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The Mystery of Mercy Close – Marian Keyes

I’ve always been a Marian Keyes fan – I’ve been a bit disappointed of late – but I was hopeful that her old form would return with another story about the walsh family.

Here’s the blurb …

 Marian Keyes, the No. 1 bestselling author of Rachel’s Holiday, is back with her stunning new novel “The Mystery of Mercy Close” and the return of the legendary and beloved Walsh sisters. Helen Walsh doesn’t believe in fear – it’s just a thing invented by men to get all the money and good jobs – and yet she’s sinking. Her work as a Private Investigator has dried up, her flat has been repossessed and now some old demons have resurfaced. Not least in the form of her charming but dodgy ex-boyfriend Jay Parker, who shows up with a missing persons case. Money is tight and Jay is awash with cash, so Helen is forced to take on the task of finding Wayne Diffney, the ‘Wacky One’ from boyband Laddz. Things ended messily with Jay. And she’s never going back there. Besides she has a new boyfriend now, the very sexy detective Artie Devlin and it’s all going well. But the reappearance of Jay is stirring up all kinds of stuff she thought she’d left behind. Playing by her own rules, Helen is drawn into a dark and glamorous world, where her worst enemy is her own head and where increasingly the only person she feels connected to is Wayne, a man she’s never even met. Utterly compelling, moving and very very funny, “The Mystery of Mercy Close” is unlike any novel you’ve ever read and Helen Walsh – courageous, vulnerable and wasp-tongued – is the perfect heroine for our times.

I enjoyed this novel – read it over a weekend. This time it’s Helen’s turn the last of the Walsh sisters and quite a subdued Helen if you remember her feisty personality from the earlier novels. It is not as light-hearted as Keye’s earlier work – where she dealt with serious issues in a witty way (think of Rachel’s Holiday). There is still laugh out loud moments, but the book has a somber undertone. Having said that it is still a comedy with dramatic moments rather than a drama with the occasional funny bit.

More reviews …

 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-mystery-of-mercy-close-by-marian-keyes-8119945.html

http://bookdout.wordpress.com/2012/09/19/review-the-mystery-of-mercy-close-by-marian-keyes/

 

 

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