Whatever Happened to Molly Bloom

Jim Kinsella #1

by Jessica Stirling

The first in a new series featuring Detective Jim Kinsella. Who murdered Molly? Was it Leopold Bloom, in the kitchen, with a teapot . . .?"
This finely crafted historical mystery, using several recognizable characters and the famous setting from James Joyce s Ulysses, marks an intriguing departure for saga writer Jessica Stirling.
Detective Inspector Jim Kinsella of the Dublin police force is called to the scene when the body of Molly Bloom has been found in her own kitchen where she has been beaten to death with a teapot. Although her husband, Leopold Bloom, is immediately taken into custody without a convincing alibi, Kinsella begins to have his doubts and suspicion falls upon Molly s fellow singer and alleged lover, Hugh Blazes Boylan.
Kinsella, aided by his colleague, Inspector Tom Machin, probes the conflicting stories of Bloom and Boylan. Were the pair seen fighting outside a brothel the night of Molly s murder? And what of the unusual scent, imported from America and found on a cotton ball beneath the Blooms bed, that Kinsella hopes will lead him to Leopold s own dirty little secret?
Kinsella is determined to ensure the wrong man doesn t end up behind bars, and, in seeking the truth, stumbles upon more than he bargained for

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 2014

About the author

A pseudonym used by Hugh C. Rae, initially in collaboration with Peggie Coghlan and later alone.

Hugh Crauford Rae was born on November 22, 1935 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, son of Isobel and Robert Rae. He published his first stories aged 11 in the Robin comic, winning a cricket bat the same year in a children’s writing competition. After graduating from secondary school, he worked as an assistant in the antiquarian department of John Smith's bookshop. At work, he met her future wife, Elizabeth. Published since 1963, he started to wrote suspense novels as Hugh C. Rae, but he also used the pseudonyms of Robert Crawford, R.B. Houston, Stuart Stern (with S. Ungar) and James Albany. On 1973, his novel "The Shooting Gallery" was nominee by the Edgar Award. On 1974, he wrote the first few romance novels with Peggie Coghlan, using the popular pseudonym Jessica Stirling. However, when she retired 7 years after the first book was published, he continued writing more than 30 on his own, and also as Caroline Crosby. His female pseudonyms first became widely known in 1999, when "The Wind from the Hills" was shortlisted for Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association. Widowed nine years ago, Hugh died on September 24, 2014 at the age of 78.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is sad that "The first in a new series featuring detective Jim Kinsella" was instead the pseudonymous Jessica Stirling's only opportunity to share his remarkable creation before his own death. It felt original in the telling and not solely because he's used some of the most famous fictional characters in literature as his victim and suspect. Kinsella is a likeable detective with little in the way of personal foibles to distract him and the female characters especially are strong, and varied... their strength manifests itself in strikingly different ways.

[Juliet Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was surprisingly good, probably not the greatest whodunit in the genre but for someone who read and loved Ulysses (although it's a bit vague now), actually quite a satisfying companion. Well written and reasonably well put together.

[Susan Howson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good courtyard drama and has a nice sad tone, but I’m just not sure it needed to exist.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. Aspiring singer, Molly Bloom, was found murdered in her bed. Her head was bashed in with a teapot. Open and shut case? Irate husband? Not that simple. Detective Inspector Jim Kinsella of the Dublin Metropolitan Police is called to investigate and he finds that Molly was not quite the innocent victim. It may be that the true victim was her husband, Leopold Bloom, who was arrested and held until the Coroner's Inquest. Did he attack her visciously because she had taken a lover? This is an interesting tale. It is billed as an historical novel but there is no mention of what year the events take place. It seems to be around the turn of the century, close to 1900 or so, but I'm not sure. The mystery itself is fairly easy to figure out but the weaving of the story is very well done and the characters are written very cleverly. I hope there will be more of this

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leopold Bloom runs out of his house calling that his wife has been murdered. Of course, the husband is the most likely suspect, but detective Tom Kinsella isn't really that sure that Bloom murdered Molly. Yet his story doesn't hang together, either. As the plot unravels, we remeet some familiar characters (although Simon Dedalus' son, who used to spend time with Bloom, has gone abroad) in unfamiliar roles. The ending is a big ambiguous. I found this a bit slow-moving.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid 3 star book. Not unputdownable, but a reasonable tale. We follow the inquest of Molly Bloom, who is a less than perfect character having met a very bad end. The who done it and why were not that hard to work out, but what intrigued me was the inquest court process and the politics behind it.
Sadly, this author died in the last couple of years, but he, I repeat he, has written quite a number of books in this genre under his real name. Worth looking into further.