Martha Geaney's Blog, page 2

Turlough – The Schipperke Character

Turlough, my schipperke, is quite a character. And, he will feature as a series character in one of my upcoming County Mayo Mysteries. The schipperke breed can best be described as a small dog who believes he inhabits the body of a King German shepherd. As a result, schipperkes exhibit a guard dog personality: protective, devoted to family members, and courage.

I love Turlough's tail!My Little Schipperke's Character

In addition to the guard dog behavior, my little schipperke, Turlough, is also a noisy barker and a mischievous little character who like to grab towels from counters so you'll chase him to get them back. When Bill and I take Turlough to agility training each week the little guy runs, jumps, and weaves. We've been in a few agility trials and he has won a few ribbons. But not always! Sometimes he gets out on the field and just does the zoomies until the buzzer rings and the judge says “it's over”.

The Schipperkes Origin

Schipperkes originated in Belgium and the breed name means “little captain”. Turlough lives up to the name: he's independent and investigates everything and everyone. I named my little schipperke Turlough in a tip of my heart to my mother who was born in Turlough Village, County Mayo, Ireland. And, Turlough's breed line is of the Skydance and I Believe in Magic lines.

Turlough the Schipperke as a Character in the County Mayo Mystery Series

So, the Skydance and Magic lines align nicely with the role Turlough the Schipperke will play in a new County Mayo Mystery Series I am developing. Right now, I'm world building. And, I'm having fun with it. I hope you will too. I'll be posting more as I continue to work on the series.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about the Star O'Brien County Mayo mysteries. Here's the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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Good Vibes

Good vibes are what I'm looking for in this beginning of spring. For instance, when I'm in Castlebar, County Mayo, I head to Café Rua for my morning good vibes. The café, on Spencer Street, is one of my favorite places to visit. You will find me there at about 10:00 a.m., savoring a large mug of filtered coffee and pouring cream. Hopefully, I'll see you there some time soon.

Below is a wonderful picture I snapped of the Cafe's front window a few years ago. The picture tells the story of an Irish spring season filled with the first daffodils, queen potatoes, mustard for the potatoes, and marmalade.

Cafe Rua's Recipes on their Blog

By the way, if you want some great recipes for Irish delicacies, check out the cafe's web site. You will find recipes, like this one for marmalade: https://www.caferua.com/marmalade/.

Star O'Brien visits Café Rua

And, here's a quote from the second book in the Star O'Brien County Mayo series from the scene where Paul invites Star to have supper at the café. One of my aspirational goals is to have a book reading at the café the next time I visit family in County Mayo.

Flower pots filled with fragile, white Angelicas adorned Café Rua's windows. Inside on the ground floor, delicacies and pastries from homemade brown scones to wild Irish salmon kept the wait staff busy…”I've had the goat cheese salad with beet greens…” Paul said.

“I've never had beet greens. But I'm willing to try. Provided I can have some brown bread to go along with it,” I replied.

Paul laughed. “Oh, to be sure. There's homemade bread here…”

Death at Ashford Castle: A Star O'Brien County Mayo Mystery

Spring Wishes for You

Wishing you good vibes, good food, and good company this spring season.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O'Brien's County Mayo mysteries. Here's the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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Irish Roots – Pulling Away From Home

For me, my Irish roots and pulling away from home have always been both a source of joy and sadness. When I've gone on work trips or vacations, there has been a certain sweet sadness as I sat in the back of an airport limo and looked back at my home, knowing that I was leaving my loved ones behind. But then, I'd turn forward in the anticipation of the journey ahead, safe in my conviction that I'd return to my cozy base camp (home) and would be reunited with my loved ones again.

I am a child of parents who immigrated to the United States from Ireland. My parents didn't know each other in Ireland. My mom is from County Mayo and my dad was from County Cork. After the second world war, when there weren't many job opportunities in Ireland, my parents pulled away from home and journeyed to New York. It was a time in history when Irish families already here in the States helped other family members come across the Atlantic Ocean.

When my dad left Carrignavar, County Cork he travelled to Ellis Island in NYC by boat. Then, he went to live with one of his cousins (who had sponsored him) in NYC until he was able to work and get his own apartment. He was about 25 years old at the time. Carrignavar, by the way, means “man of the rock”.

My dad was definitely a man of the rock: always kind, always gentle, always caring of his family. Family, the home base, meant a lot to him. If you've read the first book in my Star O'Brien series, Death on Clare Island, you may have noticed that I dedicated that first book to him. His mother, my grandmother (and namesake) died in childbirth when my dad was two years old. The year was 1926. What has always struck me a deeply sad was that my grandfather wasn't able to care for his children. So, he kept one, the oldest boy, and the other three children (including my father) were separated and taken in by various family members.

You might say my dad was a bit of an orphan until he met my mother. Together they made a home base here in the US – a base that we have never had to worry about being pulled away from. My parents were proud of their American citizenship. I've always been proud of my Irish roots and ancestry. Together the love of being American with an Irish heritage is something I celebrate each day without fear.

Unfortunately, this week the scenes of Ukrainian women and children leaving their homes with nothing but a knapsack and a family pet are heartbreaking. It is difficult not to cry when I see a man bending down to say goodbye to his child before the man turns to return to defend his family's base camp, his home in the Ukraine. Will these families ever be reunited? Will they ever feel the joy and anticipation of begin together again in their home base. I hope so with all my heart.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O'Brien's County Mayo mysteries. Here's the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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All You Need is Love

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Death at Turlough Museum #1

Death at the Turlough Museum reached a milestone. I owe a major thank you to the faithful fans and followers of the Star O'Brien County Mayo mystery series. Book three in the series launched on January 25 in paperback and eformat. I never in a million years expected the paperback version of Death at the Turlough Museum to rank as a #1 Best Seller in one of Amazon's categories. But it did!

For almost a week!

However, as Newton discovered, what goes up must come down. Alas, my claim to the #1 rank was short lived – in about a week's time, another book took the #1 spot. Nevertheless, I am ecstatic about Death at the Turlough Museum‘s successful launch. I worked hard all year to write my best book. And, I am grateful to the loving and wonderful readers who waited patiently for the book's release.

What next? I'm already working on the 4th book in the Star O'Brien County Mayo series. More to come…In the meanwhile, you can find Death at the Turlough Museum and the first two books in the series at: Amazon, Kobo, B&N Nook.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O'Brien's County Mayo mysteries. Here's the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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Star O’Brien County Mayo Mystery Returns

Star O'Brien's County Mayo mystery series is back. This third Star O’Brien, cozy murder mystery finds the amateur sleuth in historic Turlough village. But, the body of a local pub owner has been found draped in an exhibit at the Turlough Museum. And Star’s Aunt Georgina is under the suspicion.

Book 3 in the Star O'Brien County Mayo Mystery Series

Never one to trust the police, Star is sure they have it wrong again. They’ve identified Georgina—the man’s former confidante—as the prime suspect. Then, when she disappears, they consider her a fugitive from justice. Star prefers working alone, but stymied and challenged at every turn, she may have to reluctantly accept assistance from Lorcan McHale and Lady Marcella McHale. And, to complicate matters, the elusive Evelyn Cosgrove makes a mysterious request for Star to meet her at a remote location on a specific day, at a specific time. Is Evelyn toying with Star? Or, does Evelyn have real information about Star's missing mother? In a race to find the truth, can Star find justice for Georgina? Can Star pinpoint the real murderer?

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O'Brien's County Mayo mysteries. Here's the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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Cover Reveal

I'm excited to share the cover for the upcoming release of “Death at the Turlough Museum: A Star O'Brien Mystery”. The cover has been in the works for several months. Subscribers to my email list were the first to see it. In fact, they voted on the cover they liked the best. And, that's the one I chose. If you like the cover, please tell your friends about it on your social media pages.

Book 3 in the Star O'Brien County Mayo Mystery Series

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven't already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O'Brien's adventures in County Mayo, Ireland. Here's the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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This is how the Star O’Brien Series Popped

On a blue-skied morning in County Mayo, Ireland, a rainbow appeared over Nephin Mountain in the eastern sky. That summer day teemed with green landscapes, light breezes, and brilliant sunlight. My cousin, looked out the window, and said, “This is the perfect day for hanging laundry outside.” My sentiments exactly! Not regarding the laundry but on being outside. So, on the spur of the moment, I drove to Roonagh Quay, a few miles outside Westport, and climbed on board O’Malley’s Ferry to Clare Island. During the crossing from the mainland to the island, I sat near an open window where the wind caressed my skin. Under the cloudless sky, the blue Atlantic Ocean seemed to stretch for miles. A tiny dot, Clare Island, rested on the horizon where the ocean met the sky.

Clare Island Ferry, “Ocean Star” sails into the harbor.

When the ferry docked, I slung my knapsack over my shoulder, walked to a nearby shop, and purchased a map of the island’s five walking trails. I chose “Walk No. 3” which was approximately two hours. I based my decision upon the time I had to spend on the island and still make the ferry back to the County Mayo mainland, later in the afternoon. The map description also played a key part in my decision: “A straightforward walk with good underfoot conditions. Normal footwear will be adequate.”

I began with Grace O’Malley’s castle. This castle, like all the O’Malley castles, perched on the island’s edge and faced the Atlantic Ocean.

From there I ascended the path to the light house. Along the way, I met a gentleman with a large black dog. The man and I chatted for a few moments when I asked him about his dog. The man was from Belgium and interestingly owned the cottages at the base of the lighthouse. Then, I walked as far as the lighthouse buildings and took a few pictures.

Clare Island LIghthouse

On the descent from the lighthouse, I looked for the abbey where Grace O’Malley is buried. Then I continued on to the Bay View Hotel where I ordered tea and sandwiches. While I enjoyed the basket of sandwiches the server placed on the table, I thought about my day. Clare Island enchanted me! The blue flag beach, the dizzying view from the cliff edges, and, yes, the sheep that littered the hillsides. I would have remained longer but I had to make the ferry back home to Castlebar.

But that’s when my “what if” popped! I wanted to write a mystery series. I wanted to set it in County Mayo, Ireland. “What if” an American inherited a cottage in County Mayo? “What if” the American came to Clare Island to search for her long-lost mother? This was the start of the Star O’Brien series.

The Star O’Brien series began with a What If paragraph in a Mead Composition Notebook

Much of what I experienced on that day debuted in the opening scenes of Death on Clare Island: A Star O’Brien Mystery.

That morning, the sky rose beyond the sea in a luminous ultramarine palette, reminding me of Vermeer’s Woman in Blue Reading a Letter. Treading the grassy path from the Clare Island Lighthouse bed and breakfast down to the harbor, I pictured my mother when she received a letter, many years ago from Clare Island.

Star in Death on Clare Island

My trip around the island is brought to the book in the Prologue.

Matthew Sumner liked the five-hour walk around the island best of all: the danger of ignoring “Beware of Cliff Edges” signs that warned of falling to the rocky inlet below.

From the Prologue in Death on Clare Island

I loved writing this book and dream of hosting a trip to Ireland with Star’s fans. I’d like to walk the island with you and visit each of the places Star goes to in this book. Until I can take that trip with you, you can take a walk around Clare Island with Star. When you subscribe to my email list, you receive a free Star O’Brien short story. Several emails later, you will receive a map of Clare Island and commentary from Star about the island and the map. .

If you are a Star O’Brien fan, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Being seen on Amazon is like being on a raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Each review posted, helps other readers find my work.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven’t already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O’Brien’s adventures in County Mayo, Ireland. Here’s the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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My Fixation with Maps and the Star O’Brien Series

My Fixation with Book Maps Began with a Texas -Based Author

I stood in the fiction section of my tiny hometown library, the North Haledon Library, in New Jersey. It was the 1990s. I was at the library scouring the shelves for a mystery novel. I started in the author’s last name “A” section, searching for authors who had more than one book on the shelf (a series or multiple standalones). When I came across such a bonanza of books, I carefully pulled one from the shelf to read the synopsis on the inside of the flap jacket. Then I would consider whether or not, I wanted to read the novel and potentially all the library offered for that author.

By the time, I got to the “C” authors, my neck had developed a crick from holding it sideways as I perused titles and author names. Not only was I feeling achy but a panicked feeling invaded the pit of my stomach with the fear that I wouldn’t have enough reading material for the weekend. Then I noticed several mystery books by an author named, Deborah Crombie. I reached for a Crombie book and drew it from the shelf.

When I opened the front cover to read the flap, my eyes fell upon a map, intricately drawn onto the front cover end paper. The back cover end paper contained the same map. Wow! The map details captured my imagination. I’d been to London several times in my career and loved the history, diversity of place, and density of experiences from the roof top gardens in Kensington to the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.

Then, I quickly read the synopsis and the author bio. Interestingly, Crombie was a Texas based author writing mystery novels set in England. Intrigued, I immediately produced my library card and checked out one of the books. I left the library with a feeling of anticipation for a new experience. The accompaniment of the maps deepened my reading pleasure. My imagination soared and I relived memories of visiting some of the very places where Crombie’s characters lived and worked. To this day I’ve read every one of Crombie’s books, featuring Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James.

From one of Crombie’s Books

Are you a Crombie follower? Do you enjoy the maps that decorate the end papers in her books?

What I Love About Books with Maps

I love the tactile nature of maps; the opportunity to move my fingers along the map to where the action is taking place. Maps allow me to conceptually imagine in my mind’s eye (as Agatha Christie said) the actions of the characters in the story. Maps guide us and take us to a place where we can world build.

It is my opinion that providing a map is a gift to armchair travelers who have a trip to somewhere else (or maybe another time) on their bucket list. Or maybe like me they’ve been there and enjoy reliving the experience through the eyes of the story’s characters.

What is that you love about maps that go with books?

Maps in Mystery Stories Started in the 1940s

The idea of maps in mystery stories was around long before I discovered Crombie’s books. For example, in the 1940s Dell Publishing put maps (called mapbacks) of where the action took place on the outside back covers of their paperbacks. Nowadays these mapbacks are collectors’ items.

The Maps in my Star O’Brien Mystery Series

I knew exactly what I wanted when I (a New Jersey based author at the time) began writing a mystery series set in County Mayo, Ireland. I wanted maps.

I’ve been going to Ireland since I was four years old. I know all the places I write about. The settings are real places in County Mayo including Cong, Ashford Castle, Clare Island, and Turlough village. Each of these places is unique but they also share a richness of beautiful landscapes and Irish history. These places drip with atmosphere. There are legends, dark, brooding woods, treacherous cliffs that end in the deep blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean, ancient round towers, and sunken cemeteries.

I’ve gone on walks and hikes in these places. Always with some kind of map or trail guide in hand. So, I wanted my series to include a map for each Star O’Brien book. And it does.

Get a copy of a map to go with your Star O’Brien book

Subscribers to my email list receive a copy of a map to go with each book along with commentary from the amateur sleuth, Star O’Brien. For example, the map that goes with “Death at Ashford Castle” is a map of the walk in Cong Woods, including annotations related to the mystery’s inciting event.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven’t already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O’Brien’s adventures in County Mayo, Ireland. Here’s the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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Autumn Days in Ireland

And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.

Oscar Wilde

September 1 marks the beginning of autumn in Ireland. It’s a time when the weather can be beautiful. Cooler but not too cool. Or blustery towards the evening. All good as far as I’m concerned whether it’s a walk along Barney Road in French Hill or a hike along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Field along Barney Road, French Hill

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness….

John Keats – “Ode to Autumn”

It is autumn again. And as I look at a version of this post from a year ago, I am thinking about the passage of time and seasons. We’ve all been hit by the pandemic – some of us in very tragic ways. One year ago, I posted a blog message about the autumn season in Ireland. I was feeling melancholy about the fact that a year had passed since I’d been in Ireland.

Here I am again, another year has zipped by without a trip across the pond. Mostly because of the pandemic and caution about putting Bill at risk. Here’s a picture of Bill from September 2019 at Café Rua on Spencer street for coffee (that’s for me) and a sweet for my sweet, Bill.

The 2019 trip was a wonderful 10 days, seeing my cousins and friends. And, the lovely book signing, for the first book in my series, at the Castle Book Shop in Castlebar, County Mayo.

Book Signing at the Castle Book Shop, Castlebar, County Mayo

So much has happened in the last year. We moved my mom, who has dementia, here to Florida so that she can be near me. Bill’s ability to see and comprehend diminishes each day. But I’m still grateful, we’ve managed to avoid coming down with the virus. We still have each other. This is a picture of the three of us having lunch a few weeks ago.

Lunch with Bill and Mom

Time is passing as Keats meant when he wrote his Ode to Autumn. Autumn is beautiful but it also marks the passage of time. We are spinning through the seasons and hopefully soon we will have spun through the pandemic. Some days, it seems like more than two years have gone by. I have to remind myself what time of year it is, especially here in Florida where it is easy to think you are living in perpetual summer. Just today I put out my fall decorations and table cloth to mark that it is October, that time is passing, and we will move forward.

A gentle reminder that is is Fall in spite of 90 degree weather

How are you marking the passage of time? What are you doing for the fall season? How are you marking this season of mists and mellow fruitfulness? Let me know. I love to hear from readers.

And, until the next time. Keep the love going. – Martha

Thank you so much for reading my blog post today. Please use the buttons below to share with your friends. If you haven’t already, sign up for my newsletter with stories and updates about Star O’Brien’s adventures in County Mayo, Ireland. Here’s the link: https://www.subscribepage.com/marthageaney

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