Himself served with Irish Soda Bread, Irish Cheese and a double chocolate stout

 Himself by Jess Kidd 

I picked up this book because I really liked her latest novel, Things in Jars.  https://veryhungryreader2017.blogspot.com/2021/12/things-in-jars-served-with-dessert-in.html

This one has some similarity to the her other book.  It is set in Ireland, ghost play a big part and there is a mystery to solve.  We start the book with a murder but we have no idea who the murderer is.  Jump forward 20+ years and Mahony arrives in a small irish town call Mulderrig.  It is town where he was born but placed in an orphanage when his mother disappeared.  He is there to figure out what happened to his mother.  He checks into a boarding house which is where we meet Mrs Cauley, a retired actress, who is determined to help him discover the truth. He sees ghost everywhere he goes and they play a critical part in the story. The town doesn't want him to dig into this disappearance and it is obvious his mother was a scandal no one wants to revisit.    There are a lot of characters in this book and sometimes i got them confused. The story does go back and forth in time so we learn a bit more about the story.  Overall it is full of great atmosphere and suspense.  I really like Jess Kidd's writing style and how she builds a story.   

My only criticism was some of the violence.  I'm a wimp and there is some graphic violence including the death of a dog that almost made me put the book down.  That was tough.  Oh, and there is this scene where the preachers house is now flooded and frogs take over.  I have a crazy fear of frogs so that was a nightmare for me!! 

But, I would still recommend this if you love a atmospheric story with suspense and some magic.  ⭐⭐⭐1/2

There is a lot of beer in the book but i wanted to make a good Irish Soda Bread.  I have never made Irish Soda bread so thought that would be fun.  The first one i made did not turn out well!  The actual recipe called for raisins or currents to be included but I wanted it to be savory and not sweet.  I added an irish cheddar.  I think the problem was that I didn't bake it long enough.  Sometimes it is hard to tell with a bread.  When I took it out, it didn't look great but the first slice was pretty tasty.  By the time I got 3 slices in, it was almost raw in the middle.  Uneatable.  Ended up throwing it out.  I waited a week, did some research on recipes and tried again.  This time the recipe was for cheddar and garlic so it worked much better.  It is pretty taste but a little bit dry.  Since i've never had Irish soda bread, not sure if that is normal.  I paired it with a butternut squash/apple soup which was delicious, some good irish cheese and a double chocolate stout.   OMG.  so good. 

Here is the recipe from Pinterest https://littlespicejar.com/garlic-irish-cheddar-chive-soda-bread/