I heard about the new Marian Keyes release through Twitter where a lot of readers were practically counting down the days before the arrival of her new book. I took a look on Marian’s website and found out that The Mystery of Mercy Close is the latest book in a series about the Walsh family which consists of five sisters and their mother. After watching a series of videos where Marian talks about each sister in great detail and takes us though their handbags I became very fascinated with them. Each sister has her own book which takes place over a period of 17 years and all the sisters feature in them. The series kicked off in 1995 with Watermelon which is the story of Claire, the eldest sister. She seems to have it all; great job, perfect husband, lovely house and has just given birth to a baby girl. However, it all goes terribly wrong when she finds out that her husband is having an affair. She is faced to bring up her daughter alone and decides to return to her family in Dublin. The next book is Rachel’s Holiday which is about the middle sister, Rachel and in true form she is a total train wreck. She is 27, unemployed and with a bit of a drug habit. When she finally hits rock bottom her family rally round to sort her out. Angels is the tale of Maggie, the sister who did everything right until one day she discovers that her husband is having an affair and that her boss is going to fire her. She decided to up and fly off to Hollywood to visit her best friend Emily. Finally Maggie gets to really live life; mixing with film stars, pitching scripts and partying non-stop but is this really a once-in-a-lifetime journey of self-discovery, or is she simply running away from married life?

Anybody Out There is Anna’s story, the one with the fabulous Sex and the City lifestyle. With a glam job in beauty PR, gorgeous husband, a cool apartment in Manhattan, Anna is the Irish Carrie Bradshaw. Except that this time, she is having a bit of a meltdown – traumatised by her visit to Dublin and the antics of her dramatic family, she cannot wait to get back to her perfect life in Manhattan. But as soon as she arrives back to the Big Apple she finds out that her husband has disappeared. The Mystery of Mercy Close is about Helen Walsh, the youngest of the sisters. Like her older siblings, Helen is very much her own person, she is completely fearless which is just as well considering her occupation as a private investigator. Sadly Helen has stumbled upon hard times, her work as a private investigator has dried up, her flat has been repossessed and now her old demons have resurfaced. I really love this concept. I have always been one for family dynasties which is why soaps like Dynasty, Dallas and Falcon Crest always appealed to me so this series is really up my street. I love the way that Marian has captured the essence of a family of sisters growing up over a long period of time. Even Mrs Walsh has an ebook about her which is called Mammy Walsh’s A-Z of the Walsh Family where she talks about her five daughters. This is a great introduction to the family so if you are about to start reading the series then you could do some prep with this little eguide. As for me I am off to my best friend, amazon to order the whole series (except The Mystery of Mercy Close which was kindly sent to me by Penguin). The Walsh’s await me.

The series about the Walsh sisters is available to buy from amazon.

Check out Marian Keyes’ videos about the Walsh sisters.