Orchard Mystery Books In Order

Publication Order of Orchard Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Orchard Mysteries Short Stories/Novellas

Sheila Connelly was born in Rochester, New York and ever since she was young she has lived in several states and cities such as New Jersey, Delaware, Massacheussets, North Carolina and California. In the year 1972, Sheila graduated with honors from the Wesley College. After graduating from Wesley College with honors, Sheila then went on to earn her Ph.D. from Harvard University. Upon completing her Ph.D. in art history, Sheila Connelly decided to search for jobs within the same line but with no avail. Hence, she decided to go back to school to obtain an M.B.A from the University of California and upon completing she landed her first job. Sheila Connelly has worked as an art historian, a professional genealogist, a financial advisor for several US cities and States, and a non-profit fundraiser for institutions. All the experiences that she has gained from her work life have been included in her mystery works.

Currently, Sheila Connelly lives in Massacheussets with her daughter, husband and three cats. She is now a fulltime writer and blogger. Apart from being a full time writer, Connelly is also an active member of the Romance writers of America, Mystery Writers of America and the Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of the Crime Bake New England steering committee which is held every year. As a writer, Sheila achieved worldwide recognition with the Glassblowing series which was debuted in the year 2008 with the first book in the series being Through a Glass, Deadly. The novel Through a Glass was nominated for the National mystery awards for the best first book. In August 2008, Sheila debuted the first book of her second series, The Orchard series.

One Bad Apple

One Bad Apple is the first book in the Orchard series and is a good illustration of everything that is great with the Orchard series. Like any other outstanding print, One Bad Apple has a likeable heroine, a slimy victim, an attractive setting, and lots of fascinating side elements. In this book, we are introduced to one Meg Corey, who has just been fired from her banking job. She then decides to take a joint ownership of an old house that is located in Graford. After taking the house, she then moves into the new neighborhood so that she can be able to prepare the house for sale. Upon visiting the house, she is shocked to find that it is more than two hundred years old and has an orchard that covers more than fifteen acres. The old house also did have some major plumbing problems. Hence she decides to contact a plumber. But before the plumber arrived, her ex-boyfriend arrives on her door step. None of them had expected to find the other there. Chandler, Meg’s ex-boyfriend, had hoped to bring private developers to the town, hence was looking for votes from the local population.

Initially, Meg had rejected Chandler’s business proposition. A few days later, Chandler was found dead in Meg’s septic tank with the main suspects being Meg and the plumber together with two people who had also been interested in the project. In this first instalment, the characters are discussed in depth which is not usually the case with many crime fiction books. The main character Meg, Seth and other noticeable characters in the book have been well developed. Furthermore, the description that Sarah gives about the orchards and the requisite recites is absolutely amazing and an added bonus to the readers. As the storyline continues, Meg’s opinion about the town and its people changes as she is able to learn more about them and also as she becomes more comfortable with the small town life.

Rotten to the Core

After experiencing a bad start, Meg Corey begins to settle in well in her old farm house. Rotten to the Core begins as spring is around the corner which means that Meg’s orchard is about to get better. At this point in her life, Meg has already began to take classes in Orchard management so that she can successfully take care of her orchard, and she has hired a student to work as the Orchards manager. Meg works as a University professor at a local college. Just as things were running smoothly, the unfortunate happens. A body of a student is found in the middle of the orchard. The shocking part is that Meg did not even know who the man was. After an examination had been conducted on the body, it was announced that the body was that of a student named Jason. Jason had been at the fore front of the Green Grow group, a group that championed for organic farming.

Since Jason had died due to pesticide poisoning, Meg started to suspect a police detective who did not like her at all. Many people believed that Meg was innocent because they had gotten to know her better. All in all, cozy mysteries are usually very satisfying especially when the main character decides to call the police rather than addressing the issue on her own. Meg might be a little bit ignorant, but she knew very clearly that Jason had been murdered.

A Killer Crop

In this installment, Sarah Connelly continues to entertain and also tell a great story while at the same time, letting the reader understand how strenuous it can be to farm apples. A Killer cop begins as Meg’s mother arrives unexpectedly at the old house in Graford. The timing is terrible as this is the harvesting season, and Meg is understaffed at the farm. Unknown to Meg, Elizabeth Corey is hiding the real reason for her unexpected visit. After staying for a while, an English professor who is also a great friend to Meg’s mother is found dead in the cider house. Both Meg and the police grill her mother because the death and her mother’s unexpected arrival were too much of a coincidence. Since she knows her mother so well, Meg could tell that she was keeping a secret. Could Meg’s mother, Elizabeth be the murderer?

Conclusion

Sarah Connelly’s writing style is absolutely lovable with some level of clarity and a certain degree of believability. This in turn makes the entire story-line more lifelike and believable. Ms. Connelly has indeed done an exceptional job to this series, and any lover of mystery and crime stories will absolutely love this piece.