Mystery Book Club

VIRTUAL & IN-PERSON MEETING

The Guards by Ken Bruen

Jack Taylor, an alcoholic former member of the Irish national police and sometimes private investigator, is urged to sober up and help prove that a young woman's death was not a suicide, as police officials conclude, but murder. This first installment in Bruen's bestselling series was a 2004 Edgar Award nominee for best novel.

Moderated by Carole Shmurak, author of 11 books and Professor Emerita at Central Connecticut State University. To participate, contact Carole at cshmurak@gmail.com and put “Wallingford Mystery Book Club” in the subject line.

Fall 2024: Murder on the Emerald Isle

William Drennan, political activist, physician, poet and later member of the Irish Parliament, was the first to use the term "Emerald Isle" to describe Ireland in his poem "When Erin First Rose" (1795): "Let no feeling of vengeance presume to deile/The cause of, or men of, the Emerald Isle." Drennan wrote in response to the ongoing political unrest, disapproving of the violence that turned green meadows blood-red. Over two centuries later, murder can still turn parts of Ireland red.