Preserved 

by Fiona Sherlock 

2 out of 5 

Synopsis 

He’s watching her unfold his masterpiece, but her time is almost up.

When a local farmer announces on social media that he has discovered a bog body in Ardee, the world’s historians are keen to explore the secrets of the life and grisly death of the victim.

Antique journalist January Quail is fighting to keep her newspaper job and uncovers far more than she bargained for. The victim is actually a recent murder, and January uses her nose for the truth to investigate the County Louth town. From shopkeeper to the publican, everyone is a suspect, but when the Gardai can’t find the killer, can January?

Once she sets down the liqueur glass, January gains the confidence of the lead garda investigator. Within days, the case unravels into a much more dangerous situation with a killer on the loose.

Despite the risk, January is electrified that this newest discovery has come at the perfect time to inject some colour into her flailing career. January relinquishes her old ways to fight for survival, abandoning her antiques column and vintage corsets to solve a cryptic crime that has the experts puzzled. This woman who longs to lives in the past must now fight for her life in the present.

Review 

January Quail is a fading newspaper star, but she gets to reclaim her status when she covers the story of a rare bog body. Especially when the body is not as historical as it looks.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

January is a journalist and editor for an Irish paper. As with all newspapers and magazines, there has been an increasing shift to digital. As the paper is losing money, January has been challenged to find a story that will create buzz on the internet and draw in new readers; or she may be out of a job.

One of the interns brings her attention to a bog body - a rare find, because there's only ever been a couple in Ireland, and this is the first female one.

When the bog body is recovered by the official science people to be analysed, it comes to their attention that, despite how it looks ancient, and has all of the ritual signs in place; it is no more than 30 years old.

January's story has now become a murder case.

I felt like the author truly knew her topics. Covering Ireland and their bog bodies was the most fascinating part of this book. The bog bodies weren't a gimmick, the knowledge was a solid platform, that the rest of the plot was built upon.

The not-so-good.

I did not like any of the characters.

January is self-centred and a complete snob. Having come from an old and once-rich Irish family, January looks down on having to work. She has no passion for what she's doing, and doesn't seem particularly bothered about her employment status.

Still, she decides to snatch the story that the intern was running (which pissed me off enormously - what if it was the intern's breakthrough story?)

Setanta Molloy works for the National Museum, and is quickly marked as a romantic interest.

For a seemingly professional and intelligent man, he very quickly broke down and had a toddler tantrum when things didn't go his way.

Despite it being over something stupid and impossible to argue, everyone acts like his behaviour is totally normal; and it's back to flirty-flirty with January.

Even the background characters - the police, January's boss, the people who found the body... none of them were likeable.

I found the pacing was uneven, and often went off on unnecessary tangents, with characters and side plots that didn't benefit the central story. Some of the topic were overly-detailed for my liking, which also slowed down the narrative.

I felt that the story didn't know what it wanted to be - something cosy, something serious, a thriller, an educational piece?

In the end, it couldn't hold my interest, and I was not invested in this mystery.

Overall, this story and author did not work for me.

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