Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Love and Death in Burgundy
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://susancshea.com/
CITY: Marin County
STATE: CA
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://us.macmillan.com/author/susancshea/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Queen’s College, B.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Susan Shea Associates, consultant, 1991-2000; Institute of Human Origins, executive director, 1994-99; Santa Clara University, director of communications and marketing, 2000-06.
MEMBER:Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, past president of the Northern California chapter.
WRITINGS
Criminal Minds, blogger.
SIDELIGHTS
Susan C. Shea is writer of the “Dani O’Rourke Mysteries” and the “French Village Mysteries” series and is a member of Mystery Writers of America. She is past president of the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime, secretary of the national Sisters in Crime board, and blogger on Criminal Minds. Previously, Shea was an executive for nonprofit companies for more than twenty-five years and has worked as a consultant for universities, arts organizations, and a science institute. She has directed communications, public relations, fund-raising, and marketing programs. In 2006 she turned to writing full time.
Shea’s first book in the “Dani O’Rourke Mysteries” series is the 2010 Murder in the Abstract. In the story, Danielle O’Rourke is organizing the gala fund-raiser for the Devor Museum and cozying up to million-dollar donors. Tragedy strikes when young artist and potential boyfriend Clinton Maslow falls to his death. The incident was obviously murder, not suicide, and the location of the fall was from O’Rourke’s office window. In an effort to clear herself of the murder and find a motive for killing Maslow, she must work with her playboy ex-husband, a handsome detective, and her plucky best friend. Shea takes the reader through the cutthroat high end art scene in San Francisco and Santa Fe.
Although the book contains all the necessary tired elements of a mystery story, “there’s an unexpected originality to Murder in the Abstract that’s quite refreshing,” according to a contributor online at Mysterious Reviews. “Certainly the art world setting helps, with its own cast of unusual, if not eccentric, characters.” The contributor also praised Shea for her creative writing style, flowing prose, colorful descriptions, and balance of character description and plot. In Booklist, Judy Coon also complimented the writing, saying: “Shea writes convincingly about art and those who collect it.”
The second story featuring Dani O’Rourke, The King’s Jar, finds Dani searching for the killer of a renowned archaeologist. The San Francisco Museum, where Dani works as chief fund-raiser, has just received a donation of the King’s Jar, a two-foot-tall priceless African urn, from billionaire Fritz McBeel. The annoying archaeologist and scholar Rene Bouvier was chosen to authenticate the urn, but someone killed Bouvier, and there is no shortage of people who despised him. Dani maneuvers her way around wealthy patrons, big egos, museum politics, and an amorous detective to find Bouvier’s killer.
Teresa L. Jacobsen commented in Library Journal that “this San Francisco-based cozy is fresh, fast-paced, and great fun” and that Shea’s addition of professional and personal quirks to her characters was well done. In addition to contrasting characters like wealthy art patrons and eccentric scientists, the book contains “a layered, smart, surprising plot, which contains elements of a locked-door puzzle,” noted reviewer Amy Alessio in Booklist. In a mixed review, a contributor to Kirkus Reviews called the book “wickedly funny about professional fundraising; very arch about chubbiness and romance; and labored in its attempts to make all the plot holes disappear.”
Shea next wrote Mixed Up with Murder. The third book in the series finds art world fund-raiser Dani O’Rourke traveling to the East Coast for a short consulting assignment to assist Lynthorpe College in Bridgetown, Massachusetts, with a large endowment. The donor of the large sum of money, school alumnus Vincent Margoletti, has some strange restrictions that raise red flags for Dani, who has not yet had time to vet the donation. Soon, the college’s vice president drowns on a golf course, and Dani has been once again plunged into the middle of a murder mystery.
Diverting from Dani O’Rourke, Shea started a new series with the 2017 mystery Love & Death in Burgundy, the first in her “French Village Mysteries.” Katherine Goff is an insecure expat living in the small French village of Reigny-sur-Canne. She desperately wants to be accepted by her community, so she tries to get to know the eclectic mix of villagers. She becomes more involved than she intended when obstinate elderly chateau owner Albert Bellegarde is found dead, supposedly from a fall down his steep staircase. The gossip is flying around town about possible suspects, such as the homeless teenage thief, malicious widow, American music promoter, and even Nazi gypsies. “The outlandish antics of the eccentric locals add to the humor,” said Lesa Holstine in Library Journal.
Writing in Booklist, Sue O’Brien commented: “This leisurely paced story channels a Miss Marple-like investigation,” and Shea immerses the reader in Katherine’s attempts to be accepted in an insular French village. Shea offers up “a new character-driven series with an amusing portrait of life in a tiny French town that turns out to be integral to solving what may or may not be a murder,” according to a Kirkus Reviews writer. A Publishers Weekly reviewer said that “Francophiles will welcome this cozy series launch from Shea” and added that Shea provides a “surprising and satisfactory denouement.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, May 1, 2010, Judy Coon, review of Murder in the Abstract, p. 41; April 15, 2013, Amy Alessio, review of The King’s Jar, p. 23; March 15, 2017, Sue O’Brien, review of Love & Death in Burgundy, p. 23.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2013, review of The King’s Jar; March 1, 2017, review of Love & Death in Burgundy.
Library Journal, April 1, 2013, Teresa L. Jacobsen, review of The King’s Jar, p. 65; April 1, 2017, Lesa Holstine, review of Love & Death in Burgundy, p. 64.
Publishers Weekly, March 6, 2017, review of Love & Death in Burgundy, p. 41.
ONLINE
Mysterious Reviews, http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/ (2010), review of Murder in the Abstract.
Susan C. Shea Website, http://susancshea.com/ (November 21, 2017).
SUSAN C. SHEA
Susan C. Shea
Cheshire Issacs
SUSAN C. SHEA spent more than two decades as a non-profit executive before beginning her career as a mystery author. Susan is past-president of the northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime and secretary of the national SinC board, a member of MWA, and blogs on CriminalMinds. She is also the author of the Dani O’Rourke mystery series. Susan lives in Marin County, California and travels to France as often as she can.
About Susan
Susan SheaSusan Shea spent more than two decades as a non-profit executive before beginning her critically praised mystery series featuring a professional fundraiser for a fictional museum. In 2017, she will debut a new mystery series set in France, for St. Martin’s Minotaur Books. She’s a regular on 7 Criminal Minds blog, is secretary of the national Sisters in Crime board, on the board of the Northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime and is a member of Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Marin County, California.
Love & Death in Burgundy
Sue O'Brien
Booklist.
113.14 (Mar. 15, 2017): p23.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Love & Death in Burgundy.
By Susan C. Shea.
May 2017. 288p. Minotaur, $24.99 (9781250113009).
Expat artist Katherine Goff is desperate to be accepted by the residents of Reigny-sur-Canne, located in the Burgundy
region of France. Her husband, Michael, still nursing an old grudge against his former bandmates, is now working with
an American singing star and her producer husband, which may lead to the success he craves. The quiet town is thrown
into an uproar when the unlikable Albert Bellegarde is found dead on a steep staircase in his chateau. Was it an accident
or murder? If the latter, there is no shortage of suspects: men from his checkered past, his daughter's former suitor, an
American record producer, and even Nazis or gypsies. Listening to the village gossips, Katherine forms her theory,
while also trying to save her young friend, Jeannette, a sly teen, from a thieving family. This leisurely paced story
channels a Miss Marple-like investigation and immerses the reader in the life of an American woman trying to fit into
an insular French village.--Sue O'Brien
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
O'Brien, Sue. "Love & Death in Burgundy." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2017, p. 23. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA490998441&it=r&asid=05ab20a98eddbac20620799621d1b87a.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490998441
10/22/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508713753783 2/6
Love and Death in Burgundy
Publishers Weekly.
264.10 (Mar. 6, 2017): p41.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Love and Death in Burgundy
Susan C. Shea. Minotaur, $24.99 (288p)
ISBN 978-1-250-11300-9
Francophiles will welcome this cozy series launch from Shea (Mixed Up with Murder). Artist Katherine Goff and her
failed rock-star husband, Michael, have bought an old farmhouse in Reigny-sur-Canne, which is "hardly more than a
crossroads in Burgundy's famous landscape of pastures and grapevine-planted terroirs on rolling hills." One of their
neighbors is a record producer, and Michael hopes for a second chance at a platinum record and concert tout.
Meanwhile, Albert Bellegarde, the German-born husband of the local chateau's owner, dies in a fall down the chateau's
back stairs. Everyone assumes it was an accident, but the French police aren't forthcoming, and acrimony between one
of Katherine's best French friends and the dead man makes her wonder. Her role as organizer of the village fete in honor
of the Feast of the Assumption and the upcoming show of her paintings in a nearby town leave little time for sleuthing.
Nonetheless, Katherine uncovers important information that helps to resolve the mystery in the surprising and
satisfactory denouement. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Associates. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Love and Death in Burgundy." Publishers Weekly, 6 Mar. 2017, p. 41. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA484973633&it=r&asid=58d41fee06faf3da5c82a046f25128f2.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A484973633
10/22/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1508713753783 3/6
Shea, Susan C.: LOVE & DEATH IN
BURGUNDY
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 1, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Shea, Susan C. LOVE & DEATH IN BURGUNDY Minotaur (Adult Fiction) $24.99 5, 2 ISBN: 978-1-250-11300-9
A woman desperate to fit into her community is given her chance by the death of a man with a past.Michael Goff lost
his shot to become a rock star when his band members dumped him while stealing his songs. Now he lives with his
wife, Katherine, in the insular Burgundy town of Reigny-sur-Canne. A lump-sum payment from the band has barely
given the couple enough to live on, and after three years Katherine still lacks any real local friends. So she hopes her
plan to run the town's annual festival will help her overcome the long memories and suspicions of local doyen Madame
Pomfort and her followers. Unfortunately, the luncheon Katherine gives for local ladies is spoiled when the wealthy
Albert Bellegarde smashes a plate over the head of Yves, a local bookseller who'd recently dumped his daughter. When
Albert is found dead at the foot of a steep flight of stairs, his wife, Adele, calls Katherine, asking for help until her
daughter arrives from Paris. The police investigation, much longer than it might be for a simple accident, sets tongues
wagging. Meanwhile, Michael wonders whether he should try reviving his career by making an album and touring with
Betty Lou Holliday, a famous American country singer whose own career could use a jump start. J.B., Betty Lou's
husband and manager, is set on having Michael record with her. Katherine is a mother figure to Jeannette, a young local
woman, whose father is a known thief. Jeannette is adept at snooping around the neighborhood and is not above
stealing Katherine's silver spoons herself. Although solving the death is at the top of Katherine's agenda, she must do so
to protect Jeannette and perhaps gain the village's acceptance. Shea (The King's Jar, 2013, etc.) kicks off a new
character-driven series with an amusing portrait of life in a tiny French town that turns out to be integral to solving what
may or may not be a murder.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Shea, Susan C.: LOVE & DEATH IN BURGUNDY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2017. General OneFile,
go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA482911780&it=r&asid=4f1c8c56f6b68f037d7adc92c01c85bf.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A482911780
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The King's Jar
Amy Alessio
Booklist.
109.16 (Apr. 15, 2013): p23.
COPYRIGHT 2013 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
The King's Jar.
By Susan C, Shea.
May 2013. 288p. Top Five, paper, $14 (9781938938047).
Museum fund-raiser Dani O'Rourke is excited about a new exhibit at her San Francisco museum that will feature the
recently acquired King's Jar, a legendary African artifact. Then the antiquities expert last seen with the jar is murdered,
and the artifact goes missing, leaving Dani to find out who would have the most to gain from its disappearance. Two
donors, Jamie and Fritz, give Dani contradictory messages about the jar and who owns it. Another murder prompts
concern that the jar may have been obtained illegally. The museum setting and the detailed information on how art is
acquired contribute as much to the appeal here as does the mystery itself. The contrasting characters, from wealthy art
patrons and eccentric scientists to determined museum staff, add intrigue to a layered, smart, surprising plot, which
contains elements of a locked-door puzzle.--Amy Alessio
Alessio, Amy
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Alessio, Amy. "The King's Jar." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2013, p. 23. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA327988409&it=r&asid=73bd45055ed370d8bd0daa0456de80c2.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A327988409
10/22/2017 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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Shea, Susan C.: THE KING'S JAR
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 15, 2013):
COPYRIGHT 2013 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Shea, Susan C. THE KING'S JAR Top Five Books (Adult Fiction) $14.00 5, 1 ISBN: 978-1-938938-04-7
A green-eyed detective, an overly protective, rich ex-husband and a dashing TV celebrity compete for smart-mouthed,
foolhardy Dani O'Rourke's attention. Cadging funds to underwrite the Devor Museum's new installation to house the
King's Jar, a 2-foot-tall sub-Saharan African antiquity found in Kenobia and donated to the San Francisco museum by
billionaire Fritz McBeel, falls to staffer Dani O'Rourke. As she's juggling plans for a gala dinner at New York's posh
Pilgrim Club for wealthy and politically connected dignitaries while soothing the curator's catalogue challenges, a
terrible tragedy occurs: The King's Jar goes missing from the vault it had been stored in at Warefield University. Almost
as dreadful, if rather less mourned, scholar Rene Bouvier, who'd been charged with overseeing the safety of the artifact,
lies bashed to death in his university lab. Stepping up to find the jar and the killer, Dani is stymied by conflicting
directives from McBeel and his second wife, Jamie, who disagree on whom the jar belongs to, a matter further
complicated when Kenobia's ambassador, Keile Obarri, seems to threaten Jamie and argue with Fritz at the Pilgrim
Club. Then Dani finds Jamie strangled in her tony office. Instead of high-tailing it out of the place and calling the cops,
she pockets a key and a note partially hidden under Jamie's body. The green-eyed detective warns her to behave. Her
ex-hubby rushes back from the Bahamas to protect her. The television celebrity seals his lies with a kiss. Lawyers, a
former wife, and rumors about life, death and bribes in Kenobia will surface before Dani can curl up with her cat,
Fever, for a restorative nap. Like Murder in the Abstract (2010): wickedly funny about professional fundraising; very
arch about chubbiness and romance; and labored in its attempts to make all the plot holes disappear.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Shea, Susan C.: THE KING'S JAR." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2013. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA322002910&it=r&asid=53064fb27f7da14948882ff43b0a37e5.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A322002910
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Murder in the Abstract
Judy Coon
Booklist.
106.17 (May 1, 2010): p41.
COPYRIGHT 2010 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
Murder in the Abstract.
By Susan C. Shea.
June 2010. 272p. Avalon, $23.95 (9780803477681).
Shea's debut mystery stars Danielle "Dani" O'Rourke, a fund-raiser for the fictional Devor Museum in San Francisco.
The novel begins with tragedy at a gala museum event--an upcoming artist plunges to his death from a museum office
window. Things don't look good for Dani when it is revealed that it was her office and that this was clearly murder and
not suicide. As Dani tries to figure out who might have had a motive for the murder, readers are treated to an insider's
look at the cutthroat, money-driven world of fine art. Shea writes convincingly about art and those who collect it. A
series to watch.--Judy Coon
Coon, Judy
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Coon, Judy. "Murder in the Abstract." Booklist, 1 May 2010, p. 41. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?
p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA226160960&it=r&asid=4a49fd6a042e14394bd827de25256274.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A226160960
Jacobsen, Teresa L.
Library Journal. 4/1/2013, Vol. 138 Issue 6, p65. 1p.
*MURDER investigation
*FICTION
*ARCHAEOLOGICAL thefts
KING'S Jar: A Dani O'Rourke Mystery, The (Book)
The article reviews the book "The King's Jar: A Dani O'Rourke Mystery" by Susan C. Shea.
Emotions are running high at San Francisco's Devor Museum due to the upcoming exhibition of the King's Jar, a rare African artifact. Then, the archeologist most closely attached to the artifact is murdered and the urn goes missing. Dani O'Rourke (Murder in the Abstract), chief museum fundraiser, had heard the late professor bad-mouth another one of the exhibition's key players, and she wonders if the antipathy was mutual. Damage control goes into overdrive as the museum hunts for the urn and the police hunt down a killer. Mix in an eccentric graduate student and some narcissistic socialites, and Dani has her hands full. She's already feeling a little vulnerable when she stumbles over the next victim. VERDICT This San Francisco-based cozy is fresh, fast-paced, and great fun. Shea's characters' professional and personal foibles are done especially well. Just right for fans of Kate Carlisle, Sheila Connelly, and Maggie Barbieri.
~~~~~~~~
By Teresa L. Jacobsen
Holstine, Lesa
Library Journal. 4/1/2017, Vol. 142 Issue 6, p64-64. 1/7p.
Book Review
LOVE & Death in Burgundy (Book)
SHEA, Susan C.
Katherine Goff is an insecure American expat living in Reigny-sur-Canne, a small village in France’s Burgundy region. Desperate to be accepted by her neighbors, she tirelessly inserts herself into local activities. But, it’s the death of the aged chateau owner that stirs up conversation. The official line is that the old man just slipped on the stairs, but as the investigation goes on, rumors fly: Albert was killed by Nazi assassins, tourists, or vagabonds. While Katherine wants to quash the gossip, the teen daughter of the town thief not only spies on everyone, she also holds the key to the secrets behind the old man’s death. VERDICT Shea (Mixed Up with Murder) launches a cozy series that richly details life in a small French village. The outlandish antics of the eccentric locals add to the humor. Suggest to fans of Rhys Bowen’s early “Evan Evans” series for the humor, the characters, and the charming setting.—LH
Murder in the Abstract
A Dani O'Rourke Mystery by Susan C. Shea
Murder in the Abstract by Susan C. Shea
Review: Susan C. Shea introduces San Francisco museum fund-raiser Danielle "Dani" O'Rourke, who is the center of attention after the body of an up-and-coming artist falls from her fifth floor office window, in Murder in the Abstract.
The Devor Museum of Arts and Antiquities is hosting a gala when Clinton Maslow is found on the pavement outside, having fallen to his death. Dani realizes in horror that it's her office from which he fell … and to make matters worse, the two had previously dated and Maslow had a note in his pocket from Dani asking him to meet her. The police don't necessarily suspect Dani — she was nowhere near her office when Maslow fell and there's no obvious indication of murder … yet — but she's clearly a person of interest in the case. When other evidence surfaces that implicates Dani in Maslow's death, she becomes suspect number one, and takes matters into her own hands to clear her name.
Despite the formulaic approach taken by the author in staging her book — a female protagonist being framed for murder, an attractive wealthy "social lion" ex-husband who's still in the picture, a good-looking and available detective who would rather be dating her than investigating her, a best friend to play off of who is largely the polar opposite of her — there's an unexpected originality to Murder in the Abstract that's quite refreshing. Certainly the art world setting helps, with its own cast of unusual, if not eccentric, characters and an abundance of motives for murder from which to choose, but mostly it's due to the creative writing style of the author, with comfortably flowing prose and colorful, easy-to-visualize descriptions of San Francisco and Santa Fe. Many authors try to accomplish too much with their debut mystery, but here there's a good balance between character introduction and development and a solidly devised straight-forward murder plot that is largely free of pointless twists, no mean feat for the first book in a series.
Acknowledgment: Susan C. Shea provided an ARC of Murder in the Abstract for this review.