I have been a fan of Sheila Connolly’s County Cork mysteries and looked forward to reading Killer in the Carriage House, the second of her Victorian Village Mysteries. This series takes place in Asheboro, Maryland, a small town in rapid decline.

Kate Hamilton left Asheboro after graduating high school and never imagined returning. After being laid off from her position in Baltimore, she found herself back in Asheboro working to restore a mansion that the town had purchased. They were hoping to bolster tourism, but the town is dying and Kate is determined to save it.. With its’ proximity to Civil War battlefields and a number of older buildings in the town center, she is hoping to turn Asheboro into a Victorian village. The major problem is funding.

When letters written by Clara Barton to her relative Henry Barton were found at the mansion, Kate hoped that there might be something more in Henry’s correspondence to help with the funding. She enlists the help of Carroll, a historian, to sort through Henry’s papers. From the attic at the mansion the papers are to be moved to the town library for sorting and evaluation. When Kate and Carroll arrive to check the library, they find a broken window and the body of a young man, a stranger to the town.

While the murder is mentioned on occasion throughout the book, it takes second place to Kate’s project. As she surveys the town, she becomes increasingly aware of the obstacles she faces. Setting up a non-profit, finding a lawyer, providing facilities for the tourists, providing horse drawn transportation to the mansion from town and the care of horses are just a few of her problems. She must also convince the townspeople to accept the plan and find the money to finance it.

Connolly concentrates her story on Kate’s project and it is not until the final scenes of the tale that she reveals the reason that the victim was in town and who had reason to kill him. This is not Connolly’s strongest story, but her look at the history of Asheboro and some of the residents make this an entertaining one. I do look forward to another Victorian Village story to see how Kate’s transformation of the town progresses.,

This is the 2nd book in the Victorian Village Mysteries series. This is a different kind of cozy, less about the murder and more about how the main character, Kate Hamilton, goes back to her hometown to save it from extinction by remaking it into a Victorian village. It's interesting to read about the process.
Kate has found a historian to help her go through the gem locale of the town, the Barton house. They discover some papers and are going to move them to the library when a body is discovered. They can't proceed until the murder is solved.

I recommend these books.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Killer in the Carriage House by Sheila Connolly is the second book in the Victorian Village Mysteries series.

This is a very enjoyable mystery that continues on with the female protagonist Kate who is trying to do her part in saving her town in Maryland from falling to the wayside by attempting an overhaul to help creat nostalgia with a Victorian renovation. Of course there needs to be a murder/mystery addition to add to the mix as well.

I enjoy Kate, Joshua, and the supporting characters. I feel they are likeable, realistic, and multi faceted.
I also enjoyed the murder/mystery as well.

A great combo that makes the reader want to invest in this series.

5/5 stars

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC and in return I am submitting my voluntary and unbiased review.

Another excellent edition to a wonderful series! Full of twists and turns that leaves you wanting more and enjoying each moment until the end when the killer is caught!

Author Sheila Connolly writes several different cozy mystery series. This is the second in the Victorian Village set and features Kate Hamilton, who returns to her small hometown of Asheboro, Maryland after being made redundant in the hotel industry.

The town is in a crisis -- it's turned into a mostly bedroom community with a lack of jobs and anything to interest tourists or anchor the local economy. In the series debut, Kate's friend Lisbeth urged her to come back and see if she can figure out a way to "save" their struggling community.

Kate soon focuses on the town's main asset -- a beautiful and mostly original Victorian mansion once owned by the local factory owner, a relative of nurse Clara Barton. Kate envisions restoring the main street to its old time glory and persuading local shop owners to go along.

But in the meantime, murder keeps getting in the way. Kate (once again) discovers a dead body, this time in the shuttered library, while making arrangements to store old documents and papers. Unusually, this time she doesn't actively investigate the murder, but does look for the historic link that provides the motive.

Kate is somewhat likable, but I found the plot and character relationships to be uneven and choppy. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received this ARC via Netgalley and the publisher in return for an honest review. It is the 2nd book in a series but can be read as a stand-alone (I’d not read the previous book). I have read other books by this author and always enjoy them. This book is about how to revitalize a historic but dying small town in Maryland. Kate Hamilton has returned home and is attempting to use the existing infrastructure and recreate a strong tourist town as a Victorian village. Wow – that’s a major undertaking! She contacts old friends and connects with an expert on historic manuscripts to catalog and evaluate trunks of documents found in the local Barton's Mansion. When attempting to move the documents from the mansion to the local library, where they can be properly evaluated, they discover the body of a stranger in the library. Attempting to leave that mystery to the police, Kate and her friends start researching the history of the local factory that has been closed for years. Weirdly, the factory’s records can’t be found. This is a well-written book with a strong heroine. I recommend it as a good cosy with lots of room for future books in the series.

This is a fun, colorful story filled with strong characters who work well together.
Trying to save her hometown is one thing, but trying to solve a murder?
This story is filled with twists and turns that are bound to keep the reader guessing until the big reveal.
I’m excited to see what’s next!

This is a fun who done it that continues the "Victorian Village Mystery" series. It's so fun finding out about the history of the fictional town of Ashboro, MD, as Kate Hamilton tries to revitalize the town as a destination. All seems positive until a murder brings a dark cloud over the new information that could put Ashboro on the the historical map.

This is the second in the series and I felt it was a little slower than the first, which I really enjoyed. I've read this author numerous times, so will give the next book in the series a try. I like the characters, the town and the idea of what Kate Hamilton and her friend is trying to do to save the town.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for my eARC in exchange for an honest review. - I will give the 3rd book a try.

Here again, is a perfect example of an author with a talent for developing characters that are realistic and highly relatable. For me, the mystery takes a side seat. After reading Murder at the Mansion I recall being very excited about the next installment in the series. As I picked this one up, I couldn’t recall why I was so excited about it. Just a few pages in, I began to recall. Her characters and recurring theme began to work their subtle enticement and I found myself hooked again. Perhaps it’s the overall theme of working in an old house and digging into the past of a town, that interests me. It appeals to the explorer in me. The bonus is a strong female character that, as strong as she is, has doubts in herself. Bringing her hometown back to life is a big responsibility that will take a lot of time and a ton of money. Kate isn’t exactly sure how to get the ball rolling on the project. It doesn’t help matters when she discovers the body of a young man in the library, as she begins the task of moving family papers from the house. Kate didn’t think there was anything of importance left within the boxes since the Clara Barton letters had been removed. Was she missing something? Readers who are looking for a series to make them feel comfortable and at home should try this one. This would be a good series for teens. Kate is a young woman, who started in on direction and ended up in another direction. She is a good example of how you show and talk confidence on the outside, but you’re really scared and unsure on the inside. That you do and will make mistakes but can learn and move on successfully.

Love Sheila Connolly books. This is the first one in this series I have read and it was amazing. The characters are interesting and have different jobs than most other series which made it interesting. I hope to be able to read more of this series in the future.

Kate is back in her hometown and trying to bring new life to it. A new love interest in her life also makes things interesting. When Kate and Josh are trying to help the town they find some interesting information that might help bring money and interest to the town.

The second book of the Victorian Mysteries series is an outstanding history of the town of Asheboro, Maryland, it's library and Henry Barton's factory.
Kate Hamilton is attempting to move ahead with the plans to turn Asheboro back to a VICTORIAN VILLAGE. She is finding it to be huge. She invites an expert, on manuscripts to catalog the paper in the Barton's Mansion. Plans to move the papers to the library are delayed as a body is found in the library just before the papers are to be delivered. Nowhere do they find the records for the factory. A Visit to the factory brings a huge surprise to light. What other secrets are to be found as Kate and historian Joshua explore the Mansion documents and Henry Barton's life.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK AND SERIES.

Disclosure: Thanks to St. Martins Press for a copy through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

Killer in the Carriage House
Sheila Connolly
July 9, 2019

Kate Hamilton graduated from college and was building a name for herself in hotel restoration. She had been working in Baltimore when things got out of hand, she was soon out of a job. At the same time Kate received word from an old friend from high school in Asheboro, Maryland. The town was running down hill fast. There was no longer the spade manufacturing plant, there was a raging storm in months past and business owners were in need of help to rebuild. Several townsfolk had left to start anew. Lizbeth Scott remembered her friend Kate and how she had rebuilt hotels and other businesses through contacts and a talent to redesign architecture into historical places where people were drawn to visit and spend money.
Coming back to Asheboro was strange for Kate but in taking a town tour she could see how much needed to be done to refurbish it. After much thought she called a town meeting to talk with the people about a proposal to use the Barton estate to help to bring this sleepy little town back to its historical world, long since gone. Townsfolk were so-so but gave her time to work on finding the financing and to look into the Henry and Clara Barton estate. To do this she called in her friend Ryan Hoffman a lawyer in charge of an old bed and breakfast. He offered her a room at the inn so although she wasn’t being paid for this job, she would have a place to stay for the duration. She also put in a call to Josh, a guy who teaches at a local university and presently lives at the Barton Mansion. He has been asked to do research on what was left and perhaps develop it into an attraction for visitors. Their hard work continues along with Carroll, an historical librarian who would be able to access the old paperwork found in the mansion. This story continues to work through the development of the town into a tourist attraction with the main views involving the Barton family. In the midst of it all, others try to find the hidden Barton papers and murder ensues.
I have read other books by Sheila Connolly and enjoyed them. This series was not as lively a read but I did savor most of it. Some was a bit bogged down with a bit too much dialogue but as I continued into the storyline it became more exciting. Killer in the Carriage House by Sheila Connolly will be published on July 9, 2019. It is a good cozy mystery.

I’ve read quite a few books by this author and really enjoyed them. She does a terrific job writing likeable characters in fun and different situations. This is the first time I’ve tried this series.

Kate is temporarily living in a (closed) bed-and-breakfast now owned by her ex-boyfriend, Ryan, while she plans a way to stop her hometown of Asheboro, Maryland from continuing to slowly fade away into history. She came up with an idea to turn the town into a Victorian village for tourists, but she gets sidetracked from her plans when she discovers a dead body in the library.

I was able to pick up this book without a problem, despite not having read the first one in the series. As I said, I enjoyed the characters she introduced, not just Kate and Josh, but also Carroll, Frances at the newspaper, and Mr. MacDonald at the hardware store. The one thing that disappointed me was the resolution. I didn’t fee like it was adequately explained or made a ton of sense. I would still read another book in the series, but I hope she ties up the next one a little better. .

Book 2 in the series. I've read both now, although it is probably not needed to read the first one first, it does help as it is referenced several times. Kate has been back in her hometown less than a month, and has found another dead body. This one is a young man who broke into the library and a bookcase was dropped on him. The first book dealt with the Clara Barton letters, while this one deals with Barton working with Edison. The snippets of a secondary story, dealing with the past vs present, adds a nice touch to the story. The romance with Josh is a little quiet, and no real sparks are there. Actually see more with the Detective, but that might just be me. Not much with her friend in this one, except the beginning and the end. She is predominant in the first book, which is why I mention it. Drags a little at times, still though, a good cozy mystery with a touch of history thrown in. Highly recommend this series and author.

This is one of the best cozy mysteries I have read in a long time. The characters all have depth and are easy to relate to. The plot was excellent with the culprit not revealed until exactly the right moment- and being someone I did not at all suspect. It's a perfect marriage of mystery and history with Kate Hamilton trying to revive her hometown by making it over into a Victorian Village to attract tourists and keep the town thriving. Learning about Thomas Edison and the early history of electricity was an added bonus. I look forward to seeing her plans for Asheboro come to fruition - with another side dose of mystery thrown in.

This is an interesting multi-layered cozy mystery with intelligent characters, a complex plot and an interesting idea for its setting. Kate Hamilton has returned to her hometown of Asheboro, Maryland. It's a dying town with no industry and few new people moving in. Kate has been asked to come up with ideas to revive the town and she has proposed making it into a restored Victorian village. The centerpiece of the idea involves the mansion of Henry Barton,which was willed to the town. Kate and her friends Carroll and Josh are investigating the papers of Henry Barton, trying to find out more about the man and how he made his money. When Kate opens the town's shuttered library to house the Barton papers, she finds the dead body of Zachary Mitchell, who had recently arrived in town saying he was looking into his family history. Are these all related? It's up to Kate and company to learn about the history in order to solve the mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.