Buried in a Bog, Book 1. By Sheila Connolly Narrated By Amy Rubinate

Buried in a Bog
County Cork Mystery Series, Book 1
By Sheila Connolly
Narrated By Amy Rubinate
Tantor Audio Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins

Amy Rubinate

Amy Rubinate has a very lovely voice that I enjoy listening too. Although I'm not familiar with Irish accents, I thought her accents were well done and credible. Her voice is very clear and her inflections are nice.

She does a good job expressing the sadness in Maura. Maura's Grandmother recently died, the apartments where she lived were to become condominiums so she has to move out and she is alone in the world and has little going for her, leaving her feeling depressed and lost.

I thought it was a bit of a task for Ms. Rubinate to capture Maura's, personality as Maura is like quicksilver emotionally. and doesn't have a strong personality for Amy Rubinate to grab onto. So she did do a fine job jostling back and forth through the mood swings.

I would like to hear the pace picked up a couple notches as reading to slow and carefully drags out the negative tones of the book.
The third in the series An Early Wake , Ms. Rubinate does read it faster which I liked very much.

Sheila Connolly

Buried in a Bog: Audio Book Review:

I really did not like Maura Donovan, she is a bore and whines a lot. Maura is constantly questioning herself. On the one hand she wonders if she's done something offensive or out of line, and on the other hand she is curt and sounds rude. You could get dizzy the way she switches emotional gears and she's so full of self-doubt. I swear she's a public hazard. Sometimes I wasn't sure if the slowly paced narration and inflections increased the drabness of Maura or Maura is such a tiresome person. All in all Maura Donovan is a very unlikable person.

After her father died and her mother took off to parts unknown, Maura was raised by her grandmother. So it's just her and her Gran. When her Gran is dying she tells Maura she wants her to go to Ireland, Maura agrees just to please her, knowing full well she has no money to take that kind of trip. A couple weeks after the funeral Maura is packing up the contents of their apartment, and finds a box of photos, letters, and money enough to fly to Ireland. It seems as if her Gran had been planning for Maura to take this trip for a very long time.

Following instructions she got from Bridget Nolan, her gran's life long friend from her hometown in Ireland. Maura gets off the bus in Leap (pronounced Lep) and goes into Sullivan's' Pub. Her first impressions are wow, what a dump. Rose the young bartender knows who she is and tells her Bridget left a note with instructions when she arrives in Leap.

First on the list is to go across the road and rent a room from Ellen. After a good nights sleep but still feeling some jet lag, Maura finds Bridget has arranged for her grandson to drive Maura to her place for a visit. Maura finally learns from Bridget many things about her family that she never knew before.

Bridget lets her use her dead husbands car to get around on her own while she's in Ireland. Maura does not know how to drive a stick shift but somehow manages miraculously to teach herself in a short time by trial and error. On her way back to Leap she stalls where the police are swarming the area.

She ask a policeman (called garde in Ireland ) what they are doing and chats with him for a bit. Seems they are dredging up a body from the bog. This is big news in the area and business is brisk at Sullivan's Pub when she gets there.  Rose is handling it alone so Maura asks her if she needs a hand. Of course she is happy to get some extra help. God knows where Maura gets the energy to work till midnight with jet lag, a stressful afternoon with the car and an emotionally draining visit with Bridget.

Although Maura is a strange character and I did not like her, I liked the book. The descriptions of the Irish countryside are a pleasure to read and make it possible to visualize the area. The concept is intriguing and most of the cast of characters are interesting. There are many situations that are highly unlikely to happen but I overlook them as it is fiction. I can recommend the book if you enjoy a cozy type mystery that moves along at a good pace.