(Meg Corey has come to the quaint New England town of Gran...)
Meg Corey has come to the quaint New England town of Granford, Massachusetts, to sell her mother's old colonial home and apple orchard. Instead, she becomes embroiled in development plans that include her land?and her former flame from Boston. When he's found dead in the new septic tank on her property, the police immediately suspect Meg, whose only ally in town is the plumber Seth Chapin. Together, they'll have to peel back the layers of secrecy that surround the deal in order to find the real murderer' and save the orchard.
(After an English professor-and old friend of her mother-i...)
After an English professor-and old friend of her mother-is found dead in a cider house, orchard owner Meg Corey starts to wonder: Could her own mother have committed murder?
(At The Society for the Preservation of Pennsylvania Antiq...)
At The Society for the Preservation of Pennsylvania Antiques, fundraiser Eleanor "Nell" Pratt solicits donations-and sometimes solves crimes. When a collection of George Washington's letters is lost on the same day that an archivist is found dead, it seems strange that the Society president isn't pushing for an investigation. Nell goes digging herself and soon uncovers a long, rich history of crime.
(Some baby-faced chefs, fresh out of cooking school, are l...)
Some baby-faced chefs, fresh out of cooking school, are looking to open a restaurant in Granford. They plan on using local foods-great news for city girl banker-turned orchard owner Meg Corey. Yet when one of the chefs is found dead, face-down in a farmer's pig wallow, plans come to a screeching halt. And Meg soon discovers they may have a locally grown killer on their hands.
(After an English professor-and old friend of her mother-i...)
After an English professor-and old friend of her mother-is found dead in a cider house, orchard owner Meg Corey starts to wonder: Could her own mother have committed murder?
(Now that Meg Corey's apples have been harvested and sold,...)
Now that Meg Corey's apples have been harvested and sold, she's enjoying some free time. But when the small but annoying mishaps plaguing her start turning sinister, Meg begins to worry that her first harvest may be her last.
(The new exhibit at the Philadelphia children's museum, Le...)
The new exhibit at the Philadelphia children's museum, Let's Play, isn't meant to be shocking-but when one of the installers is zapped with a fatal electrical charge, it's up to Nell to put her detective skills on display.
(Apple orchard owner Meg Corey is finally feeling settled ...)
Apple orchard owner Meg Corey is finally feeling settled into her new life in Granford - she's made friends, and her relationship with Seth Chapin is heating up - when her old Boston coworker Lauren Converse comes barreling into town, running the Congressional campaign for a former hometown football hero. But Meg doesn't have time to worry about why Seth seems reluctant to back Lauren's campaign when her neighbor, local dairy farmer Joyce Truesdell, is found dead from an apparent kick to the head from one of her cows. When an autopsy shows that the fatal blow actually came from a weapon, Meg is even more troubled.
(When the entire collection of the Fireman's Museum ironic...)
When the entire collection of the Fireman's Museum ironically goes up in flames, Nell Pratt discovers one of the charred pictures isn't the one that was originally exhibited. But getting to the bottom of the mystery is bound to get Nell burned...
(As president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society in P...)
As president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society in Philadelphia, Nell Pratt relies on the generosity of philanthropists. But when someone starts killing benefactors, it’s Nell’s turn to come to their aid… When Nell reads the obituary of a former board member, Adeline Harrison, she makes a mental note to send flowers and doesn’t think twice about it - until FBI agent James Morrison shares his suspicions about the nature of Adeline’s death.
(Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan ...)
Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born - though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran. In the pub, she’s swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly one-hundred-year-old body in a nearby bog. When Maura realizes she may know something about the dead man - and that the body’s connected to another, more recent, death - she fears she’s about to become mired in a homicide investigation. After she discovers the death is connected to another from almost a century earlier, Maura has a sinking feeling she may really be getting in over her head...
(Abby witnesses a family scene that leaves her gasping for...)
Abby witnesses a family scene that leaves her gasping for breath - because the family has been dead for nearly a century. Another haunting episode follows, and another, until it seems to Abby that everything she touches is drawing her in, calling to her from the past. Abby would doubt her sanity if it weren’t for Ned Newhall, the kind and knowledgeable guide on that disturbing house tour. Rather than telling her, she’s hallucinating, Ned takes an interest in Abby’s strange encounters and encourages her to figure out what’s going on, starting with investigating the story of the family she saw... and exploring her own past. But as Abby begins to piece together a history that’s as moving as it is shocking and unravels a long-ago mystery that nearly tore her family apart, she also begins to suspect that Ned’s got secrets of his own, and that his interest may be driven as much by a taste for romance as a love for history.
(As the new owner of Sullivan’s Pub in County Cork, Irelan...)
As the new owner of Sullivan’s Pub in County Cork, Ireland, Maura Donovan gets an earful of all the village gossip. But uncovering the truth about some local rumors may close her down for good in this mystery in the County Cork series. Bostonian Maura is beginning to feel settled in her new Irish home, just in time for summer tourist season to bring fresh business to her pub. But the first traveler to arrive is thirsty for more than just a pint of Guinness. Althea Melville is hot on the trail of a long-lost Van Dyck painting.
(It’s harvest time in Granford, Massachusetts, and orchard...)
It’s harvest time in Granford, Massachusetts, and orchard owner Meg Corey and her fiancé, Seth, are both racing to beat the New England winter. Meg is bringing in her apple crop with a team of workers, while Seth is working to restore an old building in the center of town. But when his project is set back due to the unexpected discovery of a skeleton under the building - and even worse, a young man related to one of Meg’s former apple pickers is found dead behind the local feed store - the couple’s carefully laid plans are quickly spoiled…
(The ethereal soldier is not the only mystery in Abby’s li...)
The ethereal soldier is not the only mystery in Abby’s life. She’s also trying to sort out her connection to Ned Newhall, the man who shares her ability and is playing a more serious romantic role in her life every day. But with plans for the celebration ramping up and her job becoming more chaotic by the minute, Abby’s finding it hard to catch her breath, much less come to grips with all the new turns her life has taken. And when another eerie episode is followed by the appearance of a very curious young girl who seems wise beyond her years, Abby discovers she and Ned may have only scratched the surface of their special ability, and that Ned may hold the biggest surprise yet.
(Pub owner Maura Donovan may have Irish kin, but she doesn...)
Pub owner Maura Donovan may have Irish kin, but she doesn’t seem to have the luck of the Irish. Who could have foreseen that bringing live music back to Sullivan’s Pub would lead to a dead musician? Summer is ending in County Cork, Ireland, and with it the tourist season. Expat Maura Donovan is determined to keep Sullivan’s Pub in the black as the days grow shorter - but how? When she hears that the place was once a hot spot for Irish musicians who’d come play in the back room, she wonders if bringing back live music might be Sullivan’s salvation.
(Nell Pratt, president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Soc...)
Nell Pratt, president of the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society, has something to smile about thanks to a generous donation from a major Philadelphia developer who’s willing to help update their museum. But renovations have barely begun when a man is struck by a car in front of the building and killed. The victim is a construction worker who found a curious metal object while excavating an old privy in the museum’s basement. Nell thinks the death is somehow connected to the Society, and her suspicions are confirmed when an antique expert reveals a link between the objects from the cellar and a fellow staff member’s family.
(Abby Kimball has slowly accepted her recently discovered ...)
Abby Kimball has slowly accepted her recently discovered ability to see the dead, but none of the harmless sightings she’s experienced could have prepared her for the startling apparition of a centuries-old courtroom scene - where she locks eyes with a wicked and gleeful accuser. Thrown back more than three hundred years, Abby realizes she’s been plunged into a mystery that has fascinated people throughout American history: the Salem witch trials. With her boyfriend Ned at her side, Abby digs into the history of the events, researching the people and possible causes of that terrible time and her own connection to them - all the while going more deeply into her connection to Ned, both extraordinary and romantic.
(After calling Ireland home for six months, Boston expat M...)
After calling Ireland home for six months, Boston expat Maura Donovan still has a lot to learn about Irish ways - and Sullivan’s Pub is her classroom. Maura didn’t only inherit a business, she inherited a tight-knit community. And when a tragedy strikes, it’s the talk of the pub. A local farmer, out for a stroll on the beach with his young son, has mysteriously disappeared. Did he drown? Kill himself? The child can say only that he saw a boat. Everyone from the local gardai to the Coast Guard is scouring the Cork coast, but when a body is finally brought ashore, it’s the wrong man. An accidental drowning or something more sinister?
(Society president Nell Pratt believes life is finally goi...)
Society president Nell Pratt believes life is finally going her way. Everything’s running smoothly at work, and her love life is thriving. Then some unexpected news rocks her foundation. Two members of a local neighborhood rescue program, Tyrone Blakeney and Cherisse Chapman, inform Nell that her society owns an abandoned row house in a rundown area of Philadelphia and they insist on taking her to see the property before its date with the wrecking ball. But soon after they arrive at the house, Cherisse is fatally shot and Tyrone is badly injured. The police believe it’s just random violence in a bad neighborhood, but Nell thinks there’s more to it and is determined to find answers before someone else becomes history...
(Snow is a rarity in Maura Donovan's small village in Coun...)
Snow is a rarity in Maura Donovan's small village in County Cork, Ireland, so she wasn't sure what to expect when a major snowstorm rolled in around Sullivan's pub. But now she's stranded in a bar full of patrons - and a suspected killer in a long-ago murder. Maura’s been in Ireland less than a year and hasn't heard about the decades-old unsolved crime that took place nearby, let alone the infamous suspect, Diane Caldwell. But the locals have, and they're not happy to be trapped with her. Diane, meanwhile, seeks to set the record straight, asserting her innocence after all this time. And since no one is going anywhere in the storm, Maura encourages Diane to share her side of the story, which she’d never had a chance to do in court. Over the next few hours, the informal court in Sullivan’s reviews the facts and theories about the case - and comes to some surprising conclusions. But is it enough to convince the police to take a new look at an old case?
(Katherine Hamilton’s goal in high school was to escape fr...)
Katherine Hamilton’s goal in high school was to escape from her dead-end hometown of Asheboro, Maryland. Fifteen years later she’s got a degree in hospitality management and a great job at a high-end boutique hotel in Baltimore. Until that is, the hotel is acquired by a chain, and she’s laid off. When Kate’s high school best friend calls with a mysterious invitation to come to talk with the town leaders of Asheboro, she agrees to make the trip, curious about where this new opportunity might lead. Once Kate arrives, the town council members reveal that their town is on the verge of going bankrupt, and they’ve decided that Kate’s skills and knowledge make her the perfect person to cure all their ills.
(Pub owner Maura Donovan hasn’t seen her mother for over t...)
Pub owner Maura Donovan hasn’t seen her mother for over twenty years, so when she suddenly shows up in Maura’s pub, Maura’s not sure what to expect. Her mother has moved back home and has taken a position working with the new owners of the Crann Mor hotel just outside Skibbereen. Creating a new lift for herself was working out fine - until her new boss is found dead in the gardens, dumped down the hillside behind the hotel. Now, Maura must leave no stone unturned to clear her mother’s name and rebuild their fragmented relationship. However, in County Cork, things are rarely as they seem.
(Winter still has a firm stranglehold on the small town of...)
Winter still has a firm stranglehold on the small town of Granford, and newly married orchard owner Meg Chapin is restless to begin her spring pruning and planting, while Seth busies himself with a new project of his own. But their relative peace is shattered when a gunshot breaks the winter silence and they discover the body of a dead woman on their land. What’s just as troubling is that the state police have hushed up the murder and are warning Meg not to investigate. Never one to sit by idly with a killer on the loose, Meg starts digging for clues and probing for answers as discreetly as she can. When the victim turns out to have been an undercover reporter doing a story on the blossoming trade in illegal drugs in the area, Meg’s stunned to learn that this very modern crime has come to sleepy Granford.
(Still undecided about a return to her teaching career, Ab...)
Still undecided about a return to her teaching career, Abby Kimball has thrown herself into restoring the grand Victorian she shares with her boyfriend, Ned. She’s happy to put thoughts of her strange ability to see the dead on the back burner for a while, but she realizes that won’t be so easy when she’s faced with two new compelling encounters. First, a plumber she’s hired has a shocking experience with an old tool they find buried in the house’s walls, and then the interior life of an autistic boy streams through her mind as if he were speaking. Intrigued by the possibility that those who share her ability are more numerous and considerably more varied than she ever imagined, Abby’s forced to reconsider everything she thought she knew about her extraordinary gift. Inspired to learn more about autism and also the family history of her new plumber, Abby begins to dig deep on both topics and will discover a shocking connection that makes it clear that deeds from the past are reverberating still in the present...
(When a summer intern at the Preservation Society discover...)
When a summer intern at the Preservation Society discovers an aged document hidden in the binding of an antique book, Society president Nell Pratt is intrigued by the possibilities: is it a valuable historic document or just a useless scrap of paper? When analysis reveals that it’s a hand-drawn map of one of Philadelphia’s oldest neighborhoods, Nell learns that the area is being excavated for new real estate development and may hold long-buried secrets from the city’s historic heyday. Determined to get to the bottom of the map’s origin and what it might tell her about the mysterious plot of land, Nell will have to contend with a construction company owner who disappears, a former Society board member who’s harbored a dark secret her entire life, and a remarkable discovery that may have the dead turning over in their graves...
(Pub owner Maura Donovan is settling into a charmed life i...)
Pub owner Maura Donovan is settling into a charmed life in Ireland - until a mutilated body on her property ends her lucky streak. Boston expat Maura Donovan came to Ireland to honor her grandmother’s last wish, but she never expected to stay in provincial County Cork - much less to inherit a house and a pub, Sullivan’s, in the small village of Leap. After a year-long struggle to stay in the black, Sullivan’s is finally thriving, and Maura has even brought back traditional Irish music to the pub. With a crop of new friends and a budding relationship with handsome Mick Nolan, Maura’s life seems rosier than ever - but even in Ireland, you can’t always trust your luck. It begins with Maura’s discovery of a body in the ravine behind the pub. And then, the Irish gardaí reveal that the victim’s face has been battered beyond recognition. Who is the faceless victim? Who wanted him dead?
(After fifteen years away, Kate Hamilton never expected to...)
After fifteen years away, Kate Hamilton never expected to end up back in her hometown of Asheboro, Maryland full time. And she definitely didn’t expect to be leading the charge of recreating the town as a Victorian village and tourist attraction. But as unexpected as the circumstances are, Kate is ready to tackle them. The town, on the other hand, is going to take some convincing. Ever since Henry Barton’s shovel factory closed down, it’s started to seem like there are more tumbleweeds than tourists rolling down Main Street. Kate’s ideas are good but ambitious - and her friends and neighbors are worried that finding the money for them would push the town even further into debt.
(Some secrets are too big to stay buried... A few months a...)
Some secrets are too big to stay buried... A few months ago, Boston expat Maura Donovan was rekindled with her mother after more than twenty years of absence. Since then, Maura has been getting accustomed to Irish living, complete with an inherited house and a pub named Sullivan's. But now, her mother has returned - and she's brought Maura's half-sister in tow. To make matters more confusing, a handful of Cork University students are knocking on Maura's door asking about a mystical fairy fort that happens to be located on Maura's piece of land.
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.
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.
(Some secrets are too big to stay buried... A few months a...)
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
Interests
genealogy, traveling, restoration, collecting
Politicians
Eleanor of Aquitaine
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.