One Bad Apple by Sheila connolly

"....I began reading ‘The Orchard Mystery’ series by Shelia Connolly. The first title in the series is ONE BAD APPLE, followed by ROTTEN TO THE CORE. I believe there are presently 8 to 10 titles in the series so far.
I have enjoyed the first 2 titles very much. The characters are well-developed, likable and believable. Young Meg Corey moves into her mother’s inherited 200 year old colonial house in Granford, Massachusetts. Meg has just left her Boston city life and banking job and ended a relationship ..." "....Meg Corly has lost her job and relationship with a cad but not necessarily in that order, that she loved in Boston, but she has been presented an opportunity to take on a new challenge in Western Massachusetts when her Mother decides to put a house that she inherited is located there on the market for a quick sale. Hah! I always love a story that teaches me things that I might not have knows, thanks to Sheila and her etymologist husband and a team from UMass Amherst for the knowledge they bring together in expanding what it takes to grow  ..." "...Meg goes to a family farm to help her mother to fix it up to sell. Her ex who she knew from her former city job shows up trying to put together a construction job in order to building a mall. He ends up in Meg’s new septic tank, dead. Meg is accused killing him because she was the only person who knew him. The police are only looking at her and her neighbor/plumber, Seth, who owns the land the city would take if they agreed to the mall. Meg works to find the real killer and get herself off the suspect list. I like the mystery and the characters"  코지 미스터리 장르 치고는 좀 긴 편이지만(지금까지 읽은 책을 기준으로..) 읽는데 큰 부담은 없었다. 지금까지 읽은 다른 코지 미스터리 작품처럼 화려한 액션이나 놀라운 이야기의 전개가 있는 건 아니지만 계속 읽게 만드는 매력이 있는 작품이다. 직장에서 해고되고 연인에게서 버림을 받은 주인공이 시골에 와서 유산으로 받은 집을 리모델링하면서 겪는 이야기를 다루고 있는 작품이다. 큰 소리로 웃게 만드는 내용이 있는건 아니지만 편안하게 읽을 수 있는 책이다. 책의 편집 구성도 좋아서 읽기에 편하다. 코지 미스터리의 공식을 충실히 따르면서 이 작가만의 매력을 잘 보여주는 작품이다. 이 책은 Orchard Mysteries 시리즈의 제1권에 해당한다. 그 후로 'Rotten to the Core' 'Red Delicious Death' 'A Killer Crop' 'Bitter Harvest' 등의 작품들이 출판되었다.