The Secret Staircase is the third Victorian Village cozy by Sheila Connolly. Released 21st Aug 2021 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 304 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is an appealing small town cozy mystery with a small (easy to keep track of) ensemble cast. The usual eccentric characters are present along with a historic mansion renovation as part of a Victorian living history village along the same lines as Williamsburg or Jamestown. When an unexpected long dead skeleton is found hidden in an unused area of the mansion, the ensuing long ago murder mystery threatens modern day dangerous repercussions. The pool of suspects is small, and although the denouement and resolution are fairly easy to guess beforehand, they're well written and mostly satisfying. Even though it's the third book in the series, it works perfectly well as a standalone. The language is clean, there's a strong romance element, and little on-page violence.

This would be a good choice for lovers of light cozies. There are some potentially triggering plot elements including death of a child, infertility and loss, and threatened rape.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

Kate Hamilton is trying to get the Barton Mansion fixed so that people can come and tour the old home. She thinks that she is good when she finds a carpenter but then a body is found in the old staircase. Who is the person and how did they die?
This is the third book in the series. I found it to be good.

I really enjoyed this. I want to point out that just because the series title is “Victorian Village Mysteries” this is not a story set in Victorian times. It is instead a series set around Victorian homes and other types of real estate from that era. This was much more appealing to me. To begin with the idea of having an historic old house to restore to its glory for a town was a little different from your basic cozy mystery. The other thing I enjoyed was that while there were police, the constant bickering between police and an amateur sleuth didn’t exist here. Kate wasn’t even an amateur sleuth except in research. Just an overall good story.
Sheila Connolly has several books published. All have good reviews. I hope there will be a Book 4 of this series.

This one is my favorite in this series as I feel that it is just getting better. I had never thought how a 'Victorian Village' would be created, how the funds would be acquired and all of the steps that it would take.

These characters and their relationships are still developing and I look forward to seeing where they go in the next book. The mystery and how it was solved started a bit slow which I think is a bit typical of solving a mystery that happened over one hundred years ago.

I'm looking forward to the next one in the series.

The Secret Staircase is the third book in the Victorian Village Mystery Series.

Kate Hamilton plans to revitalize her hometown, Asheboro, MD, into a victorian themed town are in progress. along. She has decided to renovate the mansion of Henry Barton first. Her plans are first to bring the home up to code and improvements to the kitchen to hold events for groups. She is trying to find a contractor who will respect the historic building. She ends up hiring Morgan Wheeler. Morgan inspects the kitchen and feels that the room is off, and that there is a wall that might have been added to the original floor plan. He suspects that the wall covers a servant staircase. To verify, Morgan gets a scope and makes a small hole in the wall. He finds a staircase, but also a body lying at the bottom. Kate calls in Detective Reynolds. It would appear that the body has been in the wall since the 1880's, which is the last time the mansion had been remodeled.

When Carroll Peterson, who’s been researching the life of Barton and cataloging his papers, arrives, Kate asks her to look for anything that might identify the body. Meanwhile, an electrician arrives to work on wiring updates. He finds a loose floorboard. It turns out that Mrs. Barton had hid a diary there. Next, a body is found at the foot of the basement stairs- this one turns out to be a contractor that Kate decided not to hire.

Lots of action and well-written. I have not read the previous books yet, but will be going back to read those as I enjoyed this story so much.

Although this is only the third book in the Victorian Village Mysteries, with the death of its author, Sheila Connolly, it will probably be the last. Her daughter finished this one for her and did a wonderful job making the story seamless. In this story, Kate Hamilton is feeling good about her plans to recreate Asheboro, Maryland as the Victorian village it once was. She has some financial backing (you need to read the second book to find out why) and is working on renovating the Barton Mansion. She wants it to look like a Victorian home, but knows that the plumbing and electrical need to be brought up to code. She is meeting with construction crews to get some information, when one of them finds a hidden staircase in the kitchen. They also find a body in the staircase. Solving the cold case is not a priority, but, it will help the mansion and the recreation of the village if the mystery is solved. When a second body turns up in the mansion, this one more recent, the backers get a bit antsy. Can Kate continue with her work as well as help to find out what is happening?

Once again, Kate and her friends are sorting through papers to find out the history of the Barton family and the mansion. As they discover new information, the identity of the older victim is uncovered as well as the why and who of the recent one. I am a huge history buff, so I enjoy the fact that they are uncovering the past and bringing it to light. The characters we meet in this story are both unlikable and likable. They are realistic in their attitudes and work ethic. I was a bit worried about Kate's and Josh's relationship, but by the end we get an answer to what is happening. This is an interesting story with a good mystery (both of them) and great characters. The ending does tie up the series nicely and I was happy with the way it ended.

Kate has returned to her hometown of Asheboro, Maryland to lead the Asheboro Revitalization Project. One big focus is the mansion left to the town by Henry Barton when he died in 1911. It’s a very large Victorian mansion that has not been lived in since Mr. Barton died. Now, the town wants to restore it and use it for civic events.

Kate has her friend, Carroll, and boyfriend, Josh, helping her. She wants to focus on the kitchen first and interviews some contractors. One realizes that a kitchen wall is oddly shaped and using a camera placed into the wall, discovers a dead body at the end of a hidden staircase. Looks like the body has been there for a long time.

I believe this is the first book I have read by this author and I must say that I enjoyed it immensely. The story is compelling and the characters are well-crafted. I learned so much about the Victorian time period as it related to the home. I was impressed with the intricate work done to investigate the history of the Barton family. There was some sadness but I was proud of the “decision” made in the end. Yes, that is a cryptic remark but so meaningful, and thus my way of teasing readers into checking out this book. It’s nice and wholesome too!

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is the third release in the outstanding "Victoria Village Mysteries" series by cozy author Sheila Connolly. The author is one of my favorite cozy authors and I was pleased to receive this for review. I highly recommend this series. Sadly the author has passed away and this is her last book assisted by her daughter. All of us in the cozy community are deeply saddened by her passing. Sheila Connelly was a masterful storyteller and a author I will always treasure.

In this third in series our protagnist Kate is rapidly moving forward with her plans to renovate the town into the Victorian village it once was. She has the financing and approvals and begins work on a mansion that is part of the long awaited project. The Barton mansion is going to be used to host events when the renovation is complete. when a body is found in the wall kate becomes involved in the murder and wants to solve this mysterious mystery from the 1800's. When a present day murder occurs Kate is sure the two may be connected by circumstance involving long ago town history.

I like Kate as a savvy smart protagnist . The supporting charcters are delightful and the setting of a small town converted to a Victorian village is wonderful. This is a wonderful way to leave the series . I highly recommend this next in series for your reading enjoyment.

Sheila Connolly’s third Victorian Village mystery, set in the fictional town of Asheboro, Maryland, straddles a fine line between the past and the present. The town fathers and mothers asked Kate Hamilton to come home to save Asheboro from bankruptcy. She has made a worthy start in achieving her lofty goal to return Asheboro to the Victorian village it once was. To understand Kate’s mission, consider Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, “an 1830s New England Living History Museum.” Kate’s newest project is the restoration of the stately Barton Mansion, once the home of Henry Barton. Other than the kitchen, the mansion is in pretty good shape. To succeed, Kate must ensure she has generous long-term funding for her re-creations, which translates into wine and dine her donors.

It was a perfectly preserved Victorian kitchen, but what would it really take to make it work? Could the antique spirit be preserved if all the pieces actually had to function? Would it be worth the expense, or should I just find a good caterer and let them bring everything in themselves? I realized that caterers would still need an electrical supply for some elements of their work, and running water was a basic sanitation concern. And then, if there was a bar—which would certainly facilitate the writing of generous checks—there would have to be ice, and a way to keep wine cold . . .

It seems her decision has been made. Kate needs a competent contractor who will respect the integrity of a pristine Victorian kitchen. Unexpectedly, the contractor Kate hopes to hire discovers a secret staircase in the kitchen—and inside the staircase is a body. This is not the smooth kick-off to construction Kate needs. Due to earlier encounters with dead bodies (Murder at the Mansion and Killer at the Carriage House), Kate knows local Detective Brady Reynolds rather too well. She shares her theories with Reynolds—might the man have died in a fall?

“But then somebody walled him in. I’m guessing the kitchen was remodeled about 1880, based on the utilities, so if he got walled in, he had to have died around then. And that is the sum and total of what I know.”



“I can’t speculate on the circumstances without examining the scene. Who did you say was with you there?”



“Morgan Wheeler, the contractor.” I realized I hadn’t actually offered Morgan the job, and we had barely talked about it, before this interruption. I’d need some time to think, which was in short supply at this moment. “A potential contractor, I mean. I interviewed two others today, but they didn’t comment on the state of the wall. So . . . now what?”



“It’s an unexplained death, so we have to investigate. We’ll try to identify the man. That might not easy, if the body’s from the Victorian era.”

Kate reassures Brady that it’s not Henry Barton, who didn’t die until 1911. The police autopsy results show that the man was murdered and that he died around the time of the 1880 kitchen renovation. That puts a damper on Kate’s project.

A conversation with Frances Carter, the doyenne of the Asheboro Gazette, gives Kate a perspective on the town that she had been lacking. When Kate tells Frances she’s looking for Morgan Wheeler to lead the kitchen renovation, Frances says she thinks she knows him.

“You do? Wow, small world.”



“You might think so, dear. But keep in mind, young people of your generation and a bit older have been moving away from this area in droves, finding work elsewhere, never coming back. But before that? Folks stayed put.”

Not only did folks stay put, but “memories are long in quiet places—old loves, old feuds, they tend to get handed down through generations.” How disquieting, thinks Kate, but she moves on to asking questions about Henry Barton and his wife Mary.

Morgan Wheeler assembles an experienced local crew to do the renovation but there’s tension. Plumber Steve Abernathy, a man with a “lizard smile,” rubs Kate the wrong way from the get-go. Steve is abrasive with Morgan and electrician Bethany Wallace tells Kate that Steve is in her space, making her feel uncomfortable, even stalked. Kate worries Steve will venture into parts of the mansion that are not in his purview: does she need to lock down the silver? She calls him on it early one morning when she runs into him in the kitchen.

“Steve, what are you doing here? And how did you get in?” I reminded myself to talk with Morgan about access for the workers; I had given him a set of keys for when we started work, but I didn’t want people just wandering in at will.



Steve snorted. “I grew up around here—I know the back ways. Could be you know them too, if you went to school in town.” His face formed a smile that was part snarl. Was he trying to mock me? And what did he mean exactly?

After Steve turns up dead in the kitchen basement—murdered according to the police—Kate wonders if the present-day difficulties in the contracting crew have a long tail—one going back generations. Is she putting herself and others in danger by digging up the past?

The Secret Staircase will appeal to fans of the venerable This Old House show and the newest HGTV sensation Cheap Old Houses. Enjoy all the magic of historic renovation with none of the dust and bills.

There’s an elegiac tone to The Secret Staircase, a recognition that the past has its ways of impacting the present. Sadly, Sheila Connolly passed away in the spring of 2020. May her memory be eternal and her books be treasured.

This is book 3 in the Victorian Village Mysteries and it can be read as a stand alone. Kate is renovating an old mansion as step 1 in the plans to revitalize Asheboro, Md. She's been hired to bring tourist back and help the small town return to a tourist destination. when the contractor finds a long dead body in a sealed off stairway the town is abuzz to find out who it was. When a body is discovered in the house the freshly dead , Kate is worried someone is sabotaging her project. While reading some old diaries they piece together the past with the present and solve some of the crimes. A good story with lots of opportunities for more books. I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the chance to read an early copy of this book!

I haven't read the previous books in Victorian Village Mysteries; maybe if I had, I would understand our heroine's passion for this house and the town but I didn't really get why this was so important to her. I also didn't really get the structure--this is not so much of a whodunit as much as we discover things along the way at the same time as our heroine, which could be refreshing or frustrating depending on each reader. Ultimately this is a fine cozy, but wasn't engaging enough for me to read others in the series.

Princess Fuzzypants here: I truly enjoy the mysteries where someone is researching history to find the answers to a modern day question. And no one does it better than this author. I have enjoyed so many of her books and this is no exception. Kate has accepted the challenge of managing the renovation of the somewhat decrepit Barton Manor so that it can become a living history museum. It is a ponderous job and the first thing she must do is find the right workmen to handle the job without ruining they authenticity of the beautiful Victorian.

After a shaky start, she finds Morgan who seems to be the perfect person to work as contractor. She does have some reservations about a couple of his sub-contractors but first she needs to get clearance to begin. It seems when she and Mason were looking at the kitchen, he discovers a desiccated body behind a wall. Who is this long dead person and how did he get there? It is going to be a long haul to discover his identity and his connection to a number of other people who are now involved in the project.

It will require some extra luck to find a hidden source of information and sadly another death before the entire story is revealed. It is a fascinating story that tells a poignant tale of life in the late 19th Century, where even those who had so much, could lose it all. The reader feels like she is part of the quest for information. When so much is revealed, it is impossible not to feel invested in the discovery. It was a thoroughly satisfying and entertaining read. Five purrs and two paws up.

Sheila Connolly was such an amazing author. The Secret Staircase was to me, one of her best novels.

Here we find Kate Hamilton excited about restoring Asheboro Maryland to the glory it was once. The Victorian village would have the newly restored Barton Mansion. Restoration is underway and everything is going according to plan when the contractor reveals a dead body hidden behind the wall.

Kate decides she better figure out who that body belongs to and so begins her sleuthing. What she did not anticipate is a second body being found. Will she survive the danger?

One of Sheila Connolly's best work.! The well-crafted characters and flow if the story made this a great cozy mystery. Can't say enough about this book.

The Secret Staircase by Sheila Connolly has Kate Hamilton working on her plans for the Barton Mansion in Asheboro, Maryland. Her first order of business is to find a contractor. The third one on the list seems like the best fit for the project. He discovers a hidden staircase in the kitchen with a body laying at the bottom. It turns out that the man has been there since the late 1800s and someone murdered him. This is not the type of history Kate wanted to uncover on the Victorian home nor the family that occupied it. Not long after the kitchen work begins, a second man is found dead inside the mansion. Kate wonders if there is a connection between the two deaths and sets out to get answers. The Secret Staircase is the third book in A Victorian Village Mystery series. I like the premise for this series which is why I have kept coming back to it. I grew up in German Village in Columbus, Ohio and nearby there is a Victorian Village. I find myself, though, unable to get into the story. It is told in the first person, so we are subject to Kate’s thoughts (she has so many of them). Kate seems to have an endless list of questions and list of items to accomplish (but she does not write them down). If she is going to get this project completed, Kate needs to get organized (and be more professional). She also needs to get over her self-doubts (she goes on endlessly about them). Kate needed a contractor for the project who does reconstruction not renovation. Most people would have used a search engine, but Kate kept asking people if they knew a contractor. I wondered if Kate owned a computer (or any office supplies). There are quite a few characters in the story. We are given basic information on them, but they are not fully fleshed out. I like Carroll, Lisbeth, and Bethany. Josh seems like a nice man, but how many times do we have to hear about his looks. The author’s descriptions of the mansion allowed me to visualize the beautiful Victorian home. However, the details about the renovations were dry and repetitive. The story moved at a slow pace and many details were repeated at least three times (sometimes more). The research into the Barton family is interesting (some parts were more fascinating than others). It just became dreary at times (the research part). I found this series different from Sheila Connolly’s A Museum Mystery series. I wanted this series to be more like the one featuring Nell Pratt. The mystery was fascinating. I was curious to see how everything would tie together. I was beginning to wonder if any progress would be made on the Barton Mansion. As you can tell, I did not enjoy my experience with The Secret Staircase. There are good bones, but it did not come together into a pleasing whole. The Secret Staircase is small town cozy with staircase surprises, a kitchen conundrum, fine food, congeries of research, and a pair of murders.

Kate Hamilton is excited about the plans to make her hometown of Asheboro, Maryland into a Victorian tourist destination. The centerpiece for the project will be the Barton Mansion, home of the town's transplanted industrialist. One of the contractors bidding on renovating the kitchen makes a startling discovery--a walled-in staircase. A more startling discovery soon follows: a century+ old corpse at the foot of the staircase.

As local police begin to look for clues as to the dead man's identity, they determine that he was murdered. Kate and her colleagues redouble their research efforts to learn more about the house's owners and who the murdered man might be. But before long, there is another murder.

Is there a connection between the two murders?

This book is the third in a series, and I wish I'd first read the previous two books. At first, Kate annoyed me, because she doesn't really seem to know what she's doing. I am an archivist of more than 30 years, and while the author did her research, there were still a few things that put my back up. Unfortunately, learning that the author died over a year ago makes criticism difficult. #TheSecretStaircase #NetGalley

I think I have read all the books in this series and have enjoyed them all. The Secret Staircase is no exception.

The mystery is a little meh - unpleasant characters are involved in the modern day murder - but the characters more than make up for it for me. I love seeing how they’ve grown and their plans for the town have grown. I also liked the parallels between the modern killing and a body at the bottom of the staircase and the historic one with a body at the bottom of a staircase.

If you’ve ready other books in the series, highly recommended. If not, I recommend read them first, then come back and read this one.

Kate forms the Asheboro Revitalization Project and plans to work on the home of Henry Barton, a Victorian era captain of local industry, but her plans are delayed when a century old skeleton is found in a secret staircase. Shortly afterwards, life copies history, and one of the workers falls down the same staircase. Kate and her research assistant are looking for any personal information about Henry's life to help them learn more of the early days in the area. The clues were revealed in a logical manner and a few surprises made the mystery interesting.
Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for an ARC; all opinions are my own.

*3.5 stars rounded up.

This is the third and perhaps final book in Sheila Connolly's Victorian Village Mysteries series as Ms Connolly passed away on April 20, 2020. I read all three of these mysteries in a row and can honestly say each one was better than the one preceding it.

The continuing plot has been that Kate Hamilton has returned to her hometown of Asheboro, MD, and is working with board members of the Asheboro Revitalization Project to save the town from a slow death.

The centerpiece of that project has been the Victorian mansion of the late Henry Barton and in this latest episode, the characters learn a lot more about the family history. Fascinating! I enjoyed that part of the story thoroughly.

The book ends on a very happy and positive note so if that has to be the last we see of Kate Hamilton and friends, so be it. I enjoyed getting to know them all in the pages of this charming cozy mystery. If you are interested in this series, I would recommend reading the three books in order, since they do build on the one before.

I received an arc of this mystery from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful for the opportunity. The title attracted me when I was offered a widget, reminding me of the title of a Nancy Drew mystery I loved as a girl: The Hidden Staircase. How could I resist? :-)

In The Secret Staircase, we join Kate as she works with the town renovation board of directors as they begin work on the Barton mansion. Before they can even get started a body shows up when someone is murdered on the property. Kate has more suspects than trusted workers.

If I’m being honest, this was a series that I wasn’t going to continue after the second book. The concept of renovating a town to be similar to a place like Colonial Williamsburg was interesting but the books moved very slowly for me. I requested the third book from NetGalley after I learned of the passing of Sheila Connolly in 2020. I wanted to see if the book ended on a “finished “ note or left the reader hanging. I was satisfied with the ending. Even if another author picks up the series I don’t think I’ll continue.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, through NetGalley. All opinions expressed in the above review are entirely my own.

Publisher’s Summary
From New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly, The Secret Staircase is the third Victorian Village Mystery, which finds Kate Hamilton discovering a long-dead body in a hidden staircase.

Kate Hamilton is feeling good about her plans to recreate Asheboro, Maryland as the Victorian village it once was. The town is finally on her side, and the finances are coming together.

Kate's first goal is to renovate the Barton Mansion on the outskirts of town. Luckily, it's been well maintained in the century since the wealthy Henry Barton lived and died there. The only substantial change she's planning is to update the original kitchen so that it can be used to cater events in the building. But when the contractor gets started, he discovers a hidden staircase that had been walled in years earlier. And as Kate's luck would have it, in the stairwell is a body.

After her initial shock wears off, Kate is relieved when the autopsy reveals that the man had died around 1880. Unfortunately, it also reveals that his was not a natural death—he was murdered. And serious questions remain: who was he and what was he doing there?

Kate begins a hunt to identify the man and figure out what he was doing at the Barton Mansion. But when a second body is found—this time from the present day—Kate realizes that real dangers lie in digging up the past...



My Recommendation(s)
This book was hard for me to get into at first. At the center of the mysteries in this book is an old Victorian home that has fallen into disrepair. The first mystery revolves around the long-dead owner of the home. Little is known about him, and the search is on to find out more about him. The second mystery centers around a dead body discovered in a sealed-off staircase. The body has been hidden away in this unusual tomb for so long it’s mummified. The last mystery involves the death of one of the contractors working on the house.
Even though there are several mysteries going on in this book, I wasn’t drawn into the story—at first. Too much of it came across as filler and kept me from caring much about the story. But then part way through the novel, I was pulled in and couldn’t stop reading. The filler was replaced with clues that picked up the pace. The resolutions to all three mysteries brought this novel to a satisfying conclusion.