The challenge facing small towns in America provides a unique premise for the characters and situations Sheila Connolly creates in the debut of her new series, Victorian Village Mysteries.

Kate Hamilton’s friend Lisabeth approaches Kate with a request to save their hometown Asheboro, MD.  The small town is slowly dying, and a storm just hit the shops on main street doing considerable cosmetic damage.  Within the last couple of years, the town council purchased a large Victorian mansion on the town’s outskirts hoping it might serve as a catalyst, but it still sits empty. Lisabeth wants Kate to come up with a plan to revitalize their community.

Kate, with an MBA and several years in hospitality management, finds she has time to check out Asheboro since being downsized by the new owner of her Baltimore hotel.  On her own she assesses the storm damaged town shops and then reaches out to Lisabeth to visit the Barton Mansion, named for the factory owner who built it in the mid 1800’s.  As they are looking round the mansion they run into Joshua Wainwright, the interim caretaker who’s a history professor on sabbatical to finish a book.

One drawback for Kate is the fact that Cordelia, a girl in high school who gave Kate a very difficult time is also back in Asheboro trying to turn the Mansion into a high-end B&B that the town council has already turned down.  After Kate meets with the town council and agrees to prepare a proposal, she revisits the Barton Mansion, sneaking in the back way.  She runs into Josh and they discuss the potential for bringing the mansion back to its original state.  As Kate moves to leave out the front door, they discover Cornelia’s body, obviously murdered.

Now there is a murder to solve in addition to conducting enough research to determine if there is a way to save the town.  Josh and Kate team up to work on uncovering who Henry Barton was along with any other info or artifacts that contribute to their efforts on behalf of the town.  They also draft the town librarian, Audrey, to help research the town’s history and Henry Barton.

In this cozy Ms. Connolly spends time setting up: the history of the area, the issues of small town struggles and the details of Victorian architecture and construction. The Civil War plays a small role as letters from Clara Barton – a possible relative – are found regarding the whereabouts of Henry Barton’s brother after the war.  Layers and layers and layers.  

Ms. Connolly is an engaging storyteller and skillful writer. When she pushes interaction between characters onto the page the dialogue is genuine, and feelings easily read.  The pace is steady.  However, as the book ends the biggest mystery in Murder at the Mansion is yet to be solved.

When I saw that Netgalley was offering a new mystery by Sheila Connolly I jumped at the change to request it. Murder at the Mansion is coming out June 26th and is published by Minotaur Books.  I get very excited when I get the chance to read a first in series by authors whose work I already love. I had no idea what to expect with Murder at the Mansion and it truly felt like Sheila took a typical failing american small town, reached down to the ground and picked up the dirt and dust surrounding it, threw it up in the air and magically turned it to fairy dust. The story transforms itself from page one and rolls out in true cozy spirit, endearing it to me with each chapter. This was not at all what I had expected, but exactly what a great first in series should be, this cozy has great bones, a cool story line, mystery you can get behind, justice served and a great deal of fun history to unearth. Look for this one for sure this June!

What a wonderful new series by Sheila Connolly.  Kate works in the hospitality industry and has been at her current job for the past five years.  When her best friend from high school, whom she hasn't spoken to in a while, calls her up and asks her to meet Kate wonders what she might want.  The town Kate grew up in and left so many years ago is need of some help.  You see they made an investment in a local house but after purchasing said house the town doesn't have the money to do much else.  If they don't figure out something to bring back life to their dying town no one knows exactly what will happen.  Kate agrees to come and see if she can come up with some ideas and learns that her nemesis from high school offered up a plan but it got shot down quickly because it would only be beneficial to her and not the town.  While looking at the house that the town bought and trying to come up with some ideas Kate stumbles over the body of Cordelia, her high school nemesis.  Follow along as Kate tries to come up with a valid plan to help the town and also looks for the killer.  You see she never got any closure from what Cordelia did to her in high school and hopes finding her killer will help in some way.  This was a fantastic new read that was filled with wonderful characters, a charming town, and wonderful bits of history.  I can't wait to see what becomes of the town and Kate's ideas and hope that her budding romance turns into more.

Kate returns home to the small town where she grew up--and couldn't get out of fast enough--to help save the town.  After her high school nemesis is killed, with Kate looking to be the prime suspect, she jumps in to find the real killer.  This was my first book but the author, and I really liked it.  I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a good cozy.

This is my first book that I have read by Sheila Connolly.  It will not be the last.  I thoroughly enjoyed Murder at the Mansion book #1 in the Victorian Village Mysteries.  The main character Kate was very likable and very smart.  This was a fun and quick read.  Am looking forward to the next installment in this new series.

Fans of this author will be pleased with this new series.  I did not enjoy it as much as her other series, but I would read the next one.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy.

This promising start to a new "Victorian Village" series by Sheila Connolly features Kate who returns to Asheboro after the hotel for which she works sells to new ownership who release Kate and her boss from their positions with nice severance packages. Kate's mission to see how the town can make a turnaround may be impossible, but the key lies in an old mansion now owned by the town. Its previous owner Henry Barton left a generous trust fund to maintain the property. Kate's nemesis, a councilwoman, was murdered. Kate finds herself assisting in the investigation as she examines some important letters she becomes certain the woman found. I loved the mystery but guessed the murderer's identity fairly early. A lot of questions remain unanswered for the readers, indicating the author intends to reveal more solutions to those questions in future installments. While genealogical research was done, the author included few details. Hopefully more will unfold as the series progresses. The series shows promise and should provide mystery-loving genealogists with a few hours pleasure as each book is published.  I received an advance electronic copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am normally of fan of this author so was happy to see she had another new series.  Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one as I have her other books.  I was unable to engage with the characters and the story felt weighed down to me.

Katherine Hamilton returns to her home of Asheford, Maryland as a favor to her high school best friend, Lisbeth. Kate, whose degree and work experience is in the hospitality industry, agrees to come up with a plan that just might keep the town from going bankrupt. Kate ends up surprising herself by truly becoming invested in saving the town, with a Victorian mansion recently purchased by the town council, at the heart of the plan. When her high school nemesis is found murdered, Kate joins in the search for the killer.

Kate is smart, determined, and organized and is the perfect person to come up with a way to save the town. For the most part, she is likeable, although her confidence can come across as arrogance when she occasionally talks down to people. The extensive research Kate does for her plan to recreate an authentic Victorian village is a key part of the book and is very interesting. Solving the murder often takes a back seat to the town's development plans, but the low-key style works for this cozy mystery. While investigating the town's history and former mean girl Cordy's murder, Kate juggles a few potential love interests which adds a hint of romance to the story. 

The book is the first in a new series and although the murder is resolved, the town has a long way to go to turn their financial situation around and it appears that story will continue in the next book. Fans of the author's Orchard mystery series or of Shelley Freydont's Celebration Bay mysteries will enjoy the debut of this entertaining new series by Sheila Connolly.

This book was provided to me by Minotaur Books in exchange for an honest review.

An old mansion, tension, and murder are the ingredients to a strong start to a new series. Laid off, summoned back home to the town she was running away from, the main character stumbles onto a dead body of a rival. Through the twists and turns, history, and murder, this story keeps you on the edge of your seat.

A delightful new series by author Sheila Connolly. The book has a mix of small town history and decline, a new beginning for a hometown girl who left after high school graduation and never returned and a bit of romance. 
Katherine is a successful hospitality manager in a hotel chain who returns to the town because of an invitation by a high school friend and then is called to a meeting of the town council because the town is dying. She promises to try to come up with some ideas but when she returns to her job, she is informed that the hotel has been sold and the new owners are bringing in new management.
She decides to take advantage of her severance pay and returns to the town to help come up with some plans to revive the town and make it and the Victorian mansion built by the owner of the factory (which is now closed) into a tourist attraction.
The characters are likeable, the plot moves at a good pace and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books for an advance copy in return for an honest review.

Posted on Goodreads.  Courtesy of NetGalley, this was a fun and fast read. Kate is asked by her old high school friend to return to her hometown to help save it. Timing is everything and since Kate was just made redundant at her hotel she has time to look at the town to see if anything can be done to keep it alive. Key to her concept is the Barton mansion that has been virtually untouched for almost 100 years, but a dead woman on the front steps makes Kate's concept take a turn toward sleuthing. History, small town revitalization, high school arch nemesis, old flame, and lots of research make this book quite interesting and a bit different. It should be interesting to see Kate's concept come to life in the next book(s) in the series.

I do love Sheila Connolly's series located in Ireland, so I was thrilled to receive this pre-publication copy for review from NetGalley and start what I hoped would be another great series from Ms. Connelly.  Sad to say I was sorely disappointed and struggle over a period of weeks to finish this book.  At this novel is the first of the series, a significant amount of time is spent describing the environment and introducing characters.  While the premise of the novel(s) set in a Victorian Village in development, the characters are just boring.  Kate Hamilton a vet of the hospitality industry in Baltimore returns to her hometown at the request of her BFF from high school to see if she has any ideas to revitalize the dying town.  Her high school nemesis Cordelia is found dead at the doorstop of the local mansion, shuttered for decades and cared for by an attractive academic from the nearby university.  The dead Cordelia is a more interesting character than the lead or any of the others we're introduced to, including the protagonist.  Kate Hamilton comes off as a bit spoiled, self centered and lazy, with little to offer in the way of skills or wit.  The setup for a series is great, but Ms. Connolly has to add some spice and sizzle to her cast of characters to get this one to take off and fly like her other novels.

A really interesting concept. The murder was a bit pedestrian but the quality of writing more than made up for it.

Murder at the Mansion by Sheila Connolly is the debut novel for her Victorian Village series. It was an intriguing beginning and the setting, although in a small town, was unique.

I liked Katherine and her down-to-earth attitude. She doesn't hesitate to be truthful with both the town board members and the police. I also liked that Ms. Connolly did not just the "romance triangle" trope as I find that to be an unnecessary addition to most cozy mystery stories. The plot is smoothly paced with plenty of suspects regarding the murder of the town "mean girl". I also enjoyed the history that was introduced into this book by Ms. Connolly regarding the Civil War veteran, Henry Barton. I'm intrigued to know about this mystery man who lived in the beautiful mansion on the edge of town.

I have enjoyed everything thing I read by Sheila Connolly and the first book of the Victoria Village Mystery did not disappoint. The characters are developed and the area will place right there. You could feel the town was in decline and the beautiful Mansion on the outskirts of town. Katherine Hamilton has returned to her hometown, Asheford, Maryland to consult if the town had assets to turn the direction it is going around. Katherine falls in love with the Civil War Mansion and can see a destination Victorian village in its future. While she was exploring the Mansion, the body of her high school enemy is found just outside it. Katherine must find the answer to the death before the plan to change before it can move forward. She moves into a B&B in town in order to be on site. Strange things are occurring at the Mansion and the B&B that scare her. The ending will surprise. I like the way the book is connected with Museum series.

Disclosure: Many thanks to St Martin Press for a review copy. The opinions expressed are my own.

I have read all of the books in Sheila Connolly's Orchard series, but I could not get into her Museum mysteries.  I looked forward to reading this book, however, especially since it's the first in a new series.  I did not like it as much as I expected.  I always think that starting a book with a murder is a bit difficult, because the reader does not have an opportunity to develop feelings about the victim -- whether it's dislike, distaste, affection, empathy, etc.  Kate, our heroine, has just been made redundant at her busy Baltimore hotel, recently purchased by a larger corporation.  She is told that she is getting a severance package, but will no longer have a job there as the corporation is bringing in their own employees.  I know that this is somewhat critical, but most employees cannot just pull up stakes, and pursue another venture without an official pink slip from the new employers.  I may have missed the passage in the book, but she never actually packed her personal stuff from her office to leave.  Also, there were some odd logistics going on in the book.  Having lived in the mid-Atlantic for a number of years, no one would ever travel to Philadelphia from Western MD by way of Harrisburg, PA.  Talk about going out of your way to get to a destination.  Kate also had a propensity for being annoying, particularly in her conversations with the caretaker, and potential boyfriend.  I, too, am glad that the author did not force Kate back into a relationship with her high school boyfriend, Ryan.  That would have been a huge mistake.  Her feelings for the murder victim, a high school bully named Cordelia, seemed somewhat immature, and overly emphatic given the passage of time.  The ending left it wide open for the 2nd in the series, but the perpetrator of the crime seemed rather a reach.  It was almost as if the author wrote herself into a corner; and could find no other possible suspect, but this person.  Hard to believe that someone would kill for such a reason.  Imagine spending a good chunk of one's life in prison for such a poor excuse of a human being.  I think that the series has potential, but I hope that the author develops the next victim's character so that the reader can feel something, rather than left with an impression of a character -- whether good or bad.

For a first book in a series, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. Kate is smart and likeable, and I was happy that this book avoided some of the tropes of current cozies--no, she does NOT fall back into the arms of her hometown boyfriend, thank god. And it was also interesting to see the behind-the-scenes of actually creating one of these idyllic towns that serve as the setting for many mysteries. The logistics and challenges of that intrigued me, and I'm looking forward to seeing the progress in the next book. The actual murder and solution felt a little...distant somehow, not as vivid as the rest of the story. But I'll definitely be checking out the next book when it comes out.

I really enjoyed this series debut by established author Sheila Connolly. It combines mystery, history, a homecoming, new beginnings, and a touch of romance. The main characters were likable, and I look forward to getting to know them better in future books. The plot moved at a good pace, without any boring, unnecessary lulls or rushed explanations. There were actually three mysteries within this book, including murder, theft, and the long-dead owner of a Victorian mansion, about whom little is known. At first I thought the book ended kind of abruptly, but then I realized one of the main storylines would be continued in the second book, and maybe beyond. Though this book hasn't officially been released yet, I can't wait for the second book, and learn more about Kate, Josh, Lisbeth, and their small town of Asheboro, Maryland!

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Quick fun read. Very fast paced. Really enjoyed the setting and the mystery. Great book!