One Bad Apple (Orchard Series #1) »

There's a killer in the orchard— and he's rotten to the core.

INCLUDES RECIPES

Meg Corey has come to the quaint New England town of Granford, Massachusetts, to sell her mother's old colonial home and apple orchard. Instead, she becomes embroiled in development plans that include her land—and her former flame from Boston. When he's found dead in the new septic tank on her property, the police immediately suspect Meg, whose only ally in town is the plumber Seth Chapin. Together, they'll have to peel back the layers of secrecy that surround the deal in order to find the real murderer— and save the orchard.

Publishers Weekly

Connolly's less-than-gala freshman attempt at crime fiction drops Boston banker Meg Corey into tiny Granford, Mass., where she's agreed to rehab a 200-year-old house while looking for a new job. Then Meg's ex-lover is found murdered and bobbing around in her brand new septic tank, a crime that could sour Granford's big chance to lure outside commercial investors. When the local cops appear determined to look no further than Meg for a suspect, she decides to turn sleuth. Her only ally, Seth Chapin, the plumber who installed the new system, is also a suspect and not much help. The premise and plot are solid, and Meg seems a perfect fit for her role. However, so much time is spent restating the story's major conflict that both Meg and Seth remain enigmas-dropped into the plot as if from outer space-with insufficient background information to ripen into well-rounded characters. (Aug.)

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