The Secret Staircase

The Secret Staircase
Author: Sheila Connolly
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2021-08-24
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250135915

From New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly, The Secret Staircase is the third Victorian Village Mystery, which finds Kate Hamilton discovering a long-dead body in a hidden staircase. Kate Hamilton is feeling good about her plans to recreate Asheboro, Maryland as the Victorian village it once was. The town is finally on her side, and the finances are coming together. Kate's first goal is to renovate the Barton Mansion on the outskirts of town. Luckily, it's been well maintained in the century since the wealthy Henry Barton lived and died there. The only substantial change she's planning is to update the original kitchen so that it can be used to cater events in the building. But when the contractor gets started, he discovers a hidden staircase that had been walled in years earlier. And as Kate's luck would have it, in the stairwell is a body. After her initial shock wears off, Kate is relieved when the autopsy reveals that the man had died around 1880. Unfortunately, it also reveals that his was not a natural death—he was murdered. And serious questions remain: who was he and what was he doing there? Kate begins a hunt to identify the man and figure out what he was doing at the Barton Mansion. But when a second body is found—this time from the present day—Kate realizes that real dangers lie in digging up the past...

Fatal Roots

Fatal Roots
Author: Sheila Connolly
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2020-01-07
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 164385240X

New York Times–bestselling author This exciting new installment in the County Cork Mystery series has “plenty for cozy lovers to enjoy” and drips with the charm—and menace—of its atmospheric Irish setting (New York Journal of Books) Some secrets are too big to stay buried... A few months ago, Boston expat Maura Donovan was rekindled with her mother after more than twenty years of absence. Since then, Maura has been getting accustomed to Irish living, complete with an inherited house and a pub named Sullivan’s. But now, her mother has returned—and she’s brought Maura’s half-sister in tow. To make matters more confusing, a handful of Cork University students are knocking on Maura’s door asking about a mystical fairy fort that happens to be located on Maura’s piece of land. The lore indicates that messing with the fort can cause bad luck, and most everyone is telling Maura not to get too involved for fear of its powers, but Maura is curious about her own land, and she definitely doesn't buy into the superstition. Then one of the students disappears after a day of scoping out the fort on Maura’s property. Maura treads carefully, asking the folks around town who might have an idea, but no one wants anything to do with these forts. She has to take matters into her own hand—it’s her land, after all. But when she uncovers a decades-old corpse buried in the center of the fort, nothing is for certain.

Scandal in Skibbereen

Scandal in Skibbereen
Author: Sheila Connolly
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0698137337

As the new owner of Sullivan’s Pub in County Cork, Ireland, Maura Donovan gets an earful of all the village gossip. But uncovering the truth about some local rumors may close her down for good in this mystery in the County Cork series. Bostonian Maura is beginning to feel settled in her new Irish home, just in time for summer tourist season to bring fresh business to her pub. But the first traveler to arrive is thirsty for more than just a pint of Guinness. Althea Melville is hot on the trail of a long-lost Van Dyck painting. Maura agrees to help Althea meet with the residents at the local manor house, the most likely location of the missing art. But when the manor’s gardener is found murdered, Maura wonders what Althea’s real motives are. Now, to solve the secret of the lost portrait and catch a killer, Maura will have to practice her Irish gift of gab and hunt down some local history—before someone else is out of the picture...

Buried In a Bog

Buried In a Bog
Author: Sheila Connolly
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2013-02-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101619120

New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly introduces the first novel in the County Cork mystery series—set in a small village in Ireland where buried secrets are about to rise to the surface... Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born—though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran. In the pub, she’s swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly one-hundred-year-old body in a nearby bog. When Maura realizes she may know something about the dead man—and that the body’s connected to another, more recent, death—she fears she’s about to become mired in a homicide investigation. After she discovers the death is connected to another from almost a century earlier, Maura has a sinking feeling she may really be getting in over her head...

The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing

The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing
Author: Sheila Turnage
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2015-04-28
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0142425710

The eagerly anticipated followup to the Newbery honor winner and New York Times bestseller, Three Times Lucky When Miss Lana winds up the mortified owner of an old inn with an unidentified ghost in the fine print, Mo’s itching to take the case. Plus, a historical ghost might make for some much needed Extra Credit in history. Who’s haunting the old inn? And why? Mo and Dale set out to solve their second big case—only to find the inn might not be the only thing in Tupelo Landing haunted by the past. A laugh out loud, ghostly, Southern mystery that can be enjoyed by readers visiting Tupelo Landing for the first time, as well as those who are old friends of Mo and Dale. Look for all the Mo & Dale Mysteries: The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, The Odds of Getting Even, and The Law of Finders Keepers "A rollicking sequel." —Wall Street Journal "An irresistible Southern narrator—a literary descendant of Scout Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird." —Newsday on Three Times Lucky

Dead Write

Dead Write
Author: Sheila Lowe
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2009-08-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1101108819

When it comes to solving murder, sometimes the pen can be mightier than the sword ... Handwriting expert Claudia Rose heads to the Big Apple at the behest of Grusha Olinetsky, the notorious founder of an elite dating service whose members are mysteriously dying. Drawn into the feckless lives of the rich and single, Claudia finds herself in a twisted world of love and lies fueled by desperation. But is one among them desperate enough to kill? Claudia must find clues in the suspects' handwriting before more victims are scribbled into the killer's black book...

Three Times Lucky

Three Times Lucky
Author: Sheila Turnage
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2012-05-10
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 110157559X

Newbery honor winner, New York Times bestseller, Edgar Award Finalist, and E.B. White Read-Aloud Honor book. A hilarious Southern debut with the kind of characters you meet once in a lifetime Rising sixth grader Miss Moses LoBeau lives in the small town of Tupelo Landing, NC, where everyone's business is fair game and no secret is sacred. She washed ashore in a hurricane eleven years ago, and she's been making waves ever since. Although Mo hopes someday to find her "upstream mother," she's found a home with the Colonel--a café owner with a forgotten past of his own--and Miss Lana, the fabulous café hostess. She will protect those she loves with every bit of her strong will and tough attitude. So when a lawman comes to town asking about a murder, Mo and her best friend, Dale Earnhardt Johnson III, set out to uncover the truth in hopes of saving the only family Mo has ever known. Full of wisdom, humor, and grit, this timeless yarn will melt the heart of even the sternest Yankee.

Silent Neighbor (A Sheila Stone Suspense Thriller—Book Nine)

Silent Neighbor (A Sheila Stone Suspense Thriller—Book Nine)
Author: Blake Pierce
Publisher: Blake Pierce
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2024-11-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1094386332

With a career-ending injury, Olympic kickboxer Sheila Stone is forced back to her small hometown, where her older sister, the local sheriff, offers her a spot on the local police force. When adrenaline junkies are found suspended from Utah's treacherous cliffs, Sheila Stone must navigate the perilous heights and decode the killer's message, punishing those who dare to conquer nature for vanity—before she becomes the next trophy. “A masterpiece of thriller and mystery.” —Books and Movie Reviews, Roberto Mattos (re Once Gone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ SILENT NEIGHBOR (A Sheila Stone Suspense Thriller—Book 9) is the ninth book in a long-anticipated new series by #1 bestseller and USA Today bestselling author Blake Pierce, whose bestseller The Perfect Wife (a free download) has received over 20,000 five star reviews. With her Olympic dreams crumbled, Sheila, 28, struggles to find her place back home. She is surrounded by reminders of what could have been, stuck inside the shadow of her older sister: the golden child, the respected sheriff. But when her sister persuades her to join the local police force, Sheila’s life and career start anew. As she hunts serial killers, Sheila notices clues that others miss and offers a perspective that no one else has. She realizes she has a talent outside of fighting, and that she has a chance to embrace a new life in Salt Lake—a life outside the ring. This is a different kind of ring, though. Sheila quickly realizes that to survive, she will need more than just her strength—she’ll need a brilliance to match that of even the most diabolical killer…. Can Sheila win this match? Or will she finally lose it all? A page-turning and harrowing suspense thriller featuring a brilliant and tortured protagonist, the SHEILA STONE series is a riveting mystery, packed with suspense, twists and turns, revelations, and driven by a breakneck pace that will keep you flipping pages late into the night. Future books in the series are also available. “An edge of your seat thriller in a new series that keeps you turning pages! ...So many twists, turns and red herrings… I can't wait to see what happens next.” —Reader review (Her Last Wish) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A strong, complex story about two FBI agents trying to stop a serial killer. If you want an author to capture your attention and have you guessing, yet trying to put the pieces together, Pierce is your author!” —Reader review (Her Last Wish) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “A typical Blake Pierce twisting, turning, roller coaster ride suspense thriller. Will have you turning the pages to the last sentence of the last chapter!!!” —Reader review (City of Prey) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Right from the start we have an unusual protagonist that I haven't seen done in this genre before. The action is nonstop… A very atmospheric novel that will keep you turning pages well into the wee hours.” —Reader review (City of Prey) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Everything that I look for in a book… a great plot, interesting characters, and grabs your interest right away. The book moves along at a breakneck pace and stays that way until the end. Now on go I to book two!” —Reader review (Girl, Alone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “Exciting, heart pounding, edge of your seat book… a must read for mystery and suspense readers!” —Reader review (Girl, Alone) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Murder at the Mansion

Murder at the Mansion
Author: Sheila Connolly
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Total Pages: 333
Release: 2018-06-26
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1250135869

A new series debut that finds a talented hotel manager tasked with saving her bankrupt hometown, only to be declared a chief suspect in the murder of her high-school nemesis.