Don't Die Under the Apple Tree

Rosie the Riveter #1

by Amy Patricia Meade

Life is definitely not easy for 32-year old Rosie O'Doyle Keefe, but she can handle working in New York City's World War II shipyards--until her foreman winds up dead--right after she rebuffed his "requirements" for a promotion. . . Never one to sit back and hope for the best, Rosie discovers that everyone who knew the foreman had good reasons to kill him off. She also finds that she has a surprise ally in the darkly handsome police lieutenant Jack Riordan. But Jack also has to produce a viable suspect for his captain in five days--even if it has to be Rosie. . .Before long, the mystery spirals onto the streets of wartime New York. With the clock ticking and her freedom on the line, Rosie and Lieutenant Riordan will need to join forces to find the truth and catch the now very desperate killer. . .who may be much closer then they think! Raves for the novels of Amy Patricia Meade"If only Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart were still alive. They would be fabulous in the movie version. . .Meade's kickoff mystery is a winner." --Booklist on Million Dollar Baby"Nary a dull moment." --Publishers Weekly on Black Moonlight Amy Patricia Meade is the author of the The Marjorie McClelland Mysteries, published by Midnight Ink, including such titles as Black Moonlight, Shadow Waltz, and Ghost of a Chance. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She grew up watching black-and-white movies from the World War II period, especially anything with the Andrews Sisters. Amy lives in Vermont with her husband and their two cats.

Genres: Mystery, Historical, Historical Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Historical Mystery, Fiction

256 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Author of the critically acclaimed Marjorie McClelland Mysteries, the Rosie the Riveter historical mysteries, and the recent Vermont series, Amy Patricia Meade is a native of Long Island, NY, where she cut her teeth on classic films and books featuring Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown.

Later in her youth, she’d come to admire the works of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, leading her to pursue a degree in English as well as business.

Amy currently resides in Bristol, England where she's busy adding to her Tish Tarragon and Vermont Country Living Mysteries.
When not writing, Amy enjoys travel, testing out new recipes, classic films, and, of course, reading mysteries.

Reviews

[Spuddie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bah! A good setting, during WWII in NY with the lead character working in a shipbuilding yard. However...way way too much of the lonely woman with a deadbeat (disappeared) husband and the big, strong, good-looking cop--possibly the only honest cop in the city, of course--and Rosie, supposedly smart and independent, doing really really stupid things that get her into trouble. Noooo...I can do without more of this, thanks. The writing itself wasn't bad, just...too much piffle.

[Marlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosie Doyle Keefe has a hard life. Her husband was drafted into the army, her sister and nephew have moved in with her, and she's just started a new job at the shipyards in New York City.

Many of the male shipyard workers are not happy to have female co-workers, and some of them actively make things difficult for the women. Rosie is a "passer": she catches hot rivets in a metal container and fits them into pre-drilled holes before the next workers seal it with a pneumatic hammer.
Rosie's "heater", the worker who heats the rivets and tosses them to the passer, was deliberately tossing the rivets so they'd hit her. Finally, Rosie retaliates by throwing a hot rivet back.

However, Rosie is the one who's disciplined. Finch, the foreman calls her into his office, and says he'll let her keep her job if she allows him to molest her. Furious, Rosie hits him in the head with a stapler and runs off.

Later that night, the NYPD Lieutenant Jack Riordan knocks on Rosie's apartment door and takes her to the station to question her about the murder of Robert Finch. Finch's body had apparently been found under a pier near the shipyard, with his head bashed in. Rosie understands that she's the prime suspect, having publicly argued with Finch earlier that day. She also knows that she's innocent, and decides that the only way she'll stay out of jail is to prove it herself.

Rosie is an attractive protagonist, who embodies the strong, no-nonsense attitude of the women were called upon to do what was once considered man's work during World War II. The relationship between Rosie, her sister Katie, and their mother is at once comical, touching, and realistic, and it will be interesting to see the characters develop.

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just gave this book a five star rating, the reason? Because, it deserved an easy ten stars. The research that the Author did shows throughout the book. The study of the language of the times and products in use during the early war years, was to me, an attention to detail that is often lacking in cozy mysteries. Not this book!

Rosie Doyle Keefe (some places it is O'Doyle,) is a war wife, or is she? Well, that is just the first mystery you encounter in this excellent view of life for a woman on her own during the beginning of World War II in New York City. The highest paying job is at the Shipyards. Rosie is also trying to take care of her younger sister and nephew who have just lost their provider (husband, and father,) to the sinking of the Houston.

Into this confusion that the war has brought, is the entry of women into the workforce. It is not well received. Rosie has less than favorable working conditions just by being a woman and when she is fired from her job, after a conflict, things go from worse to life-threatening quickly.

Rosie must find out what is happening at the shipyard, or accept that handsome Lieutenant Riordan will be arresting her for a murder she didn't commit.

I truly am a fan of "A Rosie the Riveter Mystery" club.

[Melodie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good "period" mystery. Ms. Meade did some good research so the time period characters were quite believable. Well written. Will be on board for #2!

[Agnesxnitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosie is doing her bit for the American WW2 war effort and has started as a rivet catcher on the day shift in the Brooklyn shipyards.
Her husband, Billy, disappeared into the long grass about 6 months ago claiming he was joining up and Rosie hasn't seen or heard hide nor hair from her lamentable spouse since then.
Her widowed younger sister and baby nephew are living with her and 2 grown women and a baby can't live on fresh air, so Rosie took the job on the docks to keep their collective heads above water.
Its the 40s. She expects to be patronized, verbally abused and generally treated like a second class citizen as the norm on the basis that she is a woman, but when her shift supervisor attempts to rape her, Rosie cracks and in her escape clumps him on the head with a stapler as she flees.
That evening, there is a knock at the door, its a Police Lieutenant Riordon, who while very personable, has come to question Rosie - about the murder of her boss.
Rosie can't prove her alibi, but she knows she didn't do it. Rosie is nothing if not gutsy and independant and sets her mind towards investigating the murder herself, hoping to find evidence to prove her innocence. She marches back to the dockyard and successfully demands her job back, garnering the support of the other women also there for 'the duration' and also of her new working team who are considered the lowest in the working pecking order before she joins them.
Alongside Rosie's investigation, Lieutenant Riordon is carrying out his enquiries and the two protagonists find themselves bumping into each other and unexpectedly co-operative way forward is forged.
A little simplistic but a nice 'easy' read and I did enjoy it.
Loaning out to friends so it will eventually make it's way back to me :)

[Olivia Plasencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started staying away from cozy mysteries a few years ago when all of them started to read the same. However, I picked this one up for 3 bucks, the historical setting is what drew me in, WWII is a time period I love reading about and was my major in college. Loved the lead character Rosie and I found the fresh twists the author took in telling the story refreshing. For example, Rosie NEVER goes anywhere alone, and in the 1940's that was pretty much an honest given. The one time she does, it's because a friend is in danger. Lots of clue and clever misdirection, a decent sized cast, but not too big that you cannot keep track of everyone in the story.

The writer did a pretty decent job of keeping you in the time period, more small details would have made if better grounded in the era but still a good read. I would have given this book five stars however it was written in 2012 and there seem to be no additional books planned, so why fall in love with something if it's not going to last! I read this book in about 6 hours, really great book and I highly suggest it.

[Pamela Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a 5 in that I immediately went looking for the second in the series since the cover said "First in a new series." Bah, there is no second.

Loved the setting, loved the heroine, and enjoyed the mystery.

This very much read like a new author. I was willing to grow with her. I had a hard time with Katie going to Finch's neighborhood and immediately connecting to the two people who could help her most, especially connecting with them and finding out exactly what she needed to know. Also, with the 'other woman' coming out and sharing about the clap.

That being said, I loved all the characters and how their back stories were brought in. I think Meade should publish the rest so we can find out what happens next...

[Laura Edwards · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having just finished rereading the Bobbsey Twins series, I was more than ready to get back to adult stuff. Just my luck, I picked a stinker of a book to start with. I had recently read the first seven books of another mystery series set during WWII (the Louise Pearlie series by Sarah Shaber), so I guess I couldn't helping making comparisons and "Don't Die Under the Apple Tree" came up lacking. Both books address the same problems which confronted people, especially women, on the home front during the war, but the Louise Pearlie series examines the situation in a much more interesting and nuanced way. I hope I have better luck with my next choice.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great premise for this first book! Hope the series continues with Rosie learning how to cope in a man's world of ship building in WWII, hold family together, clear her name and cope on her own after husband leaves (or does he?). Accurate portrayal of women entering the world of men in the shipyards of the era. My mother was a riveter on planes during WWII and shared what they had to tolerate at the beginning of the War until 1944 and most of the men were gone to the military and the women had proved how good and fast they could produce PBY Catalina planes.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author really did her homework and there is a lot of information about life on the Homefront during WWII. This educated me more about being a riveter than I wanted to know but it was very interesting. Rosie is a spunky character and has lots of troubles to overcome. She has a shady husband who seems to be missing (is he in the Army or not?), she has a dangerous job at the shipyard as a riveter, and of course, faces all the expected perils of not only the job itself but the resentment of the men to a woman working at that time. She has a repulsively sexist boss with no anti-sexual harassment laws to fall back on. When that boss gets killed, Rosie is the prime suspect and has to try to clear her name with the help of a sympathetic policeman. There is more going on at the shipyard and NY city than meets the eye at first so Rosie has to dig a bit in the dirty underbelly of the city during this time after Pearl Harbor. Good first book. I'm looking forward to more Rosie.

[Drmkk · Rating 2 out of 5]

An enjoyable easy read. I don’t read much fiction but a friend bought me a mystery bag of 4 mystery novels for my birthday and I’ve enjoyed the distraction while on vacation. So far this was the best of the 4. I still don’t understand the title after having read the entire book.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Please, I am begging the author, Write a second book, make this a series.

[chris Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!

I couldn't out it down, I wasn't sure at first, but glad I stuck with it. It isn't my usual read.

[Keith Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

It got me out of a readin slump. Eternally grateful.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the bravery of Rosie & Riordan, and the accuracy of the period details.

[Patricia Gulley · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hero who shows smarts and then does the dumbest things. Great setting and time period, and though Rosie may be the smarter woman of her time, there's not enough reasoning.

[Mariam Wills · Rating 5 out of 5]

very good.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little read; 3.5 stars. I went in with low expectations but came out pleasantly surprised and now I'm disappointed that the apparently intended series didn't materialize.

It did a pretty good job at having historical flavor -- even the unsavory parts -- with fairly few misses. It was occasionally info-dumpy about historical details, but whatever.

It was also regularly info-dumpy about people, though, and that got a little tedious. Rosie spends, like, 3 pages thinking about her lousy husband, but it's an emotionally detached accounting of his narcissistic tendencies and alcoholism. It's like a therapist's summary rather than the reflections of a jilted wife! She goes to pass a rivet to a guy and we get a paragraph of info about him. The most egregious (though smallest) was the extra sentence squeezed in, giving us another bar employee popping up his head to nod in support of the bartender's story, and so we have to know he's the short-order cook and sometimes bouncer with a ruddy face. 😮‍💨

The mystery drew itself out by way of there just being so many plausible suspects since the victim was hideously unsympathetic. The climax got a little compressed and, yes, info-dumpy, with the bad guy revealing himself and explaining what-all was going on. However! I do appreciate how it nicely dovetailed with another situation brought up at the start of the book. I also learned a bit of history that I hadn't known before that I'll leave vague because it would be a spoiler.

So, not a perfect book, but overall solid and enjoyable!


Note: the author's Goodreads page has an answer about the series status or not. It was planned as a series with 2 books contracted, but the publisher cancelled it when this one released. The publisher retained the rights, so the author can't shop it anywhere else, assuming she would want to.

[Nancy Narma · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Flying Rivets and Bullets in This Mystery”

Set in 1942, with more and more men being called on to defend our Country, Rose Doyle Keefe, like many other women, secures a job at the Pushey Shipyard. At the time, it was about the best paying job Rose could get, and she sure needs it. Her absent husband Billy had lied to her about enlisting, when, in fact, he had been boozing and womanizing, with hardworking Rose the last one to know. Stepping into a tough (typically a man’s) position on the shipbuilding crew, Rose faces more obstacles than just the hard work and long hours. The male crew members resent the female presence at the shipyard and torment them, both verbally and physically. Rose’s assignment on the team was that of “passer”—one who catches red-hot rivets tossed from the “heater” and replaces temporary bolts with those now mushroom-shaped, to be flattened by the riveter’s pneumatic hammer. If the heat and height (being up on scaffolding) weren’t enough to deal with. Rose endures nasty tricks and taunting by fellow workers, until one day, Rose fights back! Highly agitated Shift Foreman, Bob Finch orders Rose into his office and launches into a reprimand and ultimate dismissal. Rose pleads her case to retain her much needed position with a leering Finch making sexual advances. Rose smacks him in the head with a stapler, dazing him and runs for safety. She wanders aimlessly for hours, finally heading to her tiny apartment shared with her widowed Sister, Katie and Katie’s infant son, Charlie. The peacefully safe atmosphere is interrupted by a knock at the door and Lieutenant Jack Riordan announcing Rose is wanted for the bludgeoning death of Robert Finch! Rose knew she didn’t do this! She was defending herself! But how to prove that she didn’t kill the rude, crude, nasty excuse for a man, slime ball foreman, and perhaps uncover who did—all within five days or she will be arrested? This will take every bit of constructive sleuthing she can muster. Her Sister Katie surprises her with her “hound dog detective skills”. Who did do the dastardly deed? Was it Finch’s wife? With help from her boyfriend, Simonetti the butcher? Abused employee, Shelby Jackson, who was missing in action since the incident? Michael Delaney, Rose’s “lovesick puppy dog” and old friend who was angry over Finch’s actions? Or how about silver-tongued Irishman Clinton Kilbride who lost his beloved fiancée? Perhaps social climber, “anything for a buck ”Tony Del Vecchio ? This tale starts out slowly as you get acquainted with Rose and company, but jump on her train and hang on, as it pulls you in and keeps you wondering if your hunches were correct with some surprises along the way. This is the first in the “Rosie the Riveter” series and I’m curious to see what future adventures Ms. Meade and ultimately, Rose have in store for us. Nancy Narma

[Cathy Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

First Line: "Rose Doyle Keefe." The petite thirty-two-year-old lifted the lapel of her tan wool coat to display the badge that identified her as an employee of the Pushey Shipyard Corporation, Brooklyn.

When Katie's husband is killed in action, she and her infant son move in with her older sister, Rosie, whose husband enlisted four months previously. In order to pay the bills and have money left over for food, Rosie has gotten a job at the Pushey Shipyard Company. It's hard, demanding work made no easier by the fact that the men working there resent the women's presence and want them all to disappear back to their kitchens.

In fact, one of the men on Rosie's crew goes out of his way to force Rosie to quit. His plan works, but not in the way he'd expected. Rosie does get fired-- after she loses her temper and lets the man know in no uncertain terms what she thinks of his cheap tricks. When in the foreman's office, Rosie cools off a bit and asks to be kept on. The foreman lets her know-- in no uncertain terms-- just what he expects her to do in order to keep her job. What he gets for his effort is a good whack upside the head with a heavy duty metal stapler before Rosie leaves the premises.

She wanders around for a few hours, trying to calm down and think of what sort of jobs are available for her to apply for before she heads for home. She's not in the apartment for long before there's a knock on the door. It's a policeman who brings her in for questioning. You see, that foreman Rosie whacked upside the head has been found murdered, and there are all too many witnesses at the shipyard willing to tell the police how dangerous Rosie is with a stapler.

Getting the strong impression that she's going to be charged with murder, Rosie figures the only way to clear her name is to return to the shipyard to get her job back. Once she's back on the inside, she'll be able to learn who really had it in for the slimy foreman.

This is a fun, light mystery that read very quickly. Meade's New York City setting during World War II hits the spot and gives the reader an excellent idea of what women had to face when applying for jobs left vacant by men who have been called to serve in the armed forces.

Rosie and her sister Katie are strong likable characters, and the handsome policeman, Rosie's absentee husband, and the sisters' mother are characters just itching to have their share of the limelight in future books. The whodunit is rather easily solved, but the why and the what are not. Between trying to figure out what was going on and becoming acquainted with the setting and the characters, I find myself looking forward to more books about Rosie the Riveter. This series shows a lot of promise.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love the women in history behind this idea - This is the first in a series that I hope I will find more of (have not checked prior to review)
Working a shipyard was mens work, until the war and then women stepped in and up to take on the toles of life support. This story made into a coazy mystery takes on one journy of such a woman, husband gone to war turned shipworker Rosie, finds herself in a hot spot in more ways than on. The work is hard and hot working on the ships to get the rivits in. Rosie is good at her job, but she has to over come much more than learning a 'man's job'.

Her boss gives her trouble and makes a pass at her, but she doesn't stand for it, she defends her slef ending with hitting him over the head. Saddly not out of the realm of every day issues, Rosie heads home wiht out a job and no further thought on how to help the event until the police show up saying her boss is dead. Thus begins the adventure of Rosie, the police man, the ship yard crew and the mob!

Fun cozy mystery and I do hope there are more in the series.

[Roseann Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book. I will be checking to see what other books this author has written.

[Sarah A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent mystery book. The main star is Rosie O'Keefe which is the name of the lady used to promote the female factory workforce in the US in World War II.
In this fictional tale, Rosie has only just started working at the ship building factory in New York. She encounters harsh treatment from the men and when she lashes back, she is fired. The boss offers to forgive it in return for a sexual favour so she hits him over the head with a stapler. That night her boss is found dead although she had left him alive.

The level of historical detail in this book is awesome. The author did the research and uses it as part of the story without showing off how much research she did as some other authors do. The story is great - a fun and entertaining tale with twists and turns to keep you going on every page.

I eagerly look forward to the sequels!!

[❂ Murder by Death · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good mystery plot, with an interesting tie-in to events during the outset of America's involvement with WWII. I liked the interaction between the main character and the detective. The rest of the book left me feeling a bit 'meh'. The sister was just a wee bit too precious - I think a widowed war-bride with a baby would have a bit more steel in her spine and a bit more maturity, but she wasn't unlikeable. In keeping with current trends in cozy mysteries, the mother in this book is in need of an attitude adjustment, although she isn't as bad as a lot of the mother characters lately.

Overall, I'll read the second one. I'm hoping a lot of the characters will gel a bit more in the second book and I'll be able to immerse myself more in the next mystery and 1942 NYC.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosie Keefe's worthless husband disappears after claiming to enlist in the Army right after Pearl Harbor, but Rosie's caring for her newly widowed sister and young nephew. A job at the Brooklyn shipyards, with higher wages, sounds just the ticket. But that's before a lecherous foreman riles Rosie enough for her to sock him with a stapler shortly before he's bludgeoned to death. Police detective Jack Riordan is sure she's innocent, but he's under pressure to arrest someone, and soon. So Rosie decides to go sleuthing herself.

[Susan Parks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute start to a new cozy mystery series set in WWII era NYC. Rosie is a riveter, natch, who starts working at the shipyard to help support her widowed sister and her son. There is plenty of resentment amongst the men towards the women, and when the supervisor is murdered after Rosie hits his with a stapler to ward off his amorous advances, she is the main suspect. Interesting story and pretty will researched. Good mystery, and an inkling of possible future romance. I'm looking forward to "Straighten Up and Die Right" in May.

[Grey853 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in the New York shipyard during WWII, Rosie works there only because so many men have gone to war. She is being harassed by nearly all the men and at one time is nearly assaulted. When the person who did the assaulting ends up dead, she's the prime suspect.

I would've liked this a lot better if there wasn't the whole pitiful me vibe going on. Rosie has a deadbeat husband and feels sorry for herself a lot. Granted, she's in a bad situation, but I prefer my protagonists to be a bit tougher.

The book just didn't work for me.

[Mandy Burkhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having just recently finished watching Agent Carter (the tv series), this was a pleasant return to that time period. I loved the references to things my grandmother used to tell me about having experienced when she was a girl, like drawing lines on the backs of the legs to simulate pantyhose... This is the best type of cozy mystery, where the characters are compelling and believable, the storyline is not too farfetched, events move along in a satisfying pace, and there's a tidy ending. Loved this one.

[Rose Mcguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

great research of the life and times of NY city during WWII and how women were needed to help in the war effort. However, a bit too much fem jep for my taste and a bit of Rosie being TSTL action. that is why I only gave it 3 stars. Give Rosie a bit more common sense and take away the unneeded fem jep, and this would have worked for me

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this a 4 because I enjoyed the characters, the fast pace and the plot. I was annoyed by the modern speech mannerisms. It started off good, but lost the War Years' speech style as the book went on. Still, it was a fun cozy read that, unusually, involved a detective along with the amateur sleuths.