Tag: Sheila Connolly

Remembering Cozy Author Sheila Connolly

Posted on By Dollycas 4 Comments on Remembering Cozy Author Sheila Connolly

On Thursday I saw the sad news that Sheila Connolly passed away on Monday at her beloved Ireland cottage. I never met Sheila in person but she guest posted several times on this blog and we communicated through email and Facebook messages. She was always so generous and kind and willing to share her time with me. She had moved to Ireland in September and I really enjoyed her posts about her new life there. It breaks my heart that she had such a short time at her cottage.

Sheila was born in Rochester, New York, and since then had lived in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts, and Ireland. In 1972 she graduated with honors from Wellesley College, then earned a Ph.D. in Fine Arts from Harvard University. When art history jobs proved elusive, she obtained an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. She had worked as an art historian, a municipal financial advisor for U.S. cities and states, a non-profit fundraiser for institutions and two statewide political campaigns, and a professional genealogist. She has included elements of all of these in her mysteries.

I loved her mysteries. The Orchard Mysteries are my favorites, but having a little Irish blood myself, the Cork County Mysteries are a close second. You truly couldn’t go wrong with anything she had written and I am sure she left this earth with many more book ideas waiting to be shared with us. She poured love into her characters and enveloped them in intriguing mysteries that brought me and all her readers several hours of enjoyment. She has left behind a true legacy of literary work the will be enjoyed by readers for many years to come.

I extend my sympathy to her family and friends. She was a treasure that will be missed.

Rest in Peace, Sheila. You have toiled hard and earned your rest.

May The Road Rise Up To Meet You

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

If you have not had the pleasure of reading Sheila’s books, this is a fine day to start.






Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
Thoughts

Fatal Roots: A County Cork Mystery by Sheila Connolly #Review

Posted on By Dollycas 1 Comment on Fatal Roots: A County Cork Mystery by Sheila Connolly #Review


Fatal Roots: A County Cork Mystery
Cozy Mystery
8th in Series
Setting – Ireland
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books (January 7, 2020)
Hardcover: 281 pages
ISBN-10: 1643852396
ISBN-13: 978-1643852393
Kindle ASIN: B07QFN28X8

Some secrets are too big to stay buried…

A few months ago, Boston expat Maura Donovan was rekindled with her mother after more than twenty years of absence. Since then, Maura has been getting accustomed to Irish living, complete with an inherited house and a pub named Sullivan’s. But now, her mother has returned–and she’s brought Maura’s half-sister in tow. To make matters more confusing, a handful of Cork University students are knocking on Maura’s door asking about a mystical fairy fort that happens to be located on Maura’s piece of land.

The lore indicates that messing with the fort can cause bad luck, and most everyone is telling Maura not to get too involved for fear of its powers, but Maura is curious about her own land, and she definitely doesn’t buy into the superstition. Then one of the students disappears after a day of scoping out the fort on Maura’s property.

Maura treads carefully, asking the folks around town who might have an idea, but no one wants anything to do with these forts. She has to take matters into her own hand–it’s her land, after all. But when she uncovers a decades-old corpse buried in the center of the fort, nothing is for certain.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

This is a very hard review for me to write because this series had so much promise. I have been really enjoying my excursions to Ireland but for the second book in a row, the protagonist has driven me crazy.

Maura Donovan inherited a pub in Leap over a year ago through an agreement her grandmother, the woman who raised her, made with the previous owner. Her inheritance also included a cottage and we learn in this book several pieces of land. When she arrived she apparently signed a bunch of papers not realizing what she was signing and just went on her merry way showing up each day at the pub and returning to the cottage each night finding a dead body or two along the way. She recently reconnected with her mother and in this story meets her step-sister. She has two employees, a young lass named Rose, who is studying culinary arts so that the pub can start serving food, and Mick Sullivan, the bartender who Maura has a romantic relationship with.

Thank God for Rose and Mick because Maura knows nothing about running a business and after a year doesn’t seem willing to learn. She can’t answer basic questions about her business plans. She has a unique opportunity to get all the appliances she needs for free but has no clue what she wants or needs and passes all responsibility to Rose. Her younger sister who has just arrived in Ireland takes more interest and has more ideas than Maura.

In this story, a college student awakens Maura one morning asking to look for fairy forts on Maura’s land. I was excited to learn about the mystical fairy creations but when Maura didn’t even know what land was hers I was just shaking my head. While she may not be a farmer, her land could be rented out to make additional money to fix up the pub or other expenses but no one has ever approached Maura about this at all. That aside, the fairy forts are a very cool thing. A lot of folklore surrounds them and many believe they are best left alone and that angering the fairies could cause perilous consequences.  The student offers to show Maura her maps on a computer but Maura explains she doesn’t have one and wouldn’t know how to use one if she did.

The student is joined by two classmates with equipment to help her investigate and record the fairy forts she finds but when they split up for lunch one of the students disappears. Maura gets the local garda involved and she and Mick do a little investigating on their own. They don’t find the student but do find a body buried in the center of one of the fairy forts. A body that has been there for decades. When the man is identified Maura finds there is a connection to her own past. In fact, the man’s story was an old one. A story just two people are still alive to tell, which they do after being put off for hours. Oh yes, and the student turns up too and is also connected to the old story.

I get that things in leap are laid back, at least around Sullivan’s Pub. Up the road, Maura’s mother is busy trying to get a hotel back on its feet following a murder in a previous book, but I just want Maura to be more engaged and not so lackadaisical. I like that her sister has come to visit and that Maura is making inroads with the mother that abandoned her.

My issues with Maura aside, and yes I qualified my review for the previous book the same way, there are some really good things in this story. I love Rose, she is smart and can think on her feet. The fairy fort theme was very interesting and after reading this story I want to know more. There was a lot of repetition throughout the book which was frustrating, tightening it up would make a shorter but better story.

Other series by this author have been very enjoyable and entertaining. With my Irish heritage, this series was a fave. I hope between now and the next book Maura has a grand awakening and realizes all she has been blessed with and starts to take it seriously.

Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent

Note – The first four of this series were published by Berkley Prime Crime.
The series continues with books published by Crooked Lane Books.

 About The Author

Sheila is the author of many fantastic reads. She not only writes County Cork Mysteries but the Orchard Mysteries and the Museum Mysteries too. Visit Sheila’s webpage here to find out more about her and her books.

 



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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#FlashbackFriday – Nipped in the Bud (An Orchard Mystery) by Sheila Connolly #Review / #Giveaway @SheilaConnolly

Posted on By Dollycas 2 Comments on #FlashbackFriday – Nipped in the Bud (An Orchard Mystery) by Sheila Connolly #Review / #Giveaway @SheilaConnolly


On Flashback Fridays I will share with you
the books I was not able to review
when they were first released that have been screaming at me
from my To-Be-Read bookshelf.

Nipped in the Bud (An Orchard Mystery)
Cozy Mystery
12th in Series
Setting – Massachusetts
Beyond the Page Publishing (October 24, 2018)
Paperback: 212 pages
ISBN-10: 1946069876
ISBN-13: 978-1946069870
Kindle ASIN: B07JFP1BQ4

The New York Times bestselling author of A Late Frost returns with orchard owner Meg Chapin trying to stem the tide of crime . . .

Winter still has a firm stranglehold on the small town of Granford, and newly married orchard owner Meg Chapin is restless to begin her spring pruning and planting, while Seth busies himself with a new project of his own. But their relative peace is shattered when a gunshot breaks the winter silence and they discover the body of a dead woman on their land. What’s just as troubling is that the state police have hushed up the murder and are warning Meg not to investigate.

Never one to sit by idly with a killer on the loose, Meg starts digging for clues and probing for answers as discreetly as she can. When the victim turns out to have been an undercover reporter doing a story on the blossoming trade in illegal drugs in the area, Meg’s stunned to learn that this very modern crime has come to sleepy Granford. Unwilling to accept that the nasty business has put down roots so close to home—and led to a murder that occurred literally in her own backyard—Meg is determined to nip it in the bud before the town she knows and loves turns rotten . . .

Dollycas’s Thoughts

It is always good to catch up with Meg and Seth. The newly married couple is trying to fill their days as they anxiously await Spring to come to Granford, Massachusetts. Meg has a new orchard manager and he and Seth are building him a “tiny house” to give him and the couple their privacy.

Seth and Meg are out for a walk with their dog Max when they hear a gunshot and Max takes off to investigate. Seth is not far behind. He is stunned when he finds Max standing near a woman’s body. He notifies police, and they first decide it must have been a hunting accident. The warn Meg to stay out of their investigation, but with all the free time on her hands and the fact that the woman was killed on her property, there is no way she is going to sit this one out. She is going to nip this death in the bud come hell or high water.

I am thrilled this series has found a new home!

This is such a comfortable cozy. The characters are friendly, believable, and genuine. Meg and Seth going about their lives, still sorting things out now that they are married and dealing with the downtime of winter. They are still getting to know Larry the new orchard manager. He does not live in their house as Bree did. He is renting a room in Seth’s house along with a few other guys until his tiny house is built. I love that they are using the foundation of the old chicken coop to build the house on.

Not so cozy is finding another dead body. Ms. Connolly has produced a delightful mystery for her readers to enjoy. With this one happening so close to Meg and Seth’s home, it keeps the characters and us readers on high alert. The state police add to the intrigue by trying to keep the murder under wraps but Meg is keen to follow each twist and turn herself. What she finds opens several sets of eyes about things happening in the sweet little town of Granford. The story is so well-written and thought-provoking too.

The story was perfectly paced. I liked that it took place in the offseason for the orchard. It gave Meg plenty of time to snoop, but with Bree gone and Larry being so quiet, she worried a lot about things that needed to get done.

Strong characters and a great mystery. A grand addition to this series. Fill up your bushel basket and enjoy them all!

Dollycas
Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent

 

 

About the Author

Sheila Connolly, Anthony and Agatha Award-nominated and New York Times bestselling author, writes mystery series set in Philadelphia (the Museum Mysteries), rural Massachusetts (the Orchard Mysteries), and Ireland (the County Cork Mysteries), as well as a paranormal romance series (the Relatively Dead series). She will introduce a new Victorian Village series set in Maryland in 2018. In addition, her short stories have appeared in multiple anthologies. Formerly a professional genealogist, she lives in Massachusetts, surrounded by many, many departed ancestors, with her husband and three cats, and owns a cottage in West Cork in Ireland, where her father’s family came from.

Author Links

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GIVEAWAY
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Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.

Click Here For Entry Form

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

 

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#Review / #Giveaway – The Lost Traveller: A County Cork Mystery by Sheila Connolly @crookedlanebks

Posted on By Dollycas 4 Comments on #Review / #Giveaway – The Lost Traveller: A County Cork Mystery by Sheila Connolly @crookedlanebks


The Lost Traveller: A County Cork Mystery
Cozy Mystery
7th in Series
Setting – Ireland
Crooked Lane Books (January 8, 2019)
Hardcover: 336 pages
ISBN-10: 1683318900
ISBN-13: 978-1683318903
Kindle ASIN: B07D2J14S8

Danger comes to Cork in the seventh County Cork mystery from New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly, and it’s up to Maura Donovan to find a way to protect all she’s worked for.

Pub owner Maura Donovan is settling into a charmed life in Ireland—until a mutilated body on her property ends her lucky streak.

Boston expat Maura Donovan came to Ireland to honor her grandmother’s last wish, but she never expected to stay in provincial County Cork—much less to inherit a house and a pub, Sullivan’s, in the small village of Leap. After a year-long struggle to stay in the black, Sullivan’s is finally thriving, and Maura has even brought back traditional Irish music to the pub. With a crop of new friends and a budding relationship with handsome Mick Nolan, Maura’s life seems rosier than ever—but even in Ireland, you can’t always trust your luck.

It begins with Maura’s discovery of a body in the ravine behind the pub. And then, the Irish gardaí reveal that the victim’s face has been battered beyond recognition. Who is the faceless victim? Who wanted him dead? And why was his body dumped in the backyard of Sullivan’s Pub? Even after the dead man is finally given a name, nobody admits to knowing him. In the tight-knit world of Leap, no one is talking—and now it’s up to Maura to uncover the dark secrets that lurk beneath the seemingly quiet town.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

After less than a year in Ireland Maura has been involved in solving several murders. This time the body is found in the ravine behind the pub and the man is unrecognizable due to his face being beaten to a pulp. It is hard to find a killer when you can’t identify the victim but that doesn’t keep Maura from trying.

I love this series, but this installment had a couple of issues for me. First, Maura is a smart woman, she was brave enough to travel to Ireland and take over the pub she inherited, but in this story, she surprised me.  Things she should have known like where her employees live and where Indiana is located within the U.S. were just two examples. Leap is not that big of a town to know where people reside, especially a man she is romantically involved with, and the majority of high school graduates should be able to visualize a map of the country they grew up in. She also seemed muddled about where she wanted to take her business, whether to add a kitchen or not, even though her employee, Rose, is in training to be a cook for the pub.

I love Rose, seventeen and going places. She is filled with ideas, confident, willing to learn, and such a hard worker. I think she has grown so much over this series while Maura seems to be going backward.

I really enjoyed learning about The Travellers and the way they are different from gypsies. A very interesting life, I wish we would have met more Travellers and learned their stories.

The mystery was hard to solve even after the man was identified, virtually no suspects. Maura’s theory kind of came out of blue along with the theme the ran throughout the book. She kept talking about it to everyone, so at times it got a little repetitious, but she didn’t give up and soon all the matters fell into place for a  very unusual ending that I really appreciated. The theme is a current hot topic in the states and it was interesting to learn about it with an Irish twist.

My issues with Maura’s character development aside, this was an entertaining story that kept my attention. It was unique in several ways and I enjoyed that.

Your Escape With A Good Book Travel Agent

Note – The first four of this series were published by Berkley Prime Crime.
The series continues with books 5, 6 and 7 published by Crooked Lane Books.

 About The Author

Sheila is the author of many fantastic reads. She not only writes County Cork Mysteries but the Orchard Mysteries and the Museum Mysteries too. Visit Sheila’s webpage here to find out more about her and her books.

 



Thanks to the publisher I have 1 copy to give away!
The contest is open to anyone over 18 years old
with a US mailing address.

Duplicate entries will be deleted. Void where prohibited.

You do not have to be a follower to enter but I hope you will find
something you like here and become a follower.

Followers Will Receive 2 Bonus Entries For Each Way They Follow.
Plus 2 Bonus Entries For Liking My Facebook Fan Page.

Follow Crooked Lane on Twitter on Twitter for 2 Bonus Entries!

Add this book to your WANT TO READ shelf on GoodReads for 3 Bonus Entries.

Pin this giveaway to Pinterest for 3 Bonus Entries.

If you share the giveaway on Twitter or Facebook or anywhere you will receive
5 Bonus Entries For Each Link.

Contest Will End January 24, 2019, at 11:59 PM CST
Winner Will Be Chosen By Random.org
Winner Will Be Notified By Email
and Will Be Posted Here In The Sidebar.

Click Here For Entry Form

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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