Welcome Home to Murder

Molly McGuire Cozy Mysteries #1

by Cindy Kline

Molly McGuire returns to Ireland when her marriage in the United States comes to an end, looking forward to reconnecting with her family. Molly isn’t overjoyed when her childhood nemesis, Margery Denton, shows up at her welcome home party, and even less thrilled when she finds out Margery is dating her brother, Dillon! When Molly, known globally as a klutz, stumbles across Margery’s body, both she and her brother are suspects. Molly decides to channel her inner Miss Marple and find the real killer, even though sexy Garda Detective Liam Fitzgerald wants her to stay out of it. Can Molly fumble through the clues and figure out who the killer is before the wrong person is arrested for murder?

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Ireland, Contemporary, Ebooks

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 11, 2020

Reviews

[Linniegayl · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part this was a cute cozy mystery set in Ireland, featuring a young woman (no idea how old she is) who has just returned home after her marriage in America ended in divorce. There's a large cast of characters, and a relatively interesting smallish town for the setting.

While I mostly enjoyed the book, I thought Molly (the lead) made some whopping mistakes. For someone who loves mysteries, and decides to investigate a murder based on her knowledge of mysteries, she makes some incredible mistakes that any true fan of a mystery would recognize.

There were also some horrible editing errors, including one chapter completely repeating another, and numerous times where it was hard to tell which character was speaking.

Nevertheless, i liked this enough to continue with the series. I would give this a C-, so three stars (just barely) here.

[Ronnie Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Excellent clean book.

Molly loved murder mysteries from the time she was a child. After a five year marriage and divorce in the USA she goes back home to Ireland. On the plane ride she meets the detective Liam. After a murder at her parents house of a much hated Margery there are more suspects with motive than you can imagine. Detective Liam is working the case, but Molly is also working her own investigation looking for the proverbial "missing sock." A thrilling mystery read!👍

[Saundra Callender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great who-dunnit

This was a classic who-dunnit, intelligent, and fun. There was just enough doubt put on all the cast that you weren't sure who to choose. I considered the murderer one time but then someone else was suspect and I moved on. I loved the characters, especially Molly and the detective. I headed to the second book and I sure hope Ms. Kline keeps writing.

[Debra L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Read

I really enjoyed this book. There wasn’t anything I didn’t like about it. I like Molly’s love interest and her friends and family. Can’t wait to read about Molly’s next adventure.

[Pat Allen]

Not my brother!

Molly's marriage broke up in America. She returned to Ireland, where her large family gathered to celebrate her return after five years. Without spoiling the story for others, she was determined to prove her brother's innocence. I enjoyed it.

[Jane Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok story but tons of typos.

[Gretchen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. The characters are believable and likable. The Irish setting is nice. The plot was a good one. I guessed the murderer on a hunch. There were some continuity mistakes and some wrong names in some places which bothered me, but I let it go. I’m ready for book #2.

[Wendy Mcauley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting and fun

This book was so enjoyable to read and the characters were well developed and very entertaining. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

Likeable chracters

I would date this a 3.5. Little long and slow in the beginning. Once the murder took place so did the pace of the story. I figured out the murderer based on cozy mystery rules. It is always a character you have met but I didn't know the motive until more details were revealed. Not sure if I will continue as the authors knowledge of Irish culture seems a little off.

[Gert Mohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fountain of trouble

A nicely woven murder intertwined with romance. The storyline was worked through beautifully. A spark of romance, family reactions and murder. Who could ask for more? Me! I loved it.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay so, I loved Molly! She was funny, quirky, clumsy, and all-around likeable. She was very well written. However, the story itself, unfortunately, had several grammar mistakes as well as simple mistakes such as "He sat the tray on the table" then the next sentence said that she sat the tray on the table. On and in were mixed around a bit and there were several typos. Just noting that here - it doesn't completely take away from the story.

I wish there had been a little more background in the book, a few more descriptions of the people, homes, town, actions, etc. I still thought the story was good! There is enough doubt on all the characters that you really don't know who the killer is until it's revealed. I wish I could give it more stars because I really did like it but with everything mentioned above, I'm going to have to stay at three stars.

[christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

I so enjoyed this contemporary mystery. The characters were brilliant strong , supportive roles. Mollie was a modern day miss marble /Nancy drew that helps salve the case. I can't wait to read the next book. Enjoy

[Jim Bean · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good cozy mystery

I give the story and characters a 5 star. The misused words, although spelled correctly I give a 4 star. Molly breaking and entering, taking or removing important evidence I give a 3 star rating. The last chapter with the wrongly used word of "not" instead of the word "now" is truly unforgettable I give a 2 rating.

Although all the misused words were spelled correctly, they could have easily been caught by a decent attempt of proofreading.

The book was such an interesting and entertaining tale to be ruined by these simple and annoying grammatical mistakes. I really enjoyed the story plot and characters but please proofread and edit the story before publishing.

[Carolyn S Main · Rating 5 out of 5]

fun to read

A good fast paced story without repetitive paragraphs.
Good characters.
Somewhat realistic yet a bit predictable.
But I really enjoyed reading this book and that’s what counts😀

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very poorly edited. When the final chapter states the villain is "not under arrest" instead of "now under arrest", someone isn't doing their job.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Welcome Home to Murder ... except when I didn't. Cindy Kline's storyline was good. I did figure out the killer, but only a few pages before the killer was exposed. Ms. Kline wrote a clean story. Most of the characters were nicely fleshed out, though a few needed more fleshing out to be viable characters. Liam is one character who could have used just a little more fleshing out.

What I didn't enjoy were the 3-4 times Ms. Kline lost continuity saying one thing and the next few sentences repeating herself. For instance, at one place, she said "Molly went up the steps to the porch." Then not 2 or 3 sentences later, Ms. Kline said "Molly walked up the steps and knocked on the door." But nowhere before walking up the steps the second time, had Molly ever walked down the steps.

There were a few misspellings and the wrong name used once in the book that a good proofreader would have caught. The misspellings were easy to ignore. The incorrect name was harder to ignore.

I know there are at least 3 more books in the Molly McQuire series. I'm not sure I'll read them simply because (1) there's a lot of murders in her small town for her to solve and (2) the book synopsis don't seem to give any hint of Liam continuing on in the series.

[Lise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molly McGuire is returning home to Ireland. A broken marriage necessitates a fresh start; where better than amongst family to recentre and plan a new way forward? Unfortunately, the village of Dooley still houses Molly's childhood enemy who is just as nasty as ever. When the woman is found dead at a grand party hosted by Molly's parents, there are too many suspects to count!

Molly is a wonderful character with a supporting cast that was immensely likeable, too. The story kept me engrossed; I stayed up far too late finishing this one. Names of well-known detectives (Nancy Drew and Jane Marple) were thrown around, but I felt that Molly was her own person and had a different yet effective method of questioning people and finding evidence, even if some of that wasn't strictly legal.

The actual mechanics of the story required a bit more of an edit. There were grammatical issues (mostly misplaced apostrophes) and perhaps even facts that needed checking. Though my enjoyment of the work wasn't diminished, I would have preferred a more polished version.

This mystery was a lot of fun. I had a great time trying to guess the murderer and the motive. Recommended.

[Jodi Pomerleau · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cozy mystery, so it's 4 stars for what it is.....a light hearted, easy read with a good cast of characters and a mystery to solve. Molly has recently returned to Ireland after a failed marriage and meets an intriguing man on the plane over. There are some sparks there, and eventually the two meet once again at a murder scene at a gala held at Molly's ancestral home. The rest of the story is the typical busybody interfering in an investigation while the detective tries to hold the busybody back, fearing for her safety. When another murder occurs, Molly is devastated believing she could have prevented it. The odd sock was indeed the item Molly thought it would be. It was not difficult to figure out the murderer, though why the murderer waited so long to exact revenge is not clear. I will read more of this series as they come available at times when I want to just read and not think too hard about what is happening in the story.

[C.J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I don't know who the editor was (if anyone was) but they must not have gotten paid b/c the author got their money's worth.

When referring to tea, "let's give that a few minutes too steep." (!) If the sides of the cup were "too steep" to crawl out of, okay. But if you mean give it time to brew, it's "to steep."

"American's" to refer to more than one American. Plural is done by just adding an s. No apostrophe.

"I am so sorry for being a klutz. It's an infliction I've had my whole life." If you inflicted it on someone else, that's pretty creative of you. If it's something you suffered from, it's an "affliction".

Described a garden full of roses as having "bright colors of red, blue, orange, and purple" (No bright blue roses exist.)

After all that I just couldn't go on. The story wasn't that engaging.

[Cheryl Landmark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have enjoyed this more if the editing had not been so terrible. The story itself wasn't too bad, but when you are talking about a character named Agatha at one point and her name suddenly changes to Agnes later on, it tends to take away from the enjoyment of the book, at least for me. There were numerous other examples of sloppy editing.

Molly's repetitive assertion that she was "gravity challenged" instead of a klutz also became annoying to me after a while. Also, there was way too much glaring and smiling and kissing of cheeks going on. :-) I had an inkling early on as to the identity of the murderer but had no idea what the motive was.

I will probably read the next book in the series, but I'm hoping the editing has much improved.

[Sbalagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

welcome home

Chapter 5 is a complete repeat of chapter 4. At times, very confusing as to whom was saying what. If quote comes from someone mention, or acting and then talks, it should be in same paragraph. Example: Chapter 21 where mother said “I don’t mean it Molly. It’s…frustrating…next paragraph is “I know. I’ve been…” which would lead you to believe Molly was answering, instead it was mother still talking. Perhaps some of dialogue was missing.

Also, part of story could have had Molly going into the dress shop, some dialogue, instead of just having Margery dare es Molly about dress.

Many good ideas to keep me reading, but execution and proofreading only average.

[Natelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Molly McGuire ends her marriage and returns home to Ireland. Proud to have her home, her family invites many of her old friends and neighbors to welcome her home. Her old nemesis, Margery, also makes an appearance. A few days later, the whole town comes together to raise money for the local church at her family’s estate. That’s when things get more interesting. But how many deaths will happen before her homecoming feels less welcoming? Will hers be one of them?

Lots of errors and editor would have caught like switching tense and repeating the same idea to the point of annoyingness. Repeating suspect lists verbatim made me feel like she was striving to make word count for National Novel Writing Month.

[G. Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this book, purchased it quite some time ago and finally got to reading it and am glad I did. I really enjoyed this book. Molly is the main character and the story starts when she is having trouble while on a flight back home to Ireland. She hates flying and the gentleman in the seat beside her helps her to stay calm on the flight home. She was going home after her marriage ended. This is where the fun begins, and where you should go and get the book so you can read all the details for yourselves, you will not regret it. The story line flows well and there is lots to discover about her home and all her family and friends. Hope you get the book, I have enjoyed it so much that I just bought the second book in the series. Happy reading.

[Margaret A. Altemus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was mostly a fun, quick read. I enjoyed the characters and there were enough possibilities for the murdered that the ending wasn’t totally predictable.
I was, however, confused when Molly saw something shiny on the ground when watching the workers clean and assemble the fountain. She forgot about it, but the key object in the mystery was (apparently) there before the murder. Yet it couldn’t have been?
I agree there were several editing errors and I had to reread sections to figure out who was talking, but overall it was definitely a “cozy mystery”.
I’m already reading the second one. Still editing errors (repeated lines) but I like more of “Gram” in the story.

[Mrs H Hargrove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read!

I'm new to this author but so pleased I tried her. The storyline gradually built up through 'meeting' her lovely family and friends and also the handsome Detective Inspector! I instantly liked Molly McGuire and how she cleverly reasoned her way through finding clues, sometimes upsetting but also humorous. She made mistakes too which made her more 'human' and loveable. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys cosy murder mysteries and look forward to reading the 2nd in this series. Well done Cindy Kline!

[Carolyn Stein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read; but the errors...

I found Molly's family to be interesting and want to read more about them. Molly is a truly likeable character.
The story was interesting and fun to read.
But the errors! I stopped and marked every grammar and typo and even plot error I found because these are annoying. The worst was making a mistake by saying that Margery had been shot when she had been stabbed. How do you get the cause of death on the main murder victim wrong?
Author did mention this was her first book, however, I have read other first books that were edited much better than this.

[Liza · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book would have been a lot better if it was proofread properly.

The aunt's name constantly switched between Aunt Agatha and Aunt Agnes - even just a couple of sentences apart. Haven't used ('s) for a while? Throw one in randomly.

There's also too many other typos. [It was published 3 years ago which is plenty of time to fix these.]

Edit: I forgot to mention... It seems after the final proofread, it was decided to change parents from posh Father/Mother to Dad/Mum. The problem is that in chapter 9, Molly talks to a couple of priests: Dad Kearney and Dad O'Leary. Dad Kearney gets mentioned 9 times.

[Lisa McGuire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I think it was perfect. A little intrigue, and a good who done it. For me it was a little predictable and I did guess "who done it" quite a bit before the ending. The reason why I gave it 4 instead of 3 stars was because of the perfect timing both in the book and in my circumstances. I was in a bit of a slump, starting books and thinking Nah.. Not that one. Then this one came along, nice and simple, a little cozy and it was fun that Molly shares my last name.
(Lisa McGuire, using my hubby's Amazon account) I am the reader not him. A good read for a jump start out of a formal book slump.

[Linda Rorex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Molly McGuire Mystery series by Cindy Kline. Molly McGuire returns to her home in Dooley, Ireland after her marriage fails. Molly looks forward to reuniting with family and friends. Things go downhill when her childhood nemesis Margery Denton is found murdered. Molly and her brother Dillion become prime suspects in the murder. Molly and Dillion are determined to clear their names. Molly investigates the murder despite being warned against it by Garda Detective Liam Fitzgerald. This novel incorporates mystery, humor and a touch of Irish charm. I really enjoyed this wonderful cozy mystery novel.

[BookedBySunrise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, probably much more than I should have. The main character was annoying and made some really dumb stupid decisions that caused more harm to others. Then, the second half of the book is full of grammar errors, and some information is different. Like at the murder scene, it was a stabbing while in the last chapter, it was referred to as a shooting. But the cast and plot were well done.

Rating it 3 because the plot was a 4 stars, but the errors throughout were definitely 2 stars. I'm aware this is from an amateur author, so it's showing some grace. This series has some potential with some fine tuning. May read the second to see if it improved