Customer Reviews

Red Delicious Death (An Orchard Mystery)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I started out with "One Bad Apple" and went through the rest of the book fast, they are easy to read easy to follow and not cluttered with a lot of useless information.
The price is good for Kindle.

I've turned into a Sheila Connolly die-hard fan! Her books are great. Loved this one about the new restaurant (we sure need one here in Logan!). Ms. Connolly's books are wonderful reads - so are her other books under Sarah Atwell (glasblowing series). I love Meg's character, her struggles, her "I'll-make-up-my-own-mind" attitude. Attagirl! What an inheritance - a great house (who cares it needs a lot of work) and a fabulous orchard to boot. I can't wait for the apple-picking season to commence! Great reads, folks, don't miss Ms. Connoly's books. They are truly interesting and satisfying.

Single sentence summary: Fresh from the city, two chefs are looking to open shop in Granford and Meg has somehow managed get right into the middle of helping them set up, but when one partners ends up dead, Meg also ends in the middle of the murder investigation.

I've really enjoyed the previous two books in the orchard mystery series. Meg is a fun character and I was so pleased by some of the development with her in this book. I also was happy to see some of the budding relationship between Meg and Seth. I hate when authors leave characters in limbo for books and books. I was very glad that doesn't happen here, as it makes interactions between the characters frustrating. Meg grows in each of the books but I particularly liked this one for the developments with Seth but she is growing in her confidence with her orchard and in her place in the town of Granford. It is nice to see her developing feelings of belonging since she wasn't planning on staying in the first book.

I enjoyed the mystery part of this book and hadn't guessed it until the author gives it away. Often in cozies, I think the perpetrator is given away to early, so I enjoyed the wait in this book. I enjoyed Red Delicious death all the way around and give it 3.75 Stars.

I really liked the first two books in this series and had high hopes for this third. Unfortunately it turned into a preachy local food discourse and a little ccd thrown in, then dropped. The majority of the time of the novel had nothing to do with the murder. When I noticed I was getting to the end of the book, it was as if the author discovered she had very little time left to solve the murder. It was kind of a lame solution. A very disappointing read all around.

The first two books in this "apple" series were engaging enough to continue with the third. But, oh no! - The author got bogged down in preaching to the reader on politically correct subjects, ending by turning Granford into a kumbayah cooperative/commune. The supposed mystery - all but forgotten - was at the last blamed, in three sentences or fewer, on the misbegotten character who was too old, too old fashioned and too closed minded to join in the kumbayah. No more "apples" for me, thank you very much. Benther

One of the series about a woman who inherits an apple orchard and, of course, keeps stumbling over dead bodies! I enjoy the descriptions of the orchard, the types of apples, etc. A nice easy, but enjoyable read.

This is a very good new series, fun, fast paced and interesting characters.
I will continue to buy when new book arrives on market