The newest instalment of the Orchard Mystery series by
Sheila Connolly finds apple orchard owner Meg Corey settled
into her life in Granford, Massachusetts. She's survived
her first winter, she's making friends, and her relationship
with Seth Chapin is moving in the right direction. Her
orchard manager Bree is encouraging Meg to expand and plant
more trees in some land that Seth has offered for lease.
While the prospect of expanding the orchard excites Meg, she
isn't sure she wants to lease land from Seth and mix
business with pleasure, although both seem to be going well.
Suddenly, local dairy farmer Joyce Truesdell is found dead
from what seems like an unfortunate farming accident. But
closer investigation discovers that Joyce's death is due to
a murder. Gossip has Joyce's widower as the culprit, but
Meg and Seth find that hard to believe, seeing his grief
firsthand. They also know that she had recently raised
concerns about the land her cows were on, as some of them
recently died from lead poisoning. Could there be a
possible link between her land investigation and her death?
At the same time, Meg's former coworker from Boston, Lauren,
suddenly appears in Granford. She's working on a political
campaign for the prodigal son and erstwhile hometown hero,
Rick Sainsbury. As Seth is a local politician, his support
would mean a lot to Rick, but his reluctance to get involved
in the campaign is obvious to both Meg and Lauren. It's
soon discovered that Rick was in charge of the company that
decontaminated Joyce's land. Could he have been involved in
her murder?
When Meg tries to warn Lauren that she could be working for
a murderer, Lauren gets defensive and warns Rick, rather
than cooperating with the investigation. Things soon
escalate, especially when Seth's office and his mother's
house are broken into. Could Lauren be involved with a
murderer? Or is Rick involved in something that happens to
be a horrible coincidence?
SOUR APPLES was really well written, and Connolly showed
incredible growth and confidence from her previous books.
Meg is a much more confident character who relies on her
instincts more, while looking to her advisors in a way that
makes sense. She also adeptly balances the line between
solving mysteries and being an interfering busybody. The
mystery was really well-written, and it was done in such a
way that I was constantly kept guessing. This series is
really in its stride, and I'm eagerly awaiting the next book in
the series.
Apple orchard owner Meg Corey is finally feeling settled
into her new life in Granford--she's made friends, and her
relationship with Seth Chapin is heating up--when her old
Boston coworker Lauren Converse comes barreling into town,
running the Congressional campaign for a former hometown
football hero. But Meg doesn't have time to worry about why
Seth seems reluctant to back Lauren's campaign when her
neighbor, local dairy farmer Joyce Truesdell, is found dead
from an apparent kick to the head from one of her cows.
When an autopsy shows that the fatal blow actually came from
a weapon, Meg is even more troubled. Popular opinion points
to Joyce's husband as the culprit, but Meg can't help
wondering if someone wanted the outspoken dairy farmer out
of the way--but why? She'll have to find out who had a beef
with the victim, before she's the next one to get creamed...
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