Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told

This witty novel from Phelan (The Canal Bridge) features Patrick Bracken, a 64-year-old special correspondent for the Irish Times, who returns to his agricultural hometown of Gohen. Patrick is investigating two suspicious deaths that occurred there 55 years ago, in 1951; he suspects a village cover-up took place. He visits the retired octogenarian coroner, Sam Howard, and his spunky wife, Elsie. Sam’s official ruling determined that the deaths of Father Jarlath Coughlin and Lawrence “Doul Yank” Gorman were both accidental, but Patrick insists on discussing the two cases with Sam. Before the deaths, both men came under attention in the close-knit farm community: the conniving Doul Yank double-crossed his nephew Mattie on the inheritance of the family farm, and the haughty Father Coughlin lobbied the dirt-poor locals for charitable donations to operate his missionary school in India. Additionally, Patrick has vivid memories from his own boyhood that still trouble him and complicate his search into the deceptions of the village. The bawdy humor and the plentiful details of the farming lifestyle do much to enrich Phelan’s entertaining murder mystery. Agent: Tracy Brennan, Trace Literary Agency. (Feb.)