Review: Loved getting additional background, great story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 10, 2013
I have just recently signed up for a service that alerts me when favorite authors release new publications --- and am I so glad I did!  Without it, I wouldn't have found this wonderful little gem as I wasn't looking for a new publication until next fall.My experience with the vast majority of other short stories published in other series hasn't been all that great.  Usually the emphasis should be on the word "short" as most of them are only about half of the download and the rest an advertisement for their upcoming book.  The other thing I have noticed is that the stories are usually just "ok" at best which I am going to attribute to novelists writing in a format with which they are not familiar.  That being said, I love this series so much that I was willing to take anything I could get to tide me over until October when the next full-length novel comes out.Imagine my surprise to find this ended up being a novel in miniature.  All 66 pages are just like the novels - story, glossary, Kinky's notes.  Not a bit of filler to be found.  In the author's notes at the beginning of the story, Mr. Taylor explains a bit about why he wrote it and views it as a gift to his readers (not free, but at a very nominal price).  I have to agree whole-heartedly.While it is short, I was able to settle into the story and get into a flow.  It gives some backstory we have not been privy to as readers such as how Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly came to be at Ballybuklebo and how his first few days went in the new practice.  Hint:  Bertie Bishop was a pain in the you-know-what from day one!For fans of the series, I would highly recommend reading this wonderful story though it will only whet your appetite for the next one.  Thank goodness I only have to wait six months from this point.  Loved it and a huge "thank you" to the author.