Sheila Connolly is an American mystery writer and novelist. Sheila is the nationally bestselling, award-winning author of the Orchard Mystery series, the Museum series, and the stand-alone titles Relatively Dead, and Once She Knew. She has published over 30 mysteries, including several New York Times bestsellers.
Background
Ethnicity:
Sheila Connolly has Irish roots. She is a Mayflower descendant and the grandchild of Irish immigrants.
Connolly was born in 1950, in Rochester, New York, and since then has lived in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California, and Massachusetts. Her father’s parents were both born in Ireland, in Carlow and Cork, so about 50 percent of her blood is Irish, but when she tried a DNA test, it came back at 75 percent. Her mother’s mother, who was adopted when she was very young and never knew as much as her parents’ names, turned out to be Irish as well. Her father was an engineer, so she was taught how to fix things from an early age.
Education
In 1972 Sheila Connolly graduated with honors from Wellesley College, then earned a Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Harvard University. When art history jobs proved elusive, she obtained a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of California, Berkeley.
Career
Before starting her writing career, Sheila Connolly has taught art history, structured and marketed municipal bonds for major cities, worked as a staff member on two statewide political campaigns, and served as a fundraiser for several non-profit organizations. She also managed her own consulting company providing genealogical research services. Now a full-time writer, she thinks writing mysteries is a lot more fun than any of her previous occupations.
The Glassblowing Mystery series, written under the pen name Sarah Atwell, debuted in March 2008 with “Through a Glass, Deadly”. In the series, the protagonist, glassblower Em Dowell, manages her own glass shop and studio in Tucson, Arizona, and tries to find time to solve the occasional murder. Connolly's Orchard Mystery series opened with “One Bad Apple”, published in August 2008.
Connolly's newest series, the Museum Mysteries, begins in October 2010 with “Fundraising the Dead”. Nell Pratt, development director for the prestigious Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society, is worried that the institution's reputation will be threatened by the death of one of its key employees - whose body Nell found in the stacks. The police declare the death an accident, but Nell isn't so sure, particularly when she finds information pointing in a different direction.
Most recently, the author published Let's Play Dead, set at a children's museum based on the Please Touch Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A worker on an exhibit about a local children's author is hurt by electric shock, and then another worker is killed by a shock. Nell was present at the first incident, and she becomes involved in the inquiry into the second man's death. the latest is Fire Engine Dead, about a fire at a warehouse housing the collections of a fire fighting museum.
Connolly has also published a variety of short stories: "Size Matters" appeared in the 2010 Level Best Anthology, Thin Ice; "Called Home," a short prequel to the Orchard series, was published by Beyond the Page in 2011; and "Dead Letters," an e-story featuring the main characters from the Museum series, will be published by Berkley Prime Crime in February 2012. Beyond the Page also published "The Rising of the Moon," and another Level Best anthology includes "Kept in the Dark," which was nominated for both an Agatha Award and an Anthony Award for 2013.
Views
Quotations:
"When I'm not writing, I love to travel, I can fix almost anything around an old house, and I'm passionate about history and genealogy, especially when they’re intertwined."
"I prefer being outside somewhere, weather permitting, but mostly I make myself comfortable on a seat, shut my eyes, and just focus on what I’m hearing or even smelling. After I clear my head of all the things I should be doing and all the lists that I’ve made, I can start with a blank slate and think about questions like, what should my character do next? What usually happens is that an unexpected idea pops up and makes perfect sense, but I didn’t consciously think of it."
Membership
Sheila is a member of Sisters in Crime-New England (president 2011), the national Sisters in Crime, and the fabulous on-line SinC chapter, the Guppies. She also belongs to Romance Writers of America and Mystery Writers of America. Sheila is also a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants.
Personality
In addition to genealogy, Sheila loves restoring old houses, visiting cemeteries, and traveling. She also likes collecting things: books, old things (like cookware), etc. Her favorite movies that she watches again and again are The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Jurassic Park (the first one). Dirty Dancing.
Sheila believes that a perfect day consists of the following things: waking up in her cottage in Ireland, answering emails while watching rainbows outside the window (on a good day there’s more than one), going to the Skibbereen farmers’ market, and the hardware store, and other small shops, then coming back to the cottage, and doing something practical like scrubbing mold off the walls. And talking to people of all kinds.
Here what she said on her own personality: "I’m intelligent, analytical, curious, hard-working, methodical. I’m a loyal friend, but I believe in letting other people find their own way. I don’t judge others. I communicate better on paper than face to face." She also added: "I love learning new skills (on behalf of my characters), like how to grow apples or manage a pub in Ireland, or communicate with the ghosts of my departed ancestors."
Quotes from others about the person
"Connolly vividly evokes rural Ireland, and her characters seem like real human beings trying their best to navigate their lives." - Publishers Weekly
"Tis a grand thing... The prolific Sheila Connolly... pays tribute to her Irish heritage... Connolly invests this leisurely series opener with a wealth of Irish color and background." - Richmond Times-Dispatch
Connections
Sheila lives in "a too-big Victorian" in southeastern Massachusetts with her husband and three cats. They have a grown daughter who is pursuing her own writing career.
