Bellingwood Books In Order

Publication Order of Bellingwood Books

Publication Order of Bellingwood Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Bellingwood Vignettes Books

Bellingwood Series is a set of novels by Diane Greenwood Muir, a mystery author who grew up in the small towns in the Midwest. She comes from a family full of storytellers and has been crying and laughing at stories her siblings, aunts, and grandparents told for as long as she can remember. The Muir family has used stories as a way to deal with the present and remember their history since they believe the future is nothing more than a story waiting to be told. She was born to a pastor who filled his sermons with stories and illustrations while her parents and grandparents love to use tales to keep the family entertained. Her mother had limitless creativity as she knitted, sketched, crocheted, wrote stories and poetry, sewed, and worked with clay throwing pots and sculpting. There was practically nothing to do with art and crafts her mother could not do. Given the creativity in the family, the children had a lot of encouragement to go into the arts and Muir remembers writing her first tory as a second-grader. It was a story about a prince that had magical toenails. Over the years, she wrote tens of story ideas, story beginning, and half-written tales that would need several lifetimes if she were to complete them all.

As a young adult, Diane went to college to study music and she had been a singer and pianist ever since. She started learning the piano when her father asked a girl in the church to offer her piano lessons. Her father wanted her to grow up to become a concert pianist and the lessons would define the rest of her life. While she hated the idea of living in the practice room, the lessons imbued in her the discipline of memorization and practice, while performing gave her the virtues of perseverance, determination, and strength. Over the years, she has accompanied ensembles and soloists, directed small and large choirs, and led worship at intimate as well as gatherings of thousands. Two years after she was appointed music and Christian education director at her church, her mother asked her to help in a printing shop business she had set up in Omaha. A year before completing her post-graduate degree, she began planning for what she would do. However, there were limitless options for a creative though she wanted something that would make it possible for her to be self-employed. For half a year, she thought about becoming an author particularly given that independent publishing had recently become huge. Within a month, she had written “All Roads Lead Home” the first of the “Bellingwood” series even as she was studying for her degree. The novel was published in 2013.

The lead character of the “Bellingwood” series by Diane Greenwood Muir is Polly Giller an Iowan that left her hometown to go to college in Boston. She had later found a job at a library but things had gone wrong in her romantic life forcing her to head back home to Iowa. With a sizable inheritance, she buys an old school in her hometown where she starts meeting with her old friends. It is not long before long it is the base and home for animals, workmen that she deems as more than family. Even better, it promises a lot of new adventures that include a bizarre discovery. Complications continue to dog Polly and her friends in the second novel. She had given one of the rooms in her school to Elise Meyers a student working on her dissertation. Elise loves being left alone and works alone in her room and Polly leaves her alone even though she is worried about her. In the third novel of the series, Polly is still a leader in Bellingwood, a mystery solver, a brilliant entrepreneur, caring friend, and catalyst for strange happenings. There is a possibility that she could get into a relationship something that she had sworn of years before. Throughout the series she is best friends with the four ladies she met when she first came to the town and together, they solve a variety of mysteries.

Diane Greenwood Muir’s debut novel “All Roads Lead Home,” Polly Giller is back home to start a new life after purchasing an old school building with her inheritance. But as she is renovating the building, she finds the skeletal bones of two bodies in one of the ceilings. The residents of the town believe they know who the bones belong to and when tons of items dating back to the sixties are discovered in a cellar, they begin wondering if there could be a connection. Four women show up at Polly’s doorstep and soon the women are fast friends. They might be a little older than Polly but she soon learns that they are an adventurous lot. The Sheriff’s wife, Lydia Merritt is a woman full of passion and love, Sylvie Donovan is trying to become the best single mother to her two sons, Andy saner loves with a big hear even if she is very interested in labeling and organizing the world, while Beryl Watson is a flamboyant but brilliant artist. The men in her world are also an interesting lot. Billy Endicott and Doug Randall are her knights in shining armor while her contractor and carpenter who seems to have a crush on her is a man named Henry Sturtz. She might have lost her immediate family but has found a family full of fun, entertainment, and love.

“A Big Life in a Small Town” the second novel of the “Bellingwood” series sees Polly and her friends make a comeback. They are planning the Sycamore House barn-raising event, which they believe will draw out the entire community. It is the first of its kind and Polly wants to be at her best hence the dancing lessons that she has been having several times a week. She will have to decide on either rejecting him outright or committing to the man though she values his friendship more and believes anything romantic would destroy it. While she prepares for the biggest event of the year, she also has to help a young girl named Elise Meyers that she had offered a room to study for her doctorate. However, Elise is lying about the real reason she is in Iowa, and Polly is dumbfounded when she learns of it. Meanwhile, her friend Lydia stumbles upon a friend’s dead body with a note telling of unfinished business. Something huge is just about to change Polly’s life forever when she teams up with her friend Sylvie to solve the murder mystery. In the meantime, she is making more friends and life is continuing to get better for her in Bellingwood.

“Treasure Uncovered” the third novel of the “Bellingwood” series by Diane Greenwood Muir continues following the life and times of Polly. She has not had a lot of luck finding a caretaker for Sycamore House and the murder of the latest just drew more attention to her bizarre knack for being involved with murders. When the Sheriff gets her call, he immediately assumes she has stumbled upon another body. Polly’s college roommate comes to Bellingwood to see what all the fuss about her friend’s house is about. She is a city girl with an open mind but is curious why her friend loves to live in the cornfields of Iowa rather than in Boston. Meanwhile, her relationship with her friend and contractor Henry Sturtz is growing, especially when she realized how much she missed him when he was out of town for several months. As for Sycamore House, Polly decides to dice by taking on a new caretaker with a mysterious background and she soon is worrying yet again, which is something she had not done when she got out of Boston. With the introduction of new and wonderful characters, Polly comes to understand her relationship with the little town and also comes to understand herself better.