Residual Moon

Moon #1

by Kate Sweeney

Two young women are found dead on the Chicago lakefront in as many weeks, each murdered in the same fashion. Detective Sergeant Grayson MacCarthaigh is at her wit's end trying to solve the grisly mess before the murderer claims another victim.

Her only common thread is Dr. Neala Rourke, the curator of the famous National Museum in Dublin, Ireland. She is in Chicago with her archaeological exhibit at the Field Museum, which suspiciously coincides with the two murders.

With a strange and eerie turn of events, things start unraveling. Grayson now is compelled to return to her birthplace and follows Dr. Rourke back to Ireland where ancient Celtic beliefs and mythology are thrown into the mix, turning the detective's logical world upside-down.

However, one fact remains for the determined Detective MacCarthaigh: Someone killed those two women and whether real or mythological - he or she will kill again.

Genres: Lesbian, Mystery

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2008

About the author

Kate Sweeney was the 2007 recipient of the Golden Crown Literary Society award for Debut Author for She Waits, the first in the Kate Ryan Mystery series, which was also nominated for the Lambda Literary Society award for Lesbian Mystery.

The second in the series, A Nice Clean Murder, was nominated the Lambda this year for Lesbian Mystery, and is a nominee for GCLS award in the Mystery category. Her novel Away from the Dawn released in August 2007 is also nominated for the GCLS award for Speculative Fiction. She is also a contributing author for the anthology Wild Nights: (Mostly) True Stories of Women Loving Women, published by Bella Books.

Born in Chicago, Kate resides in Villa Park, Illinois, where she works as an office manager—no glamour here, folks; it pays the bills. Humor is deeply embedded in Kate’s DNA. She sincerely hopes you will see this when you read her novels, short stories, and other works.

Reviews

[Nyki Mancera · Rating 4 out of 5]

the whole book

I liked the book. Although, it just irritated me along the way how little Grayson knew. This was done on purpose, but you never knew til the end. And all that shrouded secrecy and the continual waiting for things to be revealed got old fast. I put the book down several times frustrated in everyone kept telling her in time. Other than that, it was a good book. Hopefully the sequel won’t be so cryptic.

[Alena · Rating 3 out of 5]

First novel I've read by Kate Sweeney.

Centered around a Chicago Detective and two murdered women this story draws you into a world of Wicca and Druids and Irish history.

And boy does it ever, the author must really know her Irish history to be able to present it in such a manner.

The characters are fun, the novel is well written, the writing is tight, every scene moves the story along in some way. The mystery it builds moves along at a fast pace, in the middle section of the book I felt like I could not read fast enough to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately that pace slowed down towards the end because the suspense could not be held to the last page. Once I had figured out what was going on I kind of lost interest. I'm not sure what went on there, what should have been the high point of the book, plot wise, felt flat because the outcome was clear. I have no idea how that could have been avoided.

Another good thing about this book: Almost no romance. ;)

I'll keep her name in the back of my head for the next book shopping spree.