Red Delicious Death (An Orchard Mystery) [Mass Market Paperback]

Sheila Connolly (Author)

Book Description

Series: An Orchard Mystery | Publication Date: March 2, 2010

In this latest Orchard mystery, amateur sleuth Meg Corey takes a bite out of crime...

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.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; Reprint edition (March 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042523343X
• ISBN-13: 978-0425233436
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #117,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After collecting too many degrees and exploring careers ranging from art historian to investment banker to professional genealogist, Sheila Connolly began writing in 2001, and has now published eight traditional mysteries. Now a full-time writer, she thinks writing mysteries is a lot more fun than any of her previous occupations.

She wrote her first mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime under the name Sarah Atwell, and the first book, Through a Glass, Deadly (March 2008), was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel; Pane of Death followed in November 2008, and Snake in the Glass in September 2009.

Under her own name, her Orchard Mystery Series (Berkley Prime Crime) debuted in 2008 with One Bad Apple, followed by Rotten to the Core (2009), Red Delicious Death (2010), A Killer Crop (2010), and Bitter Harvest (2011). The next book in the series, Sour Apples, will be published in August 2012.

She also writes a series, the Museum Series (Berkley Prime Crime), set in the many museums of Philadelphia. Fundraising the Dead came out in October 2010, Let's Play Dead in 2011, and the third, Fire Engine Dead, will be published in March 2012.

Sheila has also published 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.

She lives in a too-big Victorian in southeastern Massachusetts with her husband and three cats, as well as her daughter who graduated from college in 2007 with a degree in Comparative Literature and is still trying to figure out what to do next.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT NEW SERIES, March 20, 2010

By 

Lois E. Ward "banana woman" (alaska) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Red Delicious Death (An Orchard Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I was lucky enough to find this series so I ordered all three books at once. I like to follow the order so I am up on the characters. This series is a winner! Can't wait for more to come out and I have added the ones I purchased to my home library. I will definately reread these. Good read and well written with a strong main character.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Addition to the Cozy Genre, April 27, 2010

By 

S. Collier - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Red Delicious Death (An Orchard Mystery) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am excited to have stumbled up Sheila Connolly's apple orchard series. This was a well-written, easy to read cozy mystery. So often, I will stumble upon a series, only to pick up a book that falls smack-dab in the middle, which I did with this series. It was such a great book, though, that I'm going to go back and read the first two installments.

Connolly does a great job of capturing the characters, weaving an intricate story that is easy to follow. She does an excellent job of describing each character so that the reader has a vision of both their physical appearance and personality. I felt as I was reading this book that I was part of the story, and was very sad to see it end! I also love how she ties this book into current trends, i.e. the locavore food movement, and shares recipes using local ingredients.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another terrific mystery from this author., April 11, 2010

By 

andiesenji (SoCal,USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Red Delicious Death (An Orchard Mystery) (Kindle Edition)

Sheila Connolly has produced yet another interesting and somewhat quirky mystery in, of all things, a small farming community.
One would expect a quiet farming village to be safe and free of violent crime but for some reason, murders occur with quite shocking regularity in this corner of the world.

Her main characters are so well drawn that I feel they could be great friends, if ever I were to meet them. This doesn't happen often but I certainly feel some kinship with them. (However, no such events have occurred in my life.)

I have enjoyed each of the books in this series and they keep getting better. I look forward with great anticipation to the next.