Sheila Connolly - Orchard Mysteries (#0.5 - 8)

Called Home (Orchard 0.5)
The national bestselling author of the Orchard Mysteries presents this short prequel that started Meg Corey's mysterious adventures on the apple orchard in the small town of Granford, Massachusetts.

Out of a job and living alone in a drafty Colonial house, Meg Corey is supposed
to be fixing the house up to sell, but now she's got the flu and she's freezing and she feels very sorry for herself. Then Deborah Warren shows up to distract her—but is Deborah a ghost, or just the product of Meg's feverish imagination?

Choosing to believe that Deborah really is a ghost, Meg sets out to discover the truth of why she's been around for 200 years when all she wants is to go home.

One Bad Apple (Orchard #1)
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.

Rotten to the Core (Orchard #2)
Spring has come to Meg Corey's apple orchard—and it's quickly becoming a killer season. Just as she's getting the hang of managing the two-hundred-year-old orchard she's inherited, the dead body of a local organic farming activist is found in her springhouse. And the only thing that's sprung is a murder accusation—against her...

The young man's body was found with traces of pesticide poisoning. Strange for someone opposed to all things chemical. And why did someone plant his body on Meg's land—when Meg hadn't even met him? Now Meg needs to pick her actions wisely and get rid of the seed of suspicion that's been planted before the orchard—and her future—is spoiled for good.

Red Delicious Death (Orchard #3)
Granford newcomer Meg Corey has more than enough to do, between restoring the colonial house she's inherited and trying to manage her orchard. Then a trio of young chefs fresh out of cooking school arrive in town to open a restaurant using local foods, and Meg volunteers to help them out.

But then one of the chefs is found dead in a farmer's pig wallow. When Meg begins looking into the death, her investigation digs up some old town secrets—and Meg soon realizes that they have a locally grown killer on their hands.

A Killer Crop (Orchard #4)
When Meg Corey's mother arrives unannounced in Granford, Massachusetts, Meg's sure it's not just to pay a surprise visit to the apple of her eye. The timing is terrible—it's harvest season and Meg is understaffed in the orchard. Plus Elizabeth Corey is clearly hiding the real purpose of her trip from her daughter.

After an English professor from Amherst—and an old friend of her mother—is found dead on the floor of a cider house, Elizabeth is interrogated by the police, and then grilled by her daughter. She is indeed keeping a secret—but could Meg's own mother really have committed murder? One thing is clear: someone decided to teach the prof a lesson. And the key to unlocking the mystery may lie with a poet who could not stop for Death.

Bitter Harvest (Orchard #5)
Now that Meg Corey's first apple crop has been harvested and sold, she's enjoying some free time. Especially since she's snowed in without power or heat. Luckily, her maybe-boyfriend Seth Chapin is keeping her company, and has agreed to help her clean out her house.

In a dusty corner Meg finds an early 19th-century silk sampler embroidered with apple trees, but she doesn't recognize the names on it as any of the earlier owners of her house. Then she starts being plagued by a series of small but annoying mishaps. Meg doesn't want to appear paranoid, but when she finds herself locked in the unheated barn overnight, and Seth's van window is shot out in her driveway, she can't ignore the problem any longer. And if she doesn't figure out how the sampler she found is connected to the motive of her modern-day tormentor, her first harvest could be her last.

Sour Apples (Orchard #6)
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 co-worker Lauren Converse comes barrelling 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 neighbour, 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.

Golden Malicious (Orchard #7)
While orchard owner Meg Corey dreads the labour of manual irrigation to stave off a drought, her boyfriend, Seth, couldn’t be more excited about doing historic renovation on one of Granford’s oldest houses. Tagging along as he picks up supplies is supposed to give Meg a much-needed break, but the trip turns rotten when she almost trips over a dead body at an old saw mill’s forest reserve.

But the body isn’t the only frightening discovery she makes. A mysterious insect infestation seems to have migrated to the area—one that could bring serious harm to local woodlands. And it's up to Meg to find out what’s behind this sudden swarm of trouble.

Picked to Die (Orchard #8)
It’s harvest time in Granford, Massachusetts, and orchard owner Meg Corey and her fiancé, Seth, are both racing to beat the New England winter. Meg is bringing in her apple crop with a team of workers, while Seth is working to restore an old building in the center of town. But when his project is set back due to the unexpected discovery of a skeleton under the building—and even worse, a young man related to one of Meg’s former apple pickers is found dead behind the local feed store—the couple’s carefully laid plans are quickly spoiled…

Meg can’t help but wonder: are they just unlucky, or is there something rotten in Granford? If so, she knows she’s got to seek out the bad apple before it ruins the whole bunch…