The Pig Comes To Dinner [Hardcover]

I couldn't have been more disappointed in this second in a planned trilogy. Where did the author of the first book go?! The plot is ridiculous and the characters barely resemble themselves from the first book. I kept reading to the end because I just couldn't believe that as delighted as I was with "The Pig Did It", I was equally as distraught with the lack of anything noteworthy in this book.

It was four start at the beginning, but as the pages were read, turned, and wallowed in with snorting glee, it soon became a full 5-star book. True, I'm an Irish descendant, but County Donegal, not County Kerry. True I grew up on a farm and we only owned one pig. Ghosts I seldom go looking for, but in this book, they became as real and acceptable to the reader as they did to Kitty McCloud and Kieran Sweeney, who now shares their castle haunt.

True again, I'm a male, but this is not a sappy, emotional, bedroom-scene juicy romance. It's an honest, couple-in-love, story that happens to take place in an old castle, haunted a bit by another romantically inclined couple that were hung by the rope until dead, many years before. He's a harpist, she's a weaver, so all of the romantic arts and crafts are included in this country setting of one of the most beautiful locations in all the world, County Kerry, Ireland. I've been there.

I've also been to Dingle Town, a location yet rich in the Gaelic language common use, including all traffic signs.

OK, so in "THE PIG COMES TO DINNER" we have a common but sweet couple newly married and moving into a very old castle. Of course the appearance of Taddy and Brid (the ghostly pair you'll learn to love) create the need to discover the secrets behind the castle, behind the family feud, and behind the deaths of the young pair that now haunt the abode.

What about the PIG? Well in Ireland, pigs are seldom seen, a true reason for which I never understood while visiting, nor is it disclosed in this romantic comedy by Caldwell. Maybe I'd know more if I'd read the first of the trilogy first, a task I now have before me. It didn't make any difference in my enjoying this book, being out of order. I did notice in this book, and references to the pig's past, that this particular pig fails to remain secluded. It was noted that the pig was gifted because the pig behavior included it occasionally flirtatiously accommodated other she-pigs.

One of the best ways to recommend a book is to quote favorite lines such as:
"Kitty's jealous belief that Kieran is romantically involved with the executed girl, Brid."
"'There's a pig standing in my way staring at me.' Lord Shaftoe paused, then, with offended astonishment, added, 'Oh, and now it's--well, really!'"
"The musicians' instruments were already in place at the far side of the wooden platform, the boards raised so that the slap and stomp of the dancer's feet would resonate and thrum beyond the percussive sounds that characterized the Kerry dances. Guinness in kegs was at the ready..."

Joseph Caldwell, author, is quite the Irish seanchai (storyteller).
Next is "THE PIG ENTERS HOG HEAVEN".

This second enstallment of the Pig saga is better than the first (The Pig Did It).
The personalities of the main characters are already established and very understandable in their actions. Being of Irish decent I recognized everyone in this book, including the pig.

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