Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York: Berkley Prime Crime, 2000
Description
Fiction. Mystery. HTML: The reading of the last will of wealthy Eamon Byrne sets off a murder spree and a treasure hunt in the Irish countryside, and antiques dealer Lara McClintoch is in the middle of the action. Lara's friend Alex is one of the beneficiaries of the Will, and she is worried he may be on the murderer's list. The Byrne family is feuding and there are hints of a troubled past. Lara enlists her new Irish friends to help decipher clues based on a poem of mythic Ireland, and risks her own life to follow the clues Byrne left behind. .
User reviews
LibraryThing member Romonko
This is the first book that I've read by this author, and I kind of enjoyed it. Unfortunately, the premise behind the story is much better than what actually occurs. I love the idea of trying to solve a riddle mystery, and by making the riddles Celtic (or more particularly Irish based on old Irish
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legends) it was something I just had to read. I was also intrigued by the antique element in the book. But I found that the prose was a little hard slogging, and I just didn't connect with the main characters like I felt I should. The mystery itself was a good one, and there were a lot of surprises there. I was interested enough to finish the book, and I am considering reading other books in the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member stuartsaam
a good book to read.
LibraryThing member teckelvik
I am, generally, enjoying working my way through the series. This volume, I felt, was the weakest one I've read so far. In part, that is probably because the mystery didn't have much to do with ancient Ireland, being set totally in the present day. The only ancient element in the story was the
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poetry quoted. The mystery, too, wasn't particularly engaging. The plot was more along the lines of "collect the tokens" than figure things out. That said, the characters were engaging, and who could fail to be charmed by Ireland? Show Less
LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
Although this book is part of the "Archaeological Mystery' series, the only 'archaeology' in it is a passing remark by the narrator, Lara, that she was formerly married to a Mexican archaeologist. Rather a disappointment there.
Lara, a 40-something antique dealer from Toronto, has gone to Ireland
In order to try to bring his disagreeing (and rather disagreeable) relatives together, Mr. Byrne, a collector of ancient Celtic antiquities, devised a treasure hunt. Each family member gets a clue, and supposedly, everyone will have to share their clues and work together to find a very valuable hidden item.
However, the relatives don't seem interested in working together, and then the hired help starts dropping dead - most likely murdered.
It falls to Lara to try to piece together the clues, which are all based in Irish folklore and history, and solve the mystery.
The meshing of Celtic myth and history with a mystery like this is nice, unfortunately the story is a little bit unbelievable.
For example, a vague reference from an ancient poem seems to indicate a certain hill. So Our Characters go to that hill, climb it, and decide that 'cause the cairns that mark the trail are ancient, they should look at them. And they find a clue in an envelope wedged between the stones of one of the cairns. Talk about needle in a haystack! And in the space of a couple of weeks, they solve and find a dozen or so of these!
Also, the main character, Lara, is really bland. Perhaps her personality is more sharply defined in earlier books of the series, but I found her to be rather boring - especially in contrast to all the other characters, who had just bundles of quirky traits. They were also ALL the proud bearers of sterotypically Irish names. I mean, yes, the Irish do often have traditional Irish names, but not *everyone* in Ireland is named Padraig or Fionuala!
The book also has one of those unfortunate and cliched endings where the villain feels the need to hold someone at gunpoint while talking about the evil deeds and motivations for all the crimes committed for about 10 pages.
Sorry, but a solution to a mystery should make sense without that expository laziness.
Generally, one would think the killer would just go ahead and kill the victim without feeling the need to explain his or her actions at some length..... (meanwhile usually giving the victim a chance to escape...)
Lara, a 40-something antique dealer from Toronto, has gone to Ireland
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with a friend to hear a reading of a will. Apparently, years in the past, her friend saved Eamon Byrne (the deceased gentleman)'s life, so he's once of the inheritors. However, all the other beneficiaries are members (and associates) of the squabbling family.In order to try to bring his disagreeing (and rather disagreeable) relatives together, Mr. Byrne, a collector of ancient Celtic antiquities, devised a treasure hunt. Each family member gets a clue, and supposedly, everyone will have to share their clues and work together to find a very valuable hidden item.
However, the relatives don't seem interested in working together, and then the hired help starts dropping dead - most likely murdered.
It falls to Lara to try to piece together the clues, which are all based in Irish folklore and history, and solve the mystery.
The meshing of Celtic myth and history with a mystery like this is nice, unfortunately the story is a little bit unbelievable.
For example, a vague reference from an ancient poem seems to indicate a certain hill. So Our Characters go to that hill, climb it, and decide that 'cause the cairns that mark the trail are ancient, they should look at them. And they find a clue in an envelope wedged between the stones of one of the cairns. Talk about needle in a haystack! And in the space of a couple of weeks, they solve and find a dozen or so of these!
Also, the main character, Lara, is really bland. Perhaps her personality is more sharply defined in earlier books of the series, but I found her to be rather boring - especially in contrast to all the other characters, who had just bundles of quirky traits. They were also ALL the proud bearers of sterotypically Irish names. I mean, yes, the Irish do often have traditional Irish names, but not *everyone* in Ireland is named Padraig or Fionuala!
The book also has one of those unfortunate and cliched endings where the villain feels the need to hold someone at gunpoint while talking about the evil deeds and motivations for all the crimes committed for about 10 pages.
Sorry, but a solution to a mystery should make sense without that expository laziness.
Generally, one would think the killer would just go ahead and kill the victim without feeling the need to explain his or her actions at some length..... (meanwhile usually giving the victim a chance to escape...)
Show Less
LibraryThing member HenriMoreaux
The Celtic Riddle is the 4th book in the Lara McClintoch series, whilst the first two books weren't that great the third book, The Moche Warrior was a substantial improvement and I was pleased to find that this continued on that trend. It was also vastly better than the first two books even if the
The mystery aspect nonetheless is well done dropping ample clues along the way to the reader that lead down various paths but ultimately do not ever reveal the culprit until the end when they are unmasked.
Overall, it's a fair mystery novel, not exceptional but not terrible either. I did prefer the prior book over this book due to the factual history it contained which was interesting that this one lacked, but purely story wise they are about equal.
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whole idea of a treasure hunt in a will was a bit trite.The mystery aspect nonetheless is well done dropping ample clues along the way to the reader that lead down various paths but ultimately do not ever reveal the culprit until the end when they are unmasked.
Overall, it's a fair mystery novel, not exceptional but not terrible either. I did prefer the prior book over this book due to the factual history it contained which was interesting that this one lacked, but purely story wise they are about equal.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
I enjoyed the setting and the 'riddle' but felt that Lara should have figured out who the murderer was quite a bit earlier. Still, a fun read and I will most likely read more books from the series.
LibraryThing member leslie.98
I enjoyed the setting and the 'riddle' but felt that Lara should have figured out who the murderer was quite a bit earlier. Still, a fun read and I will most likely read more books from the series.
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
296 p.; 18 cm
ISBN
0425177750 / 9780425177754