Customer Reviews

One Bad Apple (An Orchard Mystery)

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Some people snidely refer to a book as a cozy mystery. Sheila Connolly's One Bad Apple is an example of everything that is right with the cozy mystery. Her book has a likable heroine, an attractive small town setting, a slimy victim, and fascinating side elements. I hope Connolly returns readers to Granford, Massachusetts again.

Meg Corey lost her banking job in Boston in a downsize. She took on the joint ownership of an old house in Granford, and moved to that small community to get the house ready for sale. She didn't expect to find a two hundred year old house, an apple orchard covering fifteen acres, and major plumbing problems. Before the plumber could show up, Meg's ex-boyfriend landed on her doorstep. Neither expected to find the other there, but Chandler Hale was hoping to bring developers in for a major project in Grandford, and was recruiting votes in his favor. Meg rejected his business proposition, but that's not what it looked like to the police when Chandler ended up dead in her septic tank. The major suspects? Meg, and her new plumber, Seth, two people who might have an interest in the development project.

There's depth to the characters in this book that isn't always found in crime fiction. Meg, Seth, and some of the women in this book are well-developed. Meg's opinion of Granford and her house changes as she learns more about them, and becomes a little more comfortable with small town life. The information about apple orchards is interesting, and the requisite recipes in recent mysteries is an added bonus. No, One Bad Apple won't make the bestseller lists where every other book seems to be a thriller. However, for all of us who like an interesting mystery, nice people, development as a relevant issue, along with a background that's a little different, One Bad Apple is just what we're looking for. Sheila Connolly has written a winner for cozy mystery fans.

Meg Corey just can't catch a break. First her boyfriend dumps her, then she loses her job to downsizing and then she becomes a suspect in a murder. Once she loses her job in Boston, Meg moves Granford Massachusetts with the idea of fixing up and selling an old home that her mother inherited years ago. Naturally the house was in much worse shape than she had expected and the work was furiously draining her bank account. Just when she thinks that things can't get any worse her sewer system backs up and requires a complete overhaul but she does catch a break when the nice guy local plumber can get started on the work right away. Her relief is short lived however when her ex-boyfriend shows up, not to ask her forgiveness but to make a business proposition. She turns the jerk down and is pretty sure that things can't get any worse until the next morning when her new sewer system backs up yet again. That's bad enough but when the plumber comes to check for the problem he finds the body of Meg's ex-boyfriend in the brand new septic tank.

As it turns out the ex-boyfriend was involved in a development project that would have taken most of the plumber's land and also the lovely orchard that Meg had just learned was on her property. With that in mind the state investigator soon considers both Meg and her plumber friend, as prime suspects and Meg can't see that he is trying very hard to find any other suspects. Because of that she starts to investigate on her own and she finally gets out of her crumbling house and meets the people of Granford. Pretty soon Meg starts to make friends and finds that she likes the locals very much, making her wonder if she really wants to sell the house or not. Before she makes that decision though she has to find the killer or she may be a guest of the state for the next few years.

I just love it when I come across the first book in a possible series that is this good because I know that I have some excellent reading to look forward to. The author has a very enjoyable writing style and the setting for this series is as realistic as any I have come across, yet it still manages to be just loads of fun. I have read books that were funnier and I have read books that were more realistic but I have seldom come across a cozy that balances the two so well. Meg herself is delightfully full of sarcastic wit but at the same time she is a very sympathetic character.

Despite the emphases on the characters the mystery itself is never allowed to stray far from the reader's attention and a well-constructed mystery it is. The solution is not so obvious that it can be solved half way through the book but it also isn't so obscure as to stretch credibility. This is definitely a welcome and tasty arrival on the cozy scene.

Months after her boyfriend dumped her, Meg Corey's job is made redundant when her bank merges with a larger one. Her mother comes up with a solution that will occupy Meg for the next few months. They own property in Grandford, New England that includes a house and an apple orchard. If Meg fixes up the house, she will earn half the profits from the sale.

Neither Meg nor her mom is aware that the house needs enormous structural and cosmetic repair. The plumping needs immediate attention so she calls Seth Chapin who informs Meg the septic tank needs replacing. The day after it is fixed, her sink is stuffed, Seth inspects what is clogging the system only to find the corpse of Meg's ex boyfriend inside. He was in town to sell the concept of a strip mall and had many enemies with a motive to kill him.

There is a delightful charm to this small town regional cozy. The protagonist works the homicide because the police officer leading the investigation considers her the prime person of interest. Sheila Connolly provides a fascinating whodunit filled with surprises especially red herrings as the amateur competes with the cop to prove she is innocent by uncovering the identity of the guilty person.

Harriet Klausner

This is the most charming and cozy book I've read in a while! I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. Five stars are not enough.

After Meg is laid off, she moves into an old family house that her mother owned, and she now co-owns with her mother. She intends to fix it up and sell it for her mother. The house is very old, historical, charming, and beautiful, but it does need a lot of work. There is an apple orchard on the property, which means it is now Meg's. It is a lovely grove, and it produces several different types of apples.

Soon after she moves in, her ex-boyfriend shows up. (Who wants to see an ex?) She also meets and makes friends with a very nice man named Seth.

A dead body is found. I will not say who it is or where they are found. I do not want to give away that part of the storyline.

Meg makes some wonderful vegetable soup. While she is determined to solve the murder mystery, the cozy home and cozy food make this book one cozy, good book. If the home is this cozy while it is torn apart being remodeled, can you imagine how cozy it will be when it is finished?

I have always been an "apple" person. I'm also a cozy mystery person. So when I found an apple cozy mystery, I couldn't resist it.

To me, there's something, warm, cozy, and homey about apples. I've always loved just plain raw apples, cooked apples, caramel apples, witch's brew (apple cider), apple muffins, apple stuffing, apple butter, apple tarts, apple pie, etc. I love all of them - the reds, greens, yellows, speckles. I love all varieties of apples.

Autumn is my favorite season. And since apples are an autumn fruit, I get the best of both worlds together! (This book does not take place in autumn - I merely mentioned the fact that apples are an autumn fruit.)

And I haven't even mentioned the health benefits of apples. But I won't talk about that - that discussion can be saved for health books and medical books. (A cozy mystery with a healthy component!)

You get everything in this book - superb writing, a good plot, a cozy atmosphere, enjoyment, and also . . . apples.

And coffee. There is plenty of coffee to go around in this exceptional cozy mystery.

There are some interesting apple facts and delectable apple recipes at the end of this book.

Apples aside, the writing and style is immaculate, magnificent, and professional.

Highly recommended.

Curl up with a slice of apple cake and a glass of cider, and settle down for a delectable read! One Bad Apple has it all--likeable characters, a cozy setting, and a plot that grows more intriguing with every page. The protagonist, Meg Corey, wormed her way into my heart right from the get-go. I'm looking forward to the next book in this very promising series.

Meg Corey has fallen on hard times. In the past few months, she's been downsized out of her job at a Boston banking firm, forced to leave her apartment, and dumped by her boyfriend, Chandler Hale. When Meg's mother decides to sell a rental property she inherited, Meg jumps at the chance for a new start. She moves into the historical home in the small town of Granford, Massachusetts, intending to renovate the home for a quick sale.

Meg soon finds that she's in over her head. She's a city girl, not a do-it-yourself weekend warrior, and she's overwhelmed by the seemingly endless home repairs. To make matters worse, her ex-boyfriend unexpectedly turns up on her doorstep. Chandler Hale is working on a real estate development deal in Granford, and he asks Meg to give him inside information about her new neighbors. The development deal would provide a much-needed boost to the local economy, but it would also put a parking lot over the historic orchard on Meg's property. Meg refuses to help Chandler and assumes that's the end of it - that is, until his body is found floating in her newly-installed septic tank.

Suddenly Meg and her plumber, Seth Chapin, are the prime suspects in Chandler's murder. Seth is a prominent land owner in Granford as well as Meg's closest neighbor. Of the local residents, Seth and Meg would be most affected by the land deal. Both of them have motives to want Chandler out of the way, but they're not the only ones. The looming development deal has created a lot of controversy in Granford, with the community evenly divided among those who oppose the deal and those who favor it.

Meg slowly finds herself falling in love with small town life, but she will have to prove her innocence before she can truly enjoy what Granford has to offer.

One Bad Apple is a charming start to Sheila Connolly's Orchard Mysteries series. Meg is an endearing amateur sleuth, surrounded by a colorful cast of supporting characters. Connolly effectively captures the feel of a small New England town -- after reading One Bad Apple, I felt as though I'd spent the afternoon in rural Massachusetts. The apple-centric recipes in the back of the book are a great addition to the story. (I can't wait to try the apple muffins and fresh apple cake.) With such a promising start, I'm eagerly awaiting the next book in the Orchard Mysteries series.

I loved this book, the first in "An Orchard Mystery" series. First,to set the scene, I read the blurb: "When Meg Corey unexpectedly finds herself out of a job, an apartment, and a relationship,she seizes the opportunity to renovate the Massachusetts colonial house her mother has inherited and sell it quickly for a share of the profits. But Meg soon learns that renovating a two-hundred-year-old house is no easy task, and that the gorgeous fifteen-acre apple orchard on the property is in danger of being paved over by developers. And she definitely isn't expecting to run into her ex-boyfriend . . . floating dead in her new septic tank."

Next, to set the mood, I read the first few lines: " 'Orchard? What orchard?' Meg Corey stared in confusion at the man standing on her doorstep. He reminded her of a hobbit. . . "

Then, I checked the dedication: Eleazor Warner(the author's ancestor) and John Chapman (the real Johnny Appleseed).

Finally, I noted the acknowledgments and smiled at these words: "I should also thank Mother Nature, who made this past season's apple crop absolutely spectacular. Finally, I need to thank my entomologist husband, who has served as my consultant on aspects of integrated pest management, and my daughter, who tramped through a lot of orchards with me and carried a lot of bags of apples."

The third day into the story I was sipping apple juice and studying the recipe for Fresh Apple Cake, one of five in the book.

In addition to this series, with its four titles(the fourth to be released in December), Connolly writes an Arizona-based cozy, the first of which is:Through a Glass, Deadly (Glassblowing Mysteries, No. 1). And she has launched yet a third series, set in a Philadelphia museum. Its first title is due out in October:Fundraising the Dead (A Museum Mystery).

THANK YOU Amazon.com and Sheila Connolly. Enjoy! I know I will.

One Bad Apple by Sheila Connolly is a great cozy mystery with lots of New England history enriching an intriguing plot. Meg Corey is a city girl, who moves to an old New England town where everybody knows everybody, and is likely related somewhere down the line. Meg's only objective is to get the old family homestead spruced up to sell, which has proved more difficult then she anticipated. Her latest disaster is the septic system. Luckily, her neighbor, Seth Chapin, is the local plumber, as well as a Selectman for the town and a salvation and restoration junky. He gets Meg fixed up with a new septic tank, and introduces her to the long history of her home and the ins and outs of local politics.
Then her ex-boyfriend from Boston, Chandler Hale, shows up on her doorstep, intent on forcing through a large mall development that will usurp a historic orchard located on Meg's property, as well as a good portion of the Chapin homestead. Chandler has the audacity to ask Meg to spy on her neighbors for him - a task which Meg refuses. Two days later, Meg's drains start backing up again, and when she calls Seth to figure out what's wrong, he finds Chandler's body floating in the septic tank. Meg and Seth both shoot to the top of the suspect list.
I won't include any spoilers here. The plot is nicely developed and interwoven with rich New England history, a dose of small town politics, and fascinating information about historic orchard management. I truly enjoyed One Bad Apple and look forward to reading more of Sheila Connolly's Orchard Series.

This was my first Orchard Mystery and I bought it based on reader reviews. I really enjoyed it! Meg reminded me of..well...ME (my favorite subject sometimes ;-) and although I guessed correctly, the identity of the murderer early on, it didn't deter me from enjoying the entire book (after all, I didnt' know if I was correct til the end!). Meg was going to fall in love with the house and although that was predictable too, somehow the whole thing came together withOUT being boring OR predictable! There was enough intrigue, descriptions, and interesting characters to keep me reading daily. I would buy another in this series.

Often when reading a mystery story, especially a new series, I look for new information. Part of the joy of reading this tale was the pure enjoyment of learning about apples, apple orchards, and diverse flavors among apples, as well as insights with regard to viewing and appreciating the architecture of old homes -- resting in place for over a hundred years. In this novel, I found the sub-topics to be as interesting as the unfolding plot.

Kudos to the author, known in this writing as Sheila Connolly, for entwining unusual information in a most engaging plot. With especial deftness she was able to juxtapose an old orchard and an old house with very modern characters challenged by the values of a post-modern society. Allied with that thought, I found the lines she gave to her characters to be accurate-sounding, and actually helpful in coming to know them. As I read I could actually hear a difference in content, tone, and personality among the characters -- something only produced by an artist with words.

The only negative quality I found within the reading experience was the pacing: sometimes the action seemed unnecessarily slow, and repetitious. Another reader might not find the same problem, therefore it was not a big deal. I feel confident that many readers will be eager to read the coming installments, as it were, of this fine series, and engaging addition to the genre.

THOMAS PATRICK HULL
Chicago