Seeds of Deception by Sheila Connolly

"... I love this series but the new installment was not very good. Meg and Seth for no real reason end up in New Jersey at Mom and Dad's house for their honeymoon. 90% of the book is Meg discussing whether she has any business poking her nose into her parents' lives. Rehash, rehash , rehash. One conversation or mention would have been MORE than plenty. I want to read about apple farming in MA and heirloom apples, and genealogy, old houses, antiques, history. Not life w/ overprivledged parents in NJ suburbs. Meg and Seth need to go home. And/ or Meg and company need to find some humor in their life situations. Dry as dust, too bad ..." "Not the best in the series. I still, after, what, 8 or 9 Apple Orchard books, can't get used to the way the main character, Meg Corey, talks to her husband Seth, her orchard manager Beth, and just about everyone else. It's aggressive, kind of confrontational. Just about anything Seth says is jumped on and he has to explain himself or apologize.  I don't think Sheila Connolly means Meg to come across that way, but she does, at least to me. I also think maybe Ms Connolly is not that good at dialogue. Their conversations frequently come off as stiff, not quite natural. That might be why Meg seems to snap at everyone when she speaks. I've also seen the same thing in her County Cork mysteries. Maura Donovan talks the same way to her boyfriend in this series. That said, Connolly is still a very good writer, and I will continue to buy every book...."

Meg과 Seth는 결혼식 후에 'honeymoon'을 떠나기로 한다. 하지만 늘 그렇듯이 의문스러운 사건이 연속적으로 발생하고 심지어는 한 사람이 죽는 사건이 발생한다. 여주인공은 다른 작품들에서 보다도 더 열심히 사건을 해결하고자 고군분투한다. 'mafia' 'body' 'honeymoon' 'assistant' 'reunion' 'new starting' 'betray' 'justice' 등이 중요한 단어들인 거 같다. 코지 미스터리 장르에 대해서 잘 보여주는 작품이다. Sheila Connolly의 작품들은 생활밀착형 코지 미스터리다. 작가는 인물들의 현실적 고민들에 대해서 충실히 묘사하고 있다. 가끔씩 지루하다고 생각할 정도로 많은 지면을 차지하는 거 같지만... 문장의 구성이나 표현들이 읽기에 편하다.