Liffey Rivers: Four Mini Mysteries

Four Mini Mysteries is the only collection of the Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer Mysteries in short story form. These Liffey Rivers short mysteries were originally published as serialized, monthly installments in Irish Dancing and Culture Magazine when it was published in England. In "The Mystery of the Missing Novice," Liffey discovers that there are two unrelated young dancers at an Irish dance competition (feis) who look like identical twins. When one of them goes missing, Liffey's intuition and attention to detail bring about the safe return of the missing novice. In "The Case of the Clumsy Clowns," Liffey suspects that a group of klutzy clowns performing at a local church, billing themselves as 'The Joyful Jesters,' might be up to something more than entertaining their audience. “The Mystery of the Temporary Trophy,” finds Liffey at a feis in New York with her flaky Aunt Jean who is suffering from Post Traumatic Bling Syndrome. Liffey observes that one of the perpetual trophies to be awarded at this feis looks suspiciously like the ancient Derrynaflan Chalice she has seen before in a Dublin museum. In “The Werewolves of Ossory,” Liffey rescues a dancer from Ireland who has traveled alone to the Seattle Halloween Feis burdened with a centuries old family curse.

Brenna Briggs is the author of eight Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer Mysteries and MAIDS: Mothers Addicted To Irish Dancing. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, into a third generation Irish American family, she thought that eating green-dyed bakery bread and sugar cookies with bright green icing on Saint Patrick's Day were the best things about being Irish. Briggs' essays and short stories have been featured in Hornpipe Magazine, The Irish American Post, Celtic Canada, The Sligo Quarterly Review, Irish Dancing and Culture Magazine and many other Irish American periodicals and newspapers. After returning in 2009 from a six year stay in County Sligo where she wrote the first three Liffey Rivers Irish Dancer mysteries, she lives in the "Driftless Area" of Wisconsin near the Mississippi River. Her books and short stories and essays are part of the Dublin archives for traditional Irish music and dance (Taisce Cheol Duchais Eirreann) on Merrion Square. Brenna studied theatre and history at St. Mary's College-Notre Dame. Visit www.liffeyrivers.com for more information.