After a pause I am back reading this series. I am always looking forward to a new adventure with Sukey as the main character, her son Fergus and the police team. 

Sukey is a wonderful person. She is a SOCO or CSI as they are named now and she always manages to find out a lot more about the cases than the CID. I suppose it's due to her warm personality and the fact she is not a police officer that makes people open up to her. Not only that though. She has the ability to put two and two together and come up with four actually. On the other hand she manages often to find herself in the worst possible situations.

Fergus is like his mom. He also has a clear view on facts and often does very clever suggestions.

And then there is Jim. He is DI and Sukey's for some not so secret boyfriend. He always worries when she sniffs around the cases and warns her not to interfere. But problems often seem to find Sukey in stead of the other way around. I sometimes like him and sometimes I don't. I don't like the way he treats Sukey. He blows hot and cold and only when he needs something he seems to know the way to her house. Time for Sukey to put him straight perhaps?

This author writes cosy mystery stories and they are great. This time though the book did not bring me the same reading pleasure they usually do. I don't know why this is. Maybe it was the subject that did not really do it for me, because the writing and storytelling was still very good. Somehow though it did not suck me in. 

It was still very enjoyable, but I am sorry to say it was my least favorite up till now. 4 stars

Thank you

This book is another great entry into the Sukey Reynolds series by Betty Rowlands. All the main characters, who have become so familiar, are here again. I have read the entire series and enjoyed each book.

I read this in one sitting on a lovely summers day while on holiday and was instantly transported to the setting the author was writing about.

Well written, great characters, instantly drew me in and kept me there until the very end.

This is book 7 in the Sukey Reynolds series. Betty Rowlands has become one of my favorite crime solving authors and I'll buy her books without even reading the covers. Sukey Reynolds is a single mother of a college age son who works crime scenes as a evidence technician. Set in England the series is a good murder mystery with some wonderful returning characters. The romance between Sukey and DI Castle is still going strong , even more so now that son Fergus has move into a college dorm. Can easily be read as a stand alone this is a nice non-gory story that is a winner all around. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A quick read. Reminds me of midsomer murders. This book is easy to pick up and read in one sitting and I’m looking forward to feeding the next

Betty Rowlands involves her policewoman Sukey Reynolds in Death Under the Apple Tree. A girl is murdered and the police follow numerous false leads. Is it the master of the house? Is it the guest artist? The suspect Sir Digby Kitling gets bail and all hell breaks loose. Mistresses are implicated. The wife suspects nothing. Someone is faking artworks. Read and enjoy a competent cozy.

A young woman is found dead in the apple orchard of a mansion, and Sukey is called to gather evidence at the scene. An immediate suspect is identified, yet Sukey somehow doesn't think it makes sense. She follows the clues to once again help solve the mystery. Another enjoyable book in this series!

Death under the Apple Tree by Betty Rowlands is the seventh book in the Sukey Reynolds Mystery series. All of these books in this wonderful series are a cosy police mystery, They are all well written and with a great plot. I just these books. All the characters are likeable and they alway have a good part in these books.

Big thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for forwarding to me a copy of this great book for me to read, enjoy and review.

I love this cozy mystery series and this Seventh book did not disappoint. Sukey is once again investing a murder and there is art reproduction as well. Her boyfriend DI Jim Castle investigates as well. I enjoyed visiting again with all of the characters, and reading more of their storylines.
Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It has a great plot, excellent main characters and I read it in one sitting! I would highly recommend this book.

This is the 7th book in the series. I have read the entire series and enjoyed each book. I highly recommend this series for your reading enjoyment. Each mystery is well crafted with a strong sleuth.
Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My opinion is my own.

A summer garden party was in process when a murder occurred. The party was celebrating a painting and the painting was found slashed . Sukey Reynolds has to photograph & process evidence surrounding the body of estate manager Una May. The owner of the house was overheard arguing with Una that morning and is suspect number one. Sukey decides to do a bit of her own inquiries as she does not believe the owner is guilty. Clues point her in other directions.

I love this series for the smart savvy protagonist Sukey Reynolds. The setting of a village in England is always charming and the sleuth is very well done to conclusion. Another winning mystery by the author in this beloved series.

Well, I am getting tired of Sukey cooking for Gus and Jim all the time. Wasn't Gus the boy who was so helpful at the beginning of the series? Now he just expects mom to cook at his demand. And Jim is even worse. A grown man who calls and asks if he can come over to be fed. Really? These are contemporary stories. They all have cell phones. We aren't talking about the 1940s. My own obsession with how Sukey is constantly placed in the kitchen performing domestic activities, despite having a full time job with the police, is starting to cloud my view of the series. Jim's continued hovering over her and fearing for her safety is getting tiresome as well. I appreciate the sentiment but he really needs to back off. Maybe Sukey can whack him with the spatula she keeps cooking his meals with? As for the story, it was a bit convoluted but came together nicely at the end. Now if Sukey can actually solve a crime instead of mistakenly stumble on the villian!

This is the seventh Sukey Reynolds book. The premise for this book promises more than it delivers. I was interested in the idea of having a copy of a famous painting, Renoir's "The Luncheon of the Boating Party" painted for you with your friends taking the places of the originals. At a party to celebrate the painting's completion, one of the people who had posed for the picture is found strangled in the vast yard. The owner, Sir Digby, says she was the manager of his estate but that he didn't know her very well. But when the autopsy finds she was pregnant, Digby admits he was the father. This was a rather confusing story, and I didn't like it as well as others in this series. The whole story of art robbery didn't interest me. I hope the next in the series is better.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance copy.

3.5/5 stars for Death under the Apple Tree by Betty Rowlands.

So- let me first start off by stating that I am a silly girl and didn’t realize that before I requested a copy to review on Netgalley that this was the 7th book in a series…. Whoops! Regardless, I thought this was a solid read that was easy and quick! Nice light reading for the summer!

The setting of the story is England (I love Brit Lit) and it is very well-written. The character development was great, which played into my higher rating. However, I didn’t think the overall plot was all that interesting. It was the setting and the character development that bumped up my rating on this one.

The story centers around a crime scene investigator, Sukey Reynolds, and her boyfriend, DI Jim Castle. They are called to a Sir Digby’s countryside manor in response to a murder and it is later discovered that the victim is the estate manager. This is a typical “who-dunnit” mystery and not a ton of suspense/thrill (my two favorite elements). My rating probably suffered because of my own bias and predilection towards psychological thrillers. I would recommend this one if you love traditional mystery novels!

Betty Rowlands has gifted her readers with another Sukey Reynolds book! She created Sukey to keep an entire cross generational group of people reading cozy mysteries. She is an everyday/ neighbor next door character that has learned the hard way how to investigate a murder. Each book has a unifying theme, here it's apples, that adds a unique touch to them so the stories are not cookie cutter tales of Sukey's crime solving antics. Another hit for Betty Rowlands.

🍎A womanizing 🖼art collector: could Digby be a murderer too?!🤔
4.5 🌟stars
👍🔎My second read in this Sukey Reynolds mystery series, I found the plot good, the murder mystery twisted enough to keep me guessing through most of the book. The rural setting and the author's ability to describe the early fall landscape also set up an idyllic backdrop for the sad violence that ensues.

🔍 As cozy mystery heroines go, this single mom with a well-adjusted, inquisitive son, now off to university, is appealing. She's almost unflappable and not ready to let her police inspector boyfriend allow her to dictate her actions (no matter how much he wants to). And she seems to attract the confidences of the friends, neighbors, colleagues and family of murder victims and suspects alike, all to the good of finding the culprit who eludes the police. Go, Sukey!

😊 I totally enjoyed this story and will definitely look out for more by Betty Rowlands.

I read a complimentary advance copy of the book provided through NetGalley; this is my voluntary and honest review.

A summer garden party is in full swing at a grand old house, but under an apple a body is discovered.
In the charming orchard, Sukey Reynolds has to photograph & process evidence surrounding the body of estate manager Una May. All fingers are pointed at the tempestuous owner of the house, a self made man who was overheard arguing with Una that morning
The party was supposed to celebrate a painting of the residents and staff. When the picture is found slashed, the police close in on the owner, but Sukey is sure they are barking up the wrong tree, and she decides to do a bit of snooping. Despite her sleuthing, Sukey is no closer to catching Una May’s killer, then a young girl goes missing.
I’m totally hooked on these murder mysteries. I love Sukey & how she can’t resist betting involved to the annoyance of Jim Castle & DCI Lord. I love the red herrings thrown in the way. Sukey is always in the right & sometimes wrong place at the right time. Each of the books is very easily read on its own but there is the thread of Sukey’s home life running through the books, her relationship both with Fergus & Jim also is riveting. Another well written, very well paced book with strong believable characters that drew me in from start to finish
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Another Un-Put-Downable Sukey Reynolds Mystery Book 7
In this episode, things get pretty dicey for Sukey as she tries not to investigate a murder. This is a very addictive series that the reader will hate to put down. The plot is pretty tight with only a few suspects, but they all have issues with the truth. The story is woven with such skill that the picture created the reader's mind eye is is quite detailed. The story flows by faster than could be imagined. The ending has a few twists that will keep me thinking for a while.
I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

This starts out like a classic British crime novel, except there is no butler so he couldn't have done it. Unfortunately, there is no clever sleuthing that solves everything, only coincidences, and that's not what we want to read about. The plot is rather weak in general, so this is not the best in the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was another exciting adventure with Sukey Reynolds, who once again found herself in the middle of a dangerous case. In this book Sukey's son Fergus is away at university and one of his friends is in the middle of the case that Sukey has found herself involved with.

A young woman is found dead under and apple tree at a private residence. The owner of the home is the first suspect. However it soon comes to light that there is more to this case than just the murder of the young woman. An art theft ring is also at work and by the time they piece everything together, it looks as though it might be too late for Fergus' friend.