Nurse Trudy Genova mixes her movie studio consulting work with her nose for murder!
Death in the Orchard
The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries Book 3
by M.K. Graff
Genre: Mystery, Police Procedural, Amateur Sleuth
The third Trudy Genova mystery from award-winning author M. K. Graff brings Trudy home, leaving her New York City studio consulting job to visit her rural hometown of Schoharie, three hours north. NYPD detective Ned O'Malley accompanies Trudy, primed to meet her family, but with a secret mission to find out what really happened when her father died eleven years ago.
Mario Genova's death was deemed a tragic accident, but Trudy feels there was more to her beloved father acting out of character the day before he died. After years of hard work building a successful apple orchard business with her mother, Mario cleaned out their bank accounts. No reason-and no money-was ever found. As Trudy and Ned try to investigate without informing her family of their actions, a new death occurs on Genova Orchards property, and once again Trudy's family is under scrutiny.
"A welcome and forceful return of MK Graff's Trudy Genova, Death in the Orchard is a well- crafted and thought-provoking story of unexplained death and cold-blooded murder, as Trudy sets out to solve the death of her father with her NYPD boyfriend Ned O'Malley. The couple return to the Genova family orchards to dig into the past as the present threatens to shake the family to their very core.
Graff deals us a cold case of family intrigue, a small-town conspiracy, and a terrifying leap into the unknown, as her heroine comes face to face with a secret she thought would never be told, a case impossible to solve, and a dogged determination to finally get to the truth.
A masterclass in laying the threads bare and knitting them together in a satisfying conclusion."
Mandy Morton, Author of The No. 2 Feline Detective Agency series
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Death at the Dakota
The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries 2
Nurse Trudy Genova is making plans to take her relationship with NYPD
detective Ned O'Malley to the next level when she lands a gig as
medical consultant on a film shoot at the famed Dakota apartment
building in Manhattan, which John Lennon once called home. Then star
Monica Kiley goes missing, a cast member turns up dead, and it
appears Trudy might be next. Meanwhile Ned tackles a mysterious
murder case in which the victim is burned beyond recognition. When
his investigations lead him back to the Dakota, Trudy finds herself
wondering: how can she fall in love if she can't even
survive?
Readers of Death Unscripted, the first book in
the Trudy Genova Manhattan Mystery series, will find the same
pleasures in this sequel: fast pacing, engaging characters, twists
and turns on the way to a satisfying close. Once again M.K. Graff
reveals her talents in crafting this delightful mix of amateur sleuth
and police procedural.
Part procedural, part cozy, Death
at the Dakota is a well-crafted and highly entertaining mystery.-
Bruce Robert Coffin, #1 bestselling author of the Detective Byron
mysteries.
I fell in love -- not only with
co-protagonists, Trudy and Ned, the richly detailed and historic
setting of The Dakota, and the unique cast of characters, but with
the unusual plot of Death at the Dakota. Sherry Harris, Agatha Award
nominated author of the Sarah Winston Garage Sale Mysteries
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Death Unscripted
The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries Book 1
Trudy Genova has the best job any nurse could want, working on set as
a medical consultant for a NY movie studio. No more uniforms, bedpans
or emergencies, until at the actor whose overtures she's refused dies
suddenly while taping a hospital scene--but not before pointing his
finger accusingly at Trudy. When detectives view Trudy as a suspect,
she sets out on an investigation to clear her name. Then a second
death occurs, and Trudy realizes she's put herself in jeopardy.
A
new mystery from the award-winning author of the Nora Tierney English
Mystery Series, DEATH UNSCRIPTED is based on the authors' real work
experience during her nursing career and is the mystery series
British Queen of Crime P. D. James insisted she write. A mix of
amateur sleuth and police procedural, the story is told in first
person from Trudy's point of view, and in third from NYPD Detective
Ned O'Malley
Marilyn Chris, Obie and Drama Desk
Award-winning actor who played Wanda Wolek on ABC's soap "One
Life to Live" notes: "Graff gets behind the scenes of soaps
just right, as well she should--she was there!"
Edith
Maxell, national bestselling author of multiple mystery series says:
"Your blood pressure will soar during M. K. Graff's new
Manhattan Mystery, as nurse Trudy Genova takes the pulse of a killer
during a soap opera filming in Death Unscripted. You won't even think
about changing the channel during this smart, suspenseful
mystery."
And Triss Stein, author of the Erica Donato
Mysteries, has this to say: "Soap opera drama is as intense on
the set as it is on the screen. Sometimes Trudy Genova, consulting
nurse, feels like the only sane person in the room. Join her as she
copes with huge ego, daily melodrama, an attractive detective, and
life in New York . . . plus murder. The city and the studio provide
intriguing backgrounds for this entertaining mystery."
Helen
Smith, UK author of the The Emily Castle Mysteries, agrees that Death
Unscripted is "an engaging story featuring a charming amateur
sleuth. A great start to a mystery series."
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Death in the Orchard excerpt for Maia:
I
relaxed as Ned O’Malley drove us north to my childhood home. We’d never been
alone for an extended period, and the week stretched ahead of us. I fully
intended to cash in on that end of the situation as we navigated the early days
of cementing our relationship.
This
was an important trip home for me. I was excited to be at my sister-in-law’s
baby shower, the prompt for the visit; introducing Ned to my family was part of
it, too, as only my mom had met him the previous spring when I’d been injured
during the case where we met at the movie studio where I worked as a nurse
consultant. Those were great reasons for a visit, but not the ones that worried
me. After I’d made a habit of involving myself in Ned’s last two cases, I
needed him to help me solve mine.
Ned
changed lanes and when he caught my eye, he winked. I smiled back, feeling a
zing of attraction in the pit of my stomach. I took a deep breath and tried to
relax.
“Anxious
about going home?” he asked.
I
gathered my thoughts. “It’s always bittersweet for me. When I’m away in the Big
Apple, I miss my family, but being home . . .”
“Brings
back the pain of your father’s death,” he finished.
“Even
more than that, Ned. Everyone else seems to have accepted that day as a tragic
accident, but to me, the circumstances stink to high heaven.” I was convinced
there was far more to be unearthed. I’d decided not to tell my mother or my
brothers I had enlisted Ned to figure out what had happened until we’d found
something worth telling.
But
that decision meant part of me was terrified. I was opening a can of worms I
wouldn’t be able to close if the outcome of our investigation proved less than
favorable toward the father I’d admired. He wasn’t perfect, but he’d been a
great dad to us. I couldn’t understand why his body had been found at our
town’s abandoned railroad depot; nor why he’d closed out my parents’ retirement
and saving accounts, with the money never found. It had certainly not made
sense to me then and still didn’t now.
I
knew I was taking a big risk, but this had gnawed away at me for the past
eleven years, and I needed to find the truth, no matter where it took me. I
would need to walk a fine line with my family while keeping what we were doing
under wraps at first.
But
after this baby shower tomorrow, I’d start working to find the resolution to
the questions that had plagued me for the past years.
And
then all bets were off.
Dru Ann Love:
A DAY IN MY LIFE: TRUDY GENOVA For April 2024
“CUT! That’s a wrap!” With a loud
thunk, the Klieg lights dim and I pick my way over heavy cables by the
remaining dim light and follow the cast and crew out the studio door., eyes
blinking after the darkness inside.
My
name is Trudy Genova, RN, and my work as a medical consultant for a New York movie
studio is over for this week. I feel like a puppy who’s found the gate left
open, freedom beckoning, as I’m cut loose for a week’s vacation with my
boyfriend, NYPD detective Ned O’Malley.
This
job is any nurse’s dream. I wear jeans to work, no one is puking on my shoes,
and best of all, no one is really ill or dying. Of course, there were those
murders last spring at the soap opera, but I helped Ned to figure that out,
despite his annoyance at me insinuating myself into his investigation. And then
there was the case earlier this month at the Dakota building, where we filmed a
made-for-TV movie and an actor was killed. By then, Ned was reconsidering my
ability to figure out human nature and unravel puzzles as we started our
relationship. I guess I do have a nose for murder, but that’s a good thing for
someone who has always read and adored crime fiction, and now plans to write
her own mystery.
The
perks of this job include days when there’s not a medical scene filming, and I can
lounge at home in my yoga pants. I may have to correct script pages of medical
scenes the studio faxes over, but this schedule gives me plenty of time to work
on my NYU course and fledgling writing.
Today is very different,
when reality will supplant my fictional world. I run to the production office
to pick up my rolling suitcase, backpack, and laptop bag, then rush outside to
wait for Ned to pick me up. I have ten days off and we are heading north to my
family home in the Catskills on an apple orchard, ostensibly for him to meet my
family. My oldest brother and his wife are expecting their first baby, and
there will be a shower to attend before Ned and I knuckle down to the bigger
reason I’ve asked him to come home with me: I want to finally find out what
really happened when my father died eleven years ago.
It
was deemed an accident at the time, but there are circumstances around it that
have never been explained, including my father draining my parents’ pension
fund, with the money never found. I’ve always felt deep down that my father was
murdered, but I have no idea if either of my brothers or my mom feel the same
way.
All I do know is
that it’s time for me to dig deeply into Mario Genova’s death, whether my
family is happy about resurrecting the past or not. At least I’ll have Ned and
his expertise at my side. What could possibly go wrong?
Marni Graff is the award-winning author of The Nora Tierney English Mysteries and The Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries. Her stories are in several anthologies, including the Anthony Award-winning Malice Domestic’s Murder Most Edible. She is Managing Editor of Bridle Path Press, a crime book reviewer, and blogs for Miss Demeanors. Graff is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mavens of Mayhem SinC, Triangle SinC, Mystery People UK, and the International Association of Crime Writers. She lives in eastern NC with her husband and two Aussiedoodles.
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The excerpt sounds intriguing. I would enjoy reading this one.
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