Rett MacPhersonReseñas

This novel is a big change of pace from the author's Tori O'Shea mystery series. A young woman, determined to find her birth father buys a house, sight unseen, in the town where he reportedly met her mother. Her life so far has been a series of problems and misadventures. And starting over in this small Minnesota town proves to have it's own set of unusual circumstances, as she makes new friends (both 2 and 4 legged) and finds romance. The story is filled with humor, mystery, romance and plenty of twists and turns. A fun read!

I enjoyed "reconnecting" with Tori O'Shea, after a long absence! Time has passed, her kids are grown, the youngest is in high school. While she continues to own and manage 2 local museums, she remains actively involved in various genealogy projects. A nearby country church has asked her to catalog all their cemetery records. But when checking out the various graves on her list, she discovers a body that was clearly not supposed to be there! She joins forces with her Father-in-law Colin, no longer the Sheriff but a private investigator, and gets involved in solving a baffling mystery! The author's easy conversational style, well developed characters and her attention to historical details has made this a very enjoyable mystery series. I'm delighted she's back!½

After a long absence from the world of mysteries, Torie O'Shea returns. Rather than picking up where she left off, Torie and the remaining characters aged. Her father-in-law Colin, formerly sheriff, is now a private investigator. Torie's grown-up daughters moved out. One is gallivanting all over Europe with young men of questionable desirability. Son Matt, a high school junior, along with another friend occupy their time by podcasting. Torie, working on a project involving a Catholic cemetery in a nearby community, discovers exposed bones in the cemetery when her attention and that of the boys focuses on a coyote seen in the same area two days in a row. She calls Mort, the new sheriff. Both a recent set of bones and an older mass grave of bones, apparently belonging to Union soldiers, bring in crime scene investigation team as well as an archaeological team. Torie, of course, becomes involved in the investigation, using her historical and genealogical sleuthing skills to find clues police overlooked. Colin, tired of investigating straying husbands and the like, assists Torie. The new sheriff while warning Torie off, really lacks the "force" Colin used to stop her meddling; however, Torie's ownership of two museums and role as county historian provided her sufficient reason to be conducting the investigations she undertook. I enjoyed this installment and hope MacPherson will continue writing Torie O'Shea mysteries. Some plot elements such as the True Crime Club and information about her children provide clues to the direction the series may develop in future installments.½

Genealogist Torie O'Shea is given an assignment from her aunt to research the author of a book found in the cellar of her home from the 1800s. It was the book found in the cellar, not the author of it.

Haven't much nice to say about this one, except there isn't any explicit sex or foul language, nor depth, or real characters or interest. I finished it hoping for a flicker of something, but my hope was in vain. The main character was very inconsistent, immature and a professional conclusion jumper. Golly, I really haven't the words.

A rose show shouldn't cause murder but there is a possibility that the one Tori O'Shea is in charge of did. Not to mention she is buying what many consider a haunted house of vast proportions.

Tori, her family and the town of New Kassel, Missouri were a delight to read about. This happens to be book #10 in this series, but no matter - you can jump right in and learn as you go. The house Tori wants to buy is an old Victorian in which all three siblings killed themselves. This didn't happen recently but it is a draw since on of the siblings was a very well=known quilter and left many of her quilts in the house.

Quilts. Roses. Murder. Suicide. A great way to spend a few evenings!

I read this book due to the genealogy aspect. I liked it! I have never read this author.It is a quick read.
Just enough mystery,and genealogy.Enjoyable!

Torie O'Shea is hosting a large family reunion of her fathers relatives when she discovers her great grandfather was murdered instead of dying in a hunting accident as she has always been told. Torie decides to find the murderer in this unsolved case while dealing with her family and the fact that she is unexpectedly pregnant for the third time. It was a bit difficult to keep track of all of the characters but I found this to be a good cozy mystery.

Set in small town West Virginia in the 1950s, young Olivia, who is confined to a wheelchair as a result of polio many years earlier, is intelligent, witty, sensitive and well read. She has a large and loving extended family but her days are fairly predictable. Then a stranger comes to town, setting off a chain of events that eventually shake this small community to it's core. Extremely well written, this novel is filled with authentic characters and weaves together a mixture of mystery, family history and an engaging sense of a community. Even better than the author's "Tori O'Shea" series!

I bought this book at a used bookstore, so the price was right, and it was a nice, quick read. Since I like mysteries and genealogy, it was a good fit during busy times.

Read December 2007.

Torie's mother has married Colin Brooke the town sheriff. Colin also owns the loval antique shop, and has purchased the contents of a local well known recluse and asks Torie to catalogue them while he is on his honeymoon.

Meanwhile, Sylvia of the local historical society asks Torie to write a biography of the same local recluse - a lady called Catherine Finch.

What unfolds is that Catherine's youngest child, 60 odd years ago vanished from his bed.....meanwhile a man is found dead in a derelict building that is just about to be demolished. Did he die from natural causes or was he murdered?

Either way he is the nephew of Catherine Finch, the coincidences stack up and whetting Torie's appetite for investigation. Then the demolition crew find the remains of a young baby....the plot gets thicker and thicker.....

I love the idea of combining mysteries (which I love to read) with genealogy (one of my favorite hobbies), so I checked this book out of the library with high hopes. This book was even set during a week-long family reunion!

While I enjoyed some aspects of this story, like some of the family interactions, other parts weren't as enjoyable as I remember the other two Torie O'Shea books I've read were. This time around, I found Torie O'Shea, the protagonist and amateur genealogist/sleuth, to be a bit contentious. While the thought of her digging around to uncover a family secret was interesting, she came across as as a bit of an inquisitor, to me.

Still, I'll probably look for more Rhett MacPherson books in the future.

I enjoy this series, partly because the protagonist is a local historian and genealogist. It's nice, light reading as well. The story had a good pace, and the characters were pretty interesting as well.

I enjoyed reading this one, mostly because of my interest in genealogy. I liked how Torie and her long lost cousin Elliot (a librarian!) were able to work together to solve the mystery, thanks in part to their genealogy/family history research skills!

I had lost touch with local historian and genealogist Torie O'Shea in recent years, as well as her little town of New Kassel, Missouri. I'll certainly have to go back and pick up the volumes I've missed after reading THE BLOOD BALLAD.

In this one, Torie deals with every genealogist's nightmare -- the possibility of what is euphemistically termed "a non-paternity event." In other words, a man shows up claiming to have evidence that her grandfather was actually the son of a well-known local musician. What's more, he has tapes that appear to show that the musician stole songs that Torie's grandfather wrote and copyrighted them as his own.

Meanwhile, Torie is working busily on events for the town, the main business of which is tourism. During a "Birding Olympics" she's been roped into, shots are fired and then she and her partner literally have a dead body thrown at them. While she's investigating all this, another tape surfaces, with a song that appears to be a murder confession. The usual complications of family life and Torie's conflicts with her stepfather, the former sheriff, add to the mix.

Anyone who prefers their cozy mysteries with a bit of meat to them would do well to read THE BLOOD BALLAD.

Excellent book to end the reading year on! Torie is in West Virginia because a 101 year-old woman has invited her to listen to the reading of her will, while she is still alive. The town is her Grandmother's home town so Grandma comes along to visit old friends, family and see things once again.

Of course, the old woman dies, and Torie is discovered standing over her holding a pillow. Now Torie has to use her genealogy skills to try and unravel an 80 year-old mystery that involves lynching, mysterious disappearances, and a beautiful handmade quilt.

I certainly didn't see the ending of this one coming, the tangled family lines that exist in a small town are very hard to trace in this book, and I loved it.

Highly recommended and I can't wait to read the next one.

This series just keeps getting better. There was a lot less genealogy in this one, at least the serious digging type of genealogy but the mystery was very well done. It involves a 60 year old disappearance of a baby, a murder of that baby's cousin and the complicated relationship between Torie and her new step-father, the Sheriff.

Pretty much everyone that has been introduced in town was involved in this one. There is some sadness in this book, proving that if you write (or read) a series you have to deal with some of the bad as well as the good. It is this willingness to tackle the deeper issues that makes this series so good.

I can't wait to read the next one, and soon I'll be caught up and waiting impatiently for new additions to the series.

Torie O'Shea is the resident historian/genealogist for the small town of New Kassel, MO. When a paddle-steamboat that sunk 80 years ago is uncovered because the Mississippi is very low Torie is drawn into the mysteries that surrounded the tragedy. The two biggest mysteries are why did the boat sink and is there really a fortune in diamonds missing?

Torie's life also has some turmoil, upsetting her own family tree. Sylvia, her boss, is still mourning the loss of her sister and has a much smaller role in this book than in previous stories.

This book was a lot of fun, Torie is dealing with a one-year-old son, a younger daughter who gets into trouble just because she has so much joy in life, and a pre-teen who is just hitting her stride in the whole "Mom, you just don't understand" world of teenagers the world over.

There were several parts of the mystery here that completely surprised me, yet when explained the whole thing made perfect sense, I love when that happens.

Looking forward to the next in the series.

Torie (short for Victory) O'Shea and her madcap family are front and center again. This years family reunion on her father's side is scheduled for Torie's house and hometown.

As usual, Torie gets deeply involved in genealogy, this time her own father's family. She thought she knew everything but someone sends her some newspaper clippings about her great-grandfather. She had been told he died of a hunting accident, but these articles make it clear that he died on his own front porch - was it murder? And if so, who killed him?

Torie is off and running to see if she can solve the mystery, all the while trying to entertain 40-50 family members, deal with her mother and mother's beau, the Sheriff, and some other interesting twists that I would never spoil!

I'm looking forward to the next in this series, it just keeps getting better.

Torie, Rudy and Colin are visiting Torie's Aunt Sissy and Uncle Joe in Olin, Minnesota. Sissy has found a novel/diary from a young woman who lived in the house in the 1870's. Sissy wants to know how the story ended and wants Torie to use her genealogy skills to find answers.

As usual Torie and Colin are at loggerheads, Sissy is exasperating and Rudy and Joe try to stay out of the way. There is a lot of Minnesota history as well as family history in this book, all of it interesting and all tied together.

Eventually Torie solves the mystery for Sissy, and helps the local sheriff solve a murder.

I do love this series and this book is a marvelous addition to the series.

Torie is busy, as usual. She is helping to organize a Roses weekend, even though she knows nothing about roses. Her three kids are growing fast and the two oldest are in the "teen" years. Early in the book she admits to being a bit bored and lo and behold a new project pops up. An historical house comes up for sale and Torie wants it. The house has a terrible story attached to it, all three children of the original owner committed suicide. The daughter also happens to have been a fantastic needlework artist, especially with quilts. Torie goes from wanting the house for its historical value to wanting the house for its historical value and potential use as a textile museum specializing in women's quilting and needle arts.

Of course, she also has to investigate the family and find out why three adult children committed suicide. One is easy, the youngest son came back from WWI tormented and suffering from severe post-tramatic stress (not that they knew to call it that back then). But, why the other two.

As Tori works her way through this mystery she is also slowly redefining her relationship with step-father Colin.

A most enjoyable episode in this delightful series.

This cozy series just keeps getting better and better.

Torie starts out the book by attending a Bird Olympics with Eleanor as her partner! If you've read any of the earlier books you would know that this is not going to turn out well. Once dusk sets in Torie is writing down birds for Eleanor and Eleanor is sitting in a tree when they hear gunfire. Two or three sharp reports. Then bullets start flying toward them and they run to get away. They make it down to the river and then the dead body is introduced to the story.

It was quite an opening and just the start of a rollicking good story.

One of the things I like best about this series is the realistic family life that surrounds Torie. She has two teenage daughters who fight violently (including throwing things at each other) and yet they will help each other occasionally. Matthew, her son, is six now and is into bugs and dead squirrels as well as superhero's and swings. Rudy just tries to keep peace and keep Torie alive.

The mysteries in these books are good, well plotted and mostly very realistic but it is the characters who shine in the stories and it is the characters who will keep bringing me back.

I enjoyed a great deal of this mystery. The mixing of genealogy with a murder mystery seems the perfect blend - is it a new murder or one tied to the past, and how? The main character had some traits that I wasn't that fond of but I was able to mostly ignore them and enjoy the story. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

I like Torie and her family and friends and I really like the combining of genealogy with a mystery so yes, I enjoyed this book.

It was a bit far-fetched, bringing in The Man in the Iron Mask, French royalty and long lost treasure but it was a lot of fun to read. Oh, and Torie is starting to come to terms with her Mom's new beau, the Sheriff!

I'll keep going with this series.

Torie is back and dealing with a whole new batch of problems. Since Sylvia died Torie has inherited the Gaheimer House and most of the real estate in her hometown of New Kassel, MO. Torie had no idea that Sylvia planned on leaving her anything more than some personal items, so she is understandably overwhelmed by her new responsibilities.

As she is preparing for the annual Strawberry Festival and spending time going through Sylvia's personal belongings, she is alarmed to hear footsteps in a supposedly empty house and she's not the only one. Local police haven't had any luck finding anything. To top off Torie's problems her mother-in-law is coming to stay with the family, for an entire month. Saying that they don't get along is an understatement and poor Rudy is caught in the middle.

Torie is under a lot of stress and undergoing some drastic changes in her life, including finding herself a wealthy woman. The growth of her character while facing all these challenges make this an outstanding addition to the Torie O'Shea mysteries.

If you like mysteries and genealogy, you'll like this book.