I couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage. You’re making it sound like it’s my fault. Anyway, it’s more complicated than that.’ I loved this book. The story is interesting on several levels. The investigation into Wayne’s disappearance brings mystery and action. The host of characters in Helen’s life provide entertainment, smiles and laugh-out-loud moments. And her struggle with depression gives both Helen’s character and the book depth and the reader food for thought.

The fear was starting to creep into her face now. ‘You have your own place.’ She was blustering but she was losing conviction. After all, she must have been expecting this. Damn! Marian Keyes is soooo good. She writes compelling stories about real people, real families and real problems. Not with the cutesiness of Sophie Kinsella, but plausible mishaps and problems. I of course, was deeply moved by "Anybody Out There?," but this book was perhaps even better. I shook my head. ‘I can’t move in with Artie. His kids won’t let me.’ Not exactly. Only Bruno. He absolutely hated me but Iona was pleasant enough and Bella posi- tively adored me. ‘You’re my parents. Unconditional love, might I remind you. My stuff is in the car.’

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Such a disappointing book. The pace of the story is too slow and there is so little action. Romance is light on the ground and there is little exploration of Helen Walsh's relationships, which is a pity as both Jay Parker (the ex) and Artie Devlin (the current one) are interesting characters. There wasn't enough involvement by Mammy Walsh, who would have added some humour to a humourless story. I found them in the kitchen, sitting at the table drinking tea and eating cake. Old people. What a great life they had. Even those who don’t do t’ai chi. (Which I’ll get to.) Marian Keyes is a brilliant writer. No one is better at making terrifically funny jokes while telling such important, perceptive and agonizing stories of the heart. She is a genius' Sali Hughes Will make you laugh and make you cry, but will also reveal the truth of who you really are' Louise O'Neill Playing by her own rules, Helen is drawn into a dark and glamorous world, where her worst enemy is her own head and where increasingly the only person she feels connected to is Wayne, a man she's never even met.

While Helen's journey, including the development of her relationships with Artie, Jay and her family, sustains the book, the plot surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Wayne Diffney provides a solid framework for the story. The Laddz, desperate for a successful reunion concert to reverse their fortunes, have their own secrets and Helen has to navigate their past to save their future. I wouldn’t mind – I mean, this is the sheer irony of the thing – but I’m the only person I know who doesn’t think it would be delicious to go into ‘someplace’ for ‘a rest’. You’d want to hear my sister Claire going on about it, as if waking up one morning and finding herself in a mental hospital would be the most delightful experience imaginable. Joyful. Keyes' clever way with words and extraordinary wit. People stared at me as I laughed to myself' C.L. Taylor At various points in the novel, Helen Walsh seemed to have meaningful connections with Jay, Artie, and even Wayne – who did you envision Helen ending up with, if anyone? Were you surprised at the final outcome?

Christmas Gifts

Helen has a new boyfriend, but Jay’s reappearance proves unsettling. Playing by her own rules, Helen is drawn into a dark and glamorous world, where her own worst enemy is her own head and where increasingly the only person she feels connected to is Wayne, a man she has never even met. Property prices being as low as they were, the sale of this house probably wouldn’t fetch enough money to send them on a cruise of the Aran Islands. But, as I made my way out to the car to start lugging in my boxes of stuff I decided not to rub it in. After all, they were giving me a roof over my head.

I have a real fondness of Marian Keyes' books. I've been reading them since I was a young girl and they would be passed around our family, as well as various neighbours and friends. Her writing has a quality that really resonates with people and with the Walsh family, she's at her very best. That’s a tough question to answer because I write intuitively rather than logically – I tell a story first and then overlay a structure at the end. (And it’s something I agonise about. I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve had with my husband when I’ve put my face in my hands and wailed, “But how am I going to structure it?” And he always says, “Just write it and you can worry about the arrangement at the end.” And he’s always been right.) Helen also begins spending a great deal of time at Wayne's house, feeling some sort of a connection with him. The short answer is yes – Helen is smart and funny but still retains her disdain for people and most things in general. She has a “Shovel List”:

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Marian Keyes takes a brief look at the characters’ lives six months after the mystery has been solved. Do you think Zeezah made the right decision? Why? During one of the rehearsals for the Laddz reunion show, Helen thinks she sees Zeezah touch Roger St. Leger in an inappropriate way. What was your impression of Zeezah’s reaction when Helen confronts her? Keyes divides her life into before and after recovery. “Once I did go through rehab and admit the game was up, things were possible for me: healthy relationships, a career, honest, authentic friendships.” In what reads like the outline of a Keyes novel, four months before she gave up drinking she wrote a short story and sent it to a publisher on a whim; the year after she left rehab her first novel, Watermelon, was published, and she got married at 32. (Her husband Tony Baines – “He’s lovely!” – looks after everything that comes with being an internationally bestselling author.) I write about women being sexual past the 40 watershed, when we’re supposed to shut up shop I have been waiting for Helen Walsh's story for a long time. I started to think it wouldn't be written, simply because it couldn't be written. How was Helen ever going to come off as a real, let alone sympathetic, character when she was so snarky and over-the-top in all her guest appearances? That was half the fun of the other Walsh books--waiting for Helen to show up and say something wildly inappropriate and insensitive. But could she sustain a whole book? I really liked the way this book was written. It is as if Helen Walsh is sitting across from the reader and narrating her life. She just talks away, at times hopping from subject to subject as people do in conversations, without ever losing her thread. She is brutally honest about herself and her shortcomings, which are plenty. While she never tries to make herself look nice or sympathetic I couldn’t help but like Helen.

She loved writing the group therapy sessions in both novels. “Having gone through rehab myself, it was one of the happiest times of my life in a bizarre way. The bonds that you form with the people in your group, the other walking wounded … we were all trying to help each other. It was actually very beautiful. I wanted to bring that same camaraderie and humanity to the new book.”It’s more of a conceptual thing. 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.’ 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?). 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. The mystery is not as mysterious as fans may want if they are also hard-core mystery readers. But anyone who has dealt with depression or grief on any level will recognize that what is obvious in your clear moments is NOT obvious when you are dealing with the crap attention span, brain fog and memory issues that go hand in hand with mental illness. I thought it was very realistic that it took awhile for the dime to drop for Helen even though she had the clues fairly early. So that didn't bother me at all. Oh, I am shamefully intolerant, especially anything to do with noise. I swear I can hear the grass grow. Youths seem to follow me around and sit beside me on the bus, with their horrible head-phones blasting out the most irritating tinny sounds or worse still, something with a heavy bassline that makes everything vibrate. Also, I am wildly annoyed by the smell of cheap scented candles, vanilla is the very worse. And people who say “Pacifically” when they mean “Specifically.” I should really stop now – I’m starting to sound like a horrible person, when I’m not really – I’ll just say one more thing: celery. I cannot abide it! Or people who say, “Sweet potato wedges are just as delicious as ordinary potato wedges, but with a third fewer calories.” Because sweet potato wedges are not as delicious as ordinary potato wedges – I don’t mind making a deliberate decision to try and consume less calories by eating the sweet potato wedges, but I do resent being taken for a fool. Really, I’d better leave it at that…