Liffey Rivers and the Mystery of the Sparkling Solo Dress Crown

Liffey Rivers #1

by Brenna Briggs

13-year-old Liffey Rivers is power-walking around the hotel lobby at the Celtic Arch Feis in St. Louis when she notices a suspicious looking man carrying a beautiful Irish dancer doll in his plastic shopping bag. An over-sized sparkling diamond tiara is perched on top of the doll's curly brown wig--but Liffey can see that the doll is wearing a traditional Irish dance school dress. Intuitively, she realizes that whoever put this dress on the doll, did NOT place the diamond crown on its head. When Liffey cannot resist investigating further, she finds herself not only trying to win a 1st place medal to qualify for her first Irish dance solo dress, but also dodging international smugglers. After a series of suspenseful cat and mouse chases, Liffey Rivers unravels the mystery of the sparkling solo dress crown.

Genres: Mystery

146 pages, Paperback

First published November 3, 2005

About the author

Brenna Briggs is the author of the tween Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer Mysteries which BellaOnline says "...fills a yawning gaping hole in literature for Irish American girls." She is presently finishing her 9th Liffey Rivers mystery.
Mothers Addicted to Irish Dancing: MAIDS is her only book (at present) for grownups.

"I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, into a third generation Irish American family where for many years I thought that eating sugar cookies with green icing on Saint Patrick's Day was the best thing about being Irish. I never knew that organized Irish dancers existed until the year I moved to Wisconsin (of ALL places) and saw them leaping all over the stages at Milwaukee's Irish Fest. They made quite an impression and years later one of my daughters, after watching a Riverdance video,quit her ballet lessons and learned how to lace up her ghillies.

I began writing the first Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer mystery while waiting for her at Irish dance classes in Milwaukee and finished the first three Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer mystery when we lived in County Sligo,Ireland,from 2004-2009.

I now reside and write in the beautiful Driftless Area of Wisconsin, not far from the Mississippi River."

Brenna Briggs' essays and short stories have been featured in Irish Connections Canada,Hornpipe Magazine, The Irish American Post, The Sligo Quarterly Review, Irish Dancing and Culture Magazine and many other Irish American periodicals and newspapers.


Visit Brenna Briggs and learn more about the Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer Mysteries at:
brennabriggs.blogspot.com

Reviews

[Fiona Daley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really cute book good for the people around the age of Liffey (13) and any Irish dancers! I really enjoyed reading this, especially in the month of March, because I am an Irish dancer who wasn't able to perform when I usually do this time of year so this book brought back lots of memories and recollections of similar experiences. This book was really fun and clever, I would definately read more in the series!

[Christy Dorrity · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I liked:

Liffey is a spunky, quirky girl who dreams of qualifying for a solo dress and eats spaghetti and meatballs the night before every competition. Because of her overbearing personality, no one, including the reader, can anticipate what she will do next.

The author pulls the reader into two new worlds that they may never otherwise explore. The first is the world of Irish dance. Second, she gives us a feel for the city of St. Louis, Missouri.

Liffey lets her imagination run a bit wild, which makes her the perfect sleuth. She notices clues that other people might not even wonder about.

I can see where Liffey’s looniness might be hereditary. I laughed when I heard that her aunt gave a cheer during Liffey’s competition:“Kick ‘em high, kick ‘em low, go, go, go.”

Liffey internalizes about her fears and dreams in a way that most girls her age can relate to. She wants a solo dress more than anything . She draws her own designs for a dress, notices other girls’ dresses and daydreams about it every few minutes.

What I would have changed:

Even though I enjoyed Liffey’s eccentricities, her daydreams and a few stray points of view switches gave me whiplash. She would obsess about her dress, launch into a lecture on the St. Louis Arch, and then on to her competition.

Liffey’s character wavered inconsistently. She spoke of how she didn’t mind that her father required her to have an escort at the hotel, and then give the escort the slip a few moments later. She

I couldn’t relate well to Liffey. I felt pity for her that she was always left alone at competitions and had no mother to care for her. But pity wasn’t enough to make me relate to her. Liffey's rudeness to other people,disregard for rules and disrespect for adults distanced me from her. I could see why the other girls in her Irish dance school avoided her, I would too. Her quirkiness went past the point where we enjoy reading about her idiosyncrises-she became a bit too far out there to be relatable.

The mystery was fun, but predictable. Liffey’s actions kept me guessing, but the plotline of the mystery was very basic and easy to wonder about.

The author did not attempt to explain the world of Irish dance to an outside viewer, and as a result, those who are not familiar with Irish dance competitions will be left scratching their heads.

The verdict:

Think Nancy Drew meets the Irish dance world. Anyone who loves Irish dance will enjoy reading about Liffey’s adventures.

[Lucy Takeda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is quite a lot like Nancy Drew. Teenage girl, whose father has powerful connections, gets involved in criminal activities while attending Irish dance competitions. Smatterings of Celtic magical powers; numerous completely implausible occurrences.

[Roberta]

This must have been something my daughter bought at the book fair many years ago. I could see where it would be appealing to a young reader.

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this for my dd, age 10, who is really enjoying her Irish Dance classes. I picked it up out of curiosity and read it quickly over a few days when I was nursing the baby. Well, all I can say, is the premise of having a young Irish dancer who is a sort of Nancy Drew at local Irish Dance Competitions is an interesting premise--but the writer (Brenna Briggs) is lacking in imagination and descriptive language. She does sort of get you attached to Liffey (the heroine) though it might just be due to pity and sadness that this poor motherless girl is left to her own devices for such long periods of time away from home...Do not buy this book--if you must, get it from the library--it is interesting if you love all things Irish Dance like my dd (who "loved" the book) as it builds on all the wonderful rituals associated with this subculture. But, surely the writing could be better? :S

[Mackenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being an Irish dancer myself, I found these stories to be lovely, but not particularly well-written. I could relate to Liffey pretty well, considering the "quest for the solo dress" was something I was obsessed a couple years ago. But it was also tricky to relate to her in the way that the rules are sort of different for Liffey than they were for me, in terms of qualifying for her dress. So it wasn't a very realistic story for me, but definitely very cute.

[Daisy Timneey]

very suspenseful although you can expect and guess what is going to happen