Now unable to pay her mortgage and with the fog of depression rolling in, Helen is forced to move back home with her parents, and keen that her lover of six months doesn’t learn the truth. After trialing a number of careers, Helen had finally found success as a private investigator only for the GFC to erode her client base. The youngest of the siblings Helen Walsh has proved to be acerbic, strong-willed and a little eccentric during her cameo appearances in her sister’s books. I was excited to discover that with The Mystery of Mercy Close, Marian Keyes, after a six year gap, features the last of the sisters, Helen. Watermelon introduced the Walsh family in 1995 featuring Claire, while subsequent titles focused on her sisters, Rachel ( Rachel’s Holiday), Maggie ( Angels) and Anna ( Anybody Out There?). Status: Read from September 14 to 16, 2012 - I own a copy Could someone be telling her to look a little closer to home. But as Helen begins to unravel the mysteries secreted on Mercy Close she discovers a kindred spirit in a man unwilling to be found. If she hides out in her target’s empty house on Mercy Close for long enough maybe they’ll go away. But most of all it’s an excellent distraction from the huge swarm of black vultures gathering over her head. It may have brought her charming crook of an ex Jay Parker back into her life, but it’s giving her an excuse to avoid the usual Walsh family dramas and the intense looks from her gorgeous boyfriend Artie that make her heart beat wildly with lust and panic in equal measure. It’s not all bad this game of Where’s Wayne. But times are tough for PIs and Helen’s had no choice but to take on the search for AWOL boyband has-been Wayne Diffney – The Wacky One. She’s easily bored, has an inability to filter her thoughts and was fired from every job she ever had before she found her true calling as a private investigator.

Meet Helen – youngest of the Walsh sisters and a law unto herself. It’s a list of all the people and things I hate so much that I want to hit them in the face with a shovel.’ Synopsis: I employ this thing called The Shovel List.’

Anna walsh marian keyes