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Cora Harrison is one of the noteworthy authors from Ireland, who is well known all over the world for writing highly successful novels based on the mystery, thriller, children’s books, and adult genres. She is the native of Cobh, County Cork, located in Ireland, and has experienced a lot of success in her writing career. Before going on to become a writer, author Harrison used to work as a school teacher. But, after the publication and success of her debut novel, she has left her previous job and has become a full time writer. Since then, she has written around 26 children’s books and several other mystery and thriller novels. The first novel that she wrote based on the Celtic historical genre was titled as My Lady Judge. This historical crime novel was followed by a series of similar novels featuring the lead character named Mara. As of today, author Harrison lives happily on in her farm house located in the Burren near the western region of Ireland. The first successful historical crime series written by her is known as the Burren Mysteries.
All the novels of this series tell the stories of Mara, who is described by the author as an investigating magistrate in the ancient judicial system of Ireland called Brehon Laws. Author Harrison says that she is very much fond of the historical tales and was too intrigued when she first read about the Brehon laws. She was particularly interested in learning about the ancient Irish system because of its mild, humane, civilized, and quite modern features. Author Harrison was particularly interested in learning about the women living in that era, who used to get burned to death when caught cheating with against their husbands. She has described the lead character, of Mara as a woman who is quite close to her heart. Author Harrison was born in Cork, Ireland, where she completed her degree in the subject of German and French. Despite her mastery in these languages, she says that she liked history as her favorite subject during her school days. After completing her graduation, author Harrison moved to London and began working as a Headteacher in a primary school. During the 1990s, she retired along with her husband and purchased a 20 acre cottage near the outskirts of the Burren. As of today, she spends most of her time in this cottage and continues to work on her future novels.
One of the most successful novel series written by author Cora Harrison is titled as the ‘Burren Mysteries’ series. It consists of a total of 13 books published between the years 2007 and 2016. All the novels of this series feature the main character in the form of Mara, who is described as a lawgiver and judge during the early sixteenth century. Author Harrison has described as being appointed by the king of Burren named Turlough Donn O’Brien. The first novel of this series was published under the title ‘My Lady Judge’. It was released by the Minotaur Books publishing house in the year 2007. The plot of this novel was set in the 16th century and revolves around the happenings in the lives of the main characters named Mara and King Donn O’Brien. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, it is shown that Burren was located near the western region of Ireland during the early 16th century, just as it is today. At that time, it was full of forts made from the gray stone. The region of the Burren was also famous as the land of swirling mountain terraces and lavish green grass.
It was also the home of one of the independent kingdoms of Ireland, which appeared to be living peacefully by being governed by the old Brehon laws of the kingdom’s forebears. In the later part of the novel, author Harrison has shown that hundreds of people from the kingdom climbed the Mullaghmore Mountain terraces of the limestone during the month of May in the year 1509. They were overjoyed for celebrating the festival of May Day and spent the whole night dancing and singing, and lighting bonfires. At the dawn, most of them returned back safely to their homes in the Burren. But, one man did not return and his dead body was later discovered from the ravens, half eaten by the wolves. He was witnessed by many people of the kingdom, but none of them spoke about him. After a little while, King Turlough appoints Mara as the investigator and lawgiver in the Burren kingdom. She is asked by the king to head the judging panel of the investigation and come up with the reason behind the death of the victim. But once she commenced with her investigation, she was shocked to witness the wall of silence present in the whole kingdom. As a result, she faced the difficult task of making the people of the Burren speak and solve the mysterious case of the death of the poor victim.
The second novel of the Burren Mysteries series written by author Cora Harrison was published in the year 2008 by the Minotaur Books publishing house. It was titled as ‘A Secret and Unlawful Killing’. In the opening sequence of the plot of the novel, it is shown that the people of the Burren were indulged in the joyous period of the Michaelmas Fair in the year 1509. They enjoyed the arrival of autumn with celebration and trade. The festival provided them a chance to sell and buy their wares, gather, and pay their clans a tribute. But this time, the MacNamara clan steward had become greedy and raised the amount for the tribute, which caused a lot of tensions among the people of the Burren. Later, the steward’s dead body is discovered from the local churchyard. As a result, Mara is called once again to investigate the matter as the judge of the Brehon Laws. She faces a tough situation in trying to find out whether it was greed, revenge, or something else that caused the murder of the steward. Later in her investigation, Mara learns about one more death, which is believed to be a suicide. But, she seems rather unconvinced. She gets distracted by a marriage offer, which seemed irresistible. However, Mara was extremely determined to bring the murderer to justice before he takes the life of yet another victim.
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2 Responses to “Cora Harrison”
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Any issues with the book list you are seeing? Or is there an author or series we don’t have? Let me know!
Can’t remember whether I have thanked you before – it’s hugely helpful to have a list of all of my books – and in chronological order.
But if I haven’t, please accept my thanks now.
I am most grateful!
You are welcome Cora. Thanks for taking the time to comment that – you’ve made my day 🙂 Much appreciated!