars and the watch parties that are planned all over Dingle. But there are also matters nearer at hand to discuss—including the ragtag caravan of young people selling wares by the roadside, and the shocking death of Chris Henderson, an elderly local, in a hit-and-run.

Just hours before his death, Henderson had stormed into the Garda Station, complaining loudly about the caravan’s occupants causing noise and disruption. One of their members is a beautiful young woman named Brigid Sweeney, and Dimpna is shocked when Brigid later turns up at her practice, her clothing splattered in blood and an injured hare tucked into her shirt.

Brigid claims that a mysterious stranger has been trying to obtain a lucky rabbit’s foot. Dimpna is incensed at the thought of anyone mutilating animals, but there is far worse in store. On the night of the meteor shower, Dimpna finds Brigid’s body tied to a tree, her left hand severed. She has bled to death. Wrapped around her wrist is a rabbit’s foot.

Brigid had amassed plenty of admirers, and there were tangled relationships within the group. But perhaps there is something more complex than jealousy at play. The rabbit’s foot, the severed hand, the coinciding meteor shower—the deeper Dimpna and Detective Sargeant Cormac O’Brien investigate, the more ominous the signs seem to be, laced with a warning that Dimpna fears it will prove fatal to overlook.

Carlene O’Connor is the USA Today Bestselling author of The Irish Village Mystery Series, (8 books so far), The Home to Ireland Series (2-books), and the upcoming (2022) County Kerry Mystery series. She comes from a long line of Irish storytellers.

Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork.

https://carleneoconnor.net/

My Thoughts

Some of Us are Looking is the second book in the County Kerry series featuring the return of Irish vet Dimpna Wilde, Inspector Cormac O'Brian, and Sergeant Barbara Neely. These are characters featured in the first book, No Stranger Here.

Dimpna Wilde is running the veterinary clinic that her father, Eamon Wilde, had made a success of. Her father is no longer able to handle the clinic as he is suffering from Alzheimer's. She has the help of Patrick Kelly, her assistant, and Niamh her receptionist.

There was a hit-and-run at the Camp, injuring Chris Henderson, who eventually passed from his injuries. The black Audi hit him and left a mother fox injured as well. The Garda finds a baby fox in the man's jacket. Dimpna is there to take the baby fox and take it to the clinic.

A young woman, Bridget Sweeney comes into the clinic with a rabbit that she had saved from having its foot cut off. Dimpna takes the rabbit puts it in a cage and then goes off to see the meteor show with Cormac, while there he gets a call that there are two dogs running loose, apparently dangerous as they appear to have been drugged. At the same time, Cormac's mother has passed away. 

The dogs are put in cages at the clinic and Cormac finds that they belong to four people in a caravan. Cormac asks her to bring the dogs the next day to the Camp. Dimpna spots something in the woods and discovers the body of Bridget Sweeney, tied to a tree and missing a hand. 

There are numerous suspects especially the three people that Bridget was traveling with. So not only does Cormac have a hit and run, but what happened to Bridget, and who would do such a thing. This takes Cormac and Dimpna on a wild chase to figure out who killed these two people and why.

As was the first book in the series, No Stranger Here, the author tells a suspenseful tale. I so enjoy stories that take place in Ireland and Some of Us Are Looking is a great story that is character-driven. I eagerly wait for the next one in the series, but while I am waiting there is the Irish Village Mystery Series and Home to Ireland Series. 

I enjoyed the story and I give the book 5 stars.

I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.