Connie Berry Books In Order

Publication Order of Kate Hamilton Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Chief Inspector Blackstone Mystery Books

Connie Berry
Author Connie Berry was born in Racine, Wisconsin to parents that are second-generation immigrants from the British Isles and Scandinavia.

Much like her main character, Connie was raised by some charmingly eccentric antique collectors that opened up their own shop. This wasn’t to sell antiques, rather because they needed any excuse they could get to continue buying them.

She has degrees in English from The Ohio State University and DePauw University. Connie has also studied at and St. Claire’s College in Oxford, England and the University of Freiburg in Southern Germany.

She is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and is on the board of her local SinC chapter, Buckeye Crime Writers.

Besides her family and writing, Connie likes foreign travel (with a touch of adventure), reading, cute animals, knitting, and all things that are British. Connie also enjoys spending time at her lake cottage in northern Wisconsin. She belongs to a book club, and goes to BSF International, which is a class she taught for more than twenty-five years.

One thing she enjoys most about writing is the rewriting part. Once she has things written, she will then enjoy life and actually relax. She likes putting words on a blank page the least, since the first draft is very rarely good.

With her degrees and having read a bunch of mysteries, she wondered how tough could it really be. It wound up being pretty tough. She had a tough time with impatience, an unwillingness to just stop writing and begin learning. Connie spent years producing one manuscript that she felt confident putting out there.

While writing her thesis, her Connie was told to pick a topic that she loved enough to spend quite a lot of time with. This is something that applies to writing a lot. Reading a crime novel just takes days. At the same time, writing one takes months, if not years.

She writes cozy mysteries because she doesn’t want to describe violence in all of its graphic detail. She does not want to go into other’s bedrooms. She loves pets and kids too much to describe harm being done to them. Even though she likes crime novels that are set in big cities, she is much more interested in the complicated dynamics in a village.

It might be her early exposure to Agatha Christie, but she likes nothing more than to write about a tiny community with a bunch of conflicts and interconnections to create both havoc and murder.

She writes the “Kate Hamilton” series of mystery novels. The first of which, titled “A Dream of Death”, was released in the year 2019.

“A Dream of Death” is the first novel in the “Kate Hamilton” series and was released in the year 2019. Fall has come and has gone on Scotland’s Isle of Glenroth, and the islanders get together for the Tartan Ball, the yearly end-of-the-tourist-season gala. Spirits at the moment are high. A newly published novel about the history of the island has brought many tourists to the tiny Hebridean resort community.

Kate Hamilton, an American antiques dealer, is on the guest list. She reluctantly returns to the same island that her husband died on, determined to fix up her relationship with the proprietor of the island’s luxe country-house hotel and Kate’s sister-in-law. It is a place that is famous for its link with Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Kate has barely been able to unpack when there is a body found the next morning, killed in a reenactment of an infamous unsolved murder that was described in the novel. The only clue to who the killer is lying in a curiously embellished antique casket. The Scottish cops downplay the historical connection, yet a beloved local handyman gets arrested, Kate teams with a detective inspector on vacation from Suffolk, England, so she can unmask a killer. One that is determined to not only rewrite the island’s history, but also Kate’s future.

Readers enjoyed the characters, the setting, and the plot in this. Kate is a great main character, one that is driven to protect her family and friends and has a lot of tenacity while she tries ferreting out clues to solve the case. It is a fantastic start to this cozy mystery and readers enjoyed the entire afternoon they spent reading it. The way Connie describes the Scottish island, the characters and home make you feel just like you are there with Kate the entire time.

“A Legacy of Murder” is the second novel in the “Kate Hamilton” series and was released in the year 2019. It is Christmastime and Kate is going to visit Christine, her daughter, in the quaint English village in Long Barston. Christine and Tristan, her boyfriend, work at stately-but-crumbling Finchley Hall. Kate takes a tour of the Elizabethan house and the grounds, is intrigued about the docent’s stories about the Finchley Hoard, and the odd deaths that surround the famous treasure trove. Kate notices a young woman’s body near a small lake, killed using a garden spade.

Lady Barbara, who is nearly blind and lives at Finchley with her own loyal butler, named Mugg, convinces Kate to take the murdered woman’s work over. Kate finds a Burmese ruby has gone missing from the legendary Blood-Red Ring, replaced by some lesser garnet. Could the theft and the woman’s death be linked?

Kate finds out that Lady Barbara’s son went off to Venezuela years back, after he was suspected of killing another young woman. The murder weapon was an old gardener’s, who becomes the prime suspect. Could Lady Barbara’s son have returned to kill again? When there is another body found, the clues start pointing toward Christine. It is up to Kate to clear her child’s name.

The book takes some twists and turns that keep you entertained until the surprising finish. This is the kind of warmly delicious book that can curl up with and get instantly immersed into. Connie’s writing is just as gorgeous as it was in the first book of the series.

6 Responses to “Connie Berry”

1. Kathy: 1 year ago

   Is there a Kate Hamilton book 5 on the horizon. I love the series!

   Reply
2. brenda: 2 years ago

   I have finished the 4th book in the series and loved them. I hope that there will be a 5th book soon.

   Reply
3. PAT TOMASZEWSKI: 2 years ago

   Love this series. I read the last one in a day and a half.

   Reply
4. Lauran: 2 years ago

   Can only agree with Mary and Stephanie, lovely series. Please keep writing!

   Reply
5. Stephanie: 3 years ago

   Agree with Mary. I am just now finishing the third book and cannot wait for the next one!!! Wonderful series!

   Reply
6. Mary: 3 years ago

   Just read all three books in a row. Can’t wait for the next one. There is a next one, right?

   Reply