★O’Connor, Carlene. Some of Us Are Looking. Kensington. (County Kerry, Bk. 2). Oct. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781496737557. $27. M

There are watch parties for the night’s meteor showers all over Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula, and veterinarian Dimpna Wilde has plans to meet with friends, including Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien. A local man, Chris Henderson, has recently complained to the Garda about a group of four people, two dogs, and a parrot in a small caravan. Then Henderson turns up dead, the victim of a hit-and-run, while Dimpna frantically tries to save two foxes who were hit by the same car. Before Dimpna can even leave her clinic, one of the women from the caravan, Brigid Sweeney, shows up in a blood-covered jacket with a wild story about a knife, a man, and a rabbit. Dimpna thinks Brigid is lying, but the next morning she finds Brigid’s body tied to a tree with her hand missing and a rabbit’s foot in its place. A troubled O’Brien refuses to take the lead in either murder case, but he can’t let go. Dimpna, with her love of animals, is dragged deeper into the case, as O’Brien struggles to find a brutal killer. VERDICT There’s a surprising conclusion in this sequel to No Strangers Here. Sarah Stewart Taylor’s fans will appreciate O’Connor’s dark, atmospheric Irish mystery.