Best Served Frozen

Derry Women #4

by Gerald Hansen

Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but hardened mother of seven Fionnuala Flood plans on serving hers up frozen. Or so she thinks.
The bells are ringing out in Derry, Northern Ireland, as the Catholic Floods and the Protestant Riddells prepare for the pairing in matrimony of their families and a bridging of the gap between the two sniping communities. But some are not best pleased, and it might be more a case of For Whom The Bell Tolls.
What is the price to be paid for a mother's love? For daughter Dymphna and son Lorcan, dangerously high. Fionnuala is already furious Dymphna has put her arch nemesis, Ursula Barnett, on the wedding list. Then beloved son Lorcan, fresh out of prison, announces he's emigrating to the USA. He'll get there. Unless Fionnuala has her way.
In Wisconsin, Ursula and husband Jed will find a trip to Derry difficult, as Jed's gambling has them teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The last chance to save their floundering beef jerky business will be to appear on Attack of the Killer Investors! But Fionnuala has ripped up their invitation, in any event. When they hear shocking news of Dymphna's death, getting the investment from the TV show is essential.

Cover by Marco Maldera

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature, Humor

305 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2019

About the author

Member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Crime Writers Association, best-selling author Gerald Hansen was a Navy brat. He started school in Thailand, graduated high school in Iceland, with Germany, California and his mother's hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland in between. He attended Dublin City University, and also lived in London and Berlin. The first of his Derry Women Series, An Embarrassment of Riches, was an ABNA semifinalist in 2011. His Derry Murder Mysteries series has been a great success. He also has a travelogue series, Around the World with Jet Lag Jerry. He loves spicy food, wearing Ben Sherman and traveling around the world (still). He lives in NYC.
Author pic by Marcin Kaliski

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Reviews

[Cynthia Cordell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, what a fun read! Our favorite character Fionnuala Flood has something to say about everything. Her daughter Dymphna is going to marry a Protestant boy by the name of Rory Riddel. His mother Chlöe has told Finnuoala that she will pay for everything and leave the cake for Fionnuala to pay for. Then Fionnuala's oldest son is released from prison and does not want to stay in the town of Derry and wants to immigrate to Florida in the U.S.A. She is absolutely livid about it and purposefully poisons his food so that he'll be too sick to travel. This is such a good story, complete with a Vera Wang wedding dress that gets augmented!

[Pamela Canepa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again, Gerald Hansen has put me through several nights of guilty laughter. Seriously, at many points, I was thinking, "Should I be laughing at this?" I had to give myself permission! Hansen has served up a train wreck of a family in the Floods and a brilliant comedy of errors. The aforementioned train wreck is so effective, I couldn't put this book down. I couldn't turn away. Toss in some historical and local color involving the I.R.A and lingering bitterness between Catholics and Protestants in Derry, Ireland and we have a delicious recipe for fiction.
Before this book, I had only read the first in the series, but it states in the description that these could be read as stand alone, and it does work out that way. At any rate, these books are such an indulgent escape that I plan to read the ones I skipped over as well, though I'd better wait a month or so, because I need to get some things done around the house. I sort of neglected a few things while reading this book. Very enjoyable, irreverent, and overall, just a true reader's guilty pleasure that is unlike any of the other reading you'll pick up in a bookstore.

[may campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Served Frozen

I have just had the pleasure of reading the above book. Absolutely hilarious...could not put it down. If you want a good roaring laugh start from the first book and carry right on reading the rest in the sequence. Now about to read book 5....Five Stars

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, Fionnuala's envy/revenge can't be curtailed. Her own ambitions must remain supreme, regardless of whom it damages - family, relatives, others.

Roll-your eyes black humour. Keep the series going. My eyes need the exercise.

[Barbara Wall · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these characters in all their tacky glory. While reading silently to myself, I kept laughing out loud, so I started reading passages to my mother. My attempts at Derry Irish dialogue slipped into a Minnesota Scandinavian accent in places, even after rewatching episodes of ‘Derry Girls.’ We both cracked up, not at my butchering of the Irish brogue but due to the actual twisted humor on the written page.

Reacting to perceived slights, old hurts, and deliberate misinformation, the Barnett’s and the Flood’s end up in Derry expecting a funeral and a wedding and getting nothing as planned. Throw in a sighting of the Virgin Mary in fryer lard with the resulting miracle of cured cold sores, an obscene wedding cake, a television competition, a bomb scare, the destruction of a Vera Wang wedding gown, an attempted poisoning (out of love), and Fionnuala scamming tourists. This wild romp through Derry is another recommended book in the Derry Women series.

[Ann McManus · Rating 5 out of 5]

It would be impossible to write a review without spoilers. This book is hysterically funny! The characters are human, believable. Maybe not in your family, but certainly in mine.

Gerald Hansen takes the reader on a wild ride through Derry, Northern Ireland with a side trip to the US, in what I now see is a series of seven.

I want more!

[Charlene · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Irish brogue be flimmin difficult to read but,

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Batten down the hatches because Fionnuala Flood is back in town! I've read all of Gerald Hansen's books and they just get better and better! This one has to be the icing on the cake and you will see the significance of that remark when you read it! This time, Dymphna Flood is set to tie the knot with Proddy boyfriend, Rory, father to one of her children but not the second child or even the one on the way (possibly). Aunt Ursula, Fionnuala's exiled sister-in-law is on the guest list and we know this will spell trouble.
Hansen's larger than life characters always have me in stitches with their fresh and gritty Derry wit. If they're not tripping down steps, they're standing on abandoned toilet seats or otherwise getting clonked at some inopportune moment. Hansen's timing for comedy is spot on and there's not many who get it down to such a fine art. His characters are often getting their wires crossed which adds to the tragi-comedy. I've said it before but it's always worth a another mention - Hansen is a master of plot and no scene goes to waste. As if all this wasn't enough, the author still manages to make every sentence fresh and full of literary gems. Here is one example: 'her body was like an ageing sofa you'd want to dump on a skip, shapeless and uncomfortable, with lumpy bits...' This isn't an isolated example either. The book is full of such startling treats. I learned about Irish Alzheimers' which is 'they forget everything but a grudge'! Then there are the usual wacky and wonderful names such as Top-Yer-Trolly (an old friend), Pence-A-Day and Eat-So-Yum. Hansen knows how to poke fun and revels in it. So sit back, enjoy the ride and hilarity and the nail-biting climax. You won't be disappointed.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The descriptions of the wedding dress alone had me in tears..... It was a great traveling book. Especially since it made the person next to me on the place scoot far to the side.... I was giggling way too much I guess.

[Vickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a continuation of the Flood/Barrett family feud. Finnuala schemes as she does in the first few books, but this time she gets her due. Her daughter Dymphna is getting married to Rory and Finnuala tries to manipulate her family during the planning. Her favorite child Lorcan wants to leave Ireland for Florida as did his brother Eoin, however Finnuala delays his departure through one of her schemes. This book is very dark humor and should be read after the previous books, as the reader will not understand the underlying issues between Finnuala and her sister-in-law Ursula.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The family feuds roll on as the Floods and Riddells prepare for Dymphna and Rory's wedding, Ursula and Jed try to find their way out of impending bankruptcy and Fionnuala has an awful plan to stop Lorcan from moving to Florida.

[Pleunig · Rating 2 out of 5]

A romp of a story. Strange.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for something like “The Snapper” with humour and likeable characters. I thought this was just crude, depressing and not one relatable or likeable character.

[Miriam · Rating 1 out of 5]

the author is trying too hard to make a whole story out of a minor revenge idea. don't bother!