Rett MacPherson Books In Order

Publication Order of Torie O'Shea Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Rett MacPherson
Rett MacPherson was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Through writing the popular “Torie O’Shea” series, she helped pioneer the subgenre of genealogical mysteries.

Rett is also a fabric and bead artist and loves cemeteries, history, wineries, and, obviously, books.

She is divorced with two cats and two daughters. Rett works as a customer service representative at a book wholesaler in St. Louis.

Rett loosely based “Sleeping the Churchyard Sleep” on her mom’s childhood. She grew up dirt poor in rural West Virginia and then contracted polio when she was just ten. From there, Olivia’s life and Rett’s mom’s life kind of fracture and become quite different. It’s more Rett’s imaginings about what her mom’s life would’ve been like if a number of things had happened.

The mystery itself came about after several conversations with her distant cousins and she wanted to try conveying this sense of wonder which comes with being on the outside looking in. the boarding house is based on the boarding house that her grandma’s family all worked at. It was a definitely inspired story and a full on love letter to her mom’s people and Rett’s own Appalachian roots.

While Rett is writing a book, she doesn’t really get writer’s block. And if she does, it’s typically due to the plot not holding together that well, and she needs to go back and examine what is going on. Typically once she starts a book, she’s good to go, assuming she made it past chapter four.

But what she does suffer from is sort of a block in between books. This can last for months. She tries reading as much as possible during these blocks, because typically that’ll help get the juices flowing. She still tries to write, even if it’s just a blog entry or some long, rambling emails to friends, as it helps keep her in the habit of making words.

Torie’s debut novel, called “Family Skeletons”, was released in the year 1997. Her work is from the cozy mystery genre.

“Family Skeletons” is the first novel in the “Torie O’Shea” series and was released in the year 1997. Norah Zumwalt, who is a local shop owner, asks Victory “Torie” O’Shea to trace her family tree, Torie never thought it would end up leading to murder. Torie is the resident tour guide of the historic German town of New Kassel, a historian, and genealogist.

Despite being overworked already, she cheerfully agrees to this job since it’s so intriguing. She’ll learn what it was that happened to Norah’s dad, who went to serve in World War II but never returned, and all his ancestors, about whom Norah knows just about nothing. As luck would have it, Torie gets pretty surprising answers quick, yet when she attempts telling Norah, she puts Torie off before vanishing.

Torie at last goes to Norah’s home to give her the news, only to find this poor woman murdered in her own home. Torie quickly realizes that she couldn’t have stumbled right onto a mystery that was more complex, not to mention one as dangerous, than the question about Norah Zumwalt’s ancestors, and just by nosing around, she’s put herself into harm’s way.

Struggling to balance this murder investigation with her own job and caring for her family is difficult enough already, but when the Mississippi floods, threatening her home and the rest of New Kassel, it might be all she can do just keeping her head above the water. Particularly if there is someone attempting to force her under.

“A Veiled Antiquity” is the second novel in the “Torie O’Shea” series and was released in the year 1998. Torie’s back at it again.

The open door at Marie Dijon’s house is a lot like an invitation to Torie, and her own curiosity gets the better of her. It isn’t her fault, right? She just happens to be around when Marie is discovered crumpled at the foot of her basement stairs, still in her pajamas. Did Marie truly trip and fall, or is it possible that she was pushed? Marie was just a newcomer to small New Kassel, so no one seems to be all that interested.

However when Torie hears about Marie’s odd will, she can’t resist doing a bit of amateur sleuthing, try as she might. However, at this point, she’s gone much too far. Between figuring out what truly happened and keeping up with her hectic life: her marriage, her kids, her job at the historical society, and her mother’s developing relationship with the sheriff, who is never a nosy amateur’s favorite person in the world, she is in way, way over her head.

“Sleeping the Churchyard Sleep” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2014. Olivia, isolated in a tiny community in 1950s Virginia, knows that her life is always going to be limited and predictable, being struck down with polio has assured her of that. However that was before this stranger walked into town.

Jeb McDowell is a man with a rather tragic past that is faced with an even more tragic present. When he gets murdered, the whole town becomes complicit in hiding an old crime. Olivia needs every ounce of courage that she can summon up to face down this killer in her community, and bring one old injustice to light before she sleeps the churchyard sleep, too.

“Strange Bedfellows” is the second stand alone novel and was released in the year 2021. Emma Gordon is a rolling stone with more crazy adventures under her belt than she’s able to count. Now she is after the craziest thing of all time: the one person in her life that she has never known: her dad. Emma, armed with some DNA kits, heads off to Minnesota where she collects some stray animals and suspected dads like a lint roller.

However there is this one resident in Quail Bottom, Minnesota, who’s suspicious of her intentions, and that is the sexy horse breeder across the road, named Clancy Stephens. It doesn’t take too long before sparks fly between these neighbors, however they may need the matchmaking skills of Clancy’s horse Roy in order to seal this deal. However even with Roy’s help, is Emma going to find true love under the Northern Lights?