Nell Pratt first appeared in Fundraising the Dead and one of the best ways to learn about a person is by asking questions, so let’s get to know Nell.

What is your name?
Eleanor Pratt, but most people call me Nell.

How old are you?
Creeping up on forty.

What is your profession?
I’m President of the Society for the Preservation of Pennsylvania Antiquities in Philadelphia.

Do you have a significant other?
More or less. Since we recently bought a house together, I guess that makes it official that we’re together.

What is his name and profession?
James Morrison. He’s a Special Agent with the Philadelphia office of the FBI.

Any children?
No.

Do you have any sibling(s)?
No.

Do your parents live near you?
No—both have passed away.

Who is your best friend?
Marty Terwilliger. When I started working at the Society, she was on the board, but now she’s more a friend, and a great sidekick.

Cats, dogs or other pets?
Not at the moment, but we’re still getting used to the house.

What town do you live in?
Chestnut Hill, just outside of Philadelphia.

House or building complex? Own or Rent?
It’s a single-family Victorian home.

What is your favorite spot in your house?
I’d have to say the kitchen—it’s big and bright, with a nice view of the yard, and both James and I like to eat.

Favorite meal? Favorite dessert?
What, only one of each? The Philadelphia area has a wonderful array of restaurants, which I take advantage of when I have to work late. In Chestnut Hill, which is a fairly upscale neighborhood, there are some great take-out places that James and I often stop by when we can’t be bothered to cook some nights. But my secret vice is shopping at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia (underneath what used to be the railroad terminal, which is now the city’s Convention Center), which is over a century old and has a wonderful array of food vendors, so you can get fresh meat and fish and vegetables any time. The ingredients there make me want to cook!

Favorite hobby?
I don’t think I have time for hobbies. I do love history, and I enjoy my work, and I’m still exploring parts of Philadelphia I don’t know.

Favorite color?
For walls or to wear? I think I like shades of green in the house—it’s a peaceful color. For clothes, when I don’t have to wear black for formal events, I prefer blue.

Favorite author?
Ouch! Again, only one? I’ve always loved Tolkien’s Ring Trilogy, which I’ve read at least ten times. And Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries. And George R. R. Martin’s series, which I hope to finish reading by the time I’m 90.

Favorite vacation spot?
Anywhere in Europe, not that I get many chances to take long exotic vacations. I’m kind of fond of the Jersey Shore too—my parents used to take me there when I was young.

Favorite sports team?
The Philadelphia Eagles. I like football, and the Eagles are a plucky team, although they have a bad habit of losing games in the last couple of minutes after coming close to winning.

Movies or Broadway?
Broadway, or at least, stage plays rather than movies. I rarely get to New York to visit the “real” Broadway, but when I find myself there on business with a free afternoon or evening I’ll indulge myself in theater tickets.

Are you a morning or a night person?
Mainly morning, since I have to get to work in the city, which takes a little time, and I relish the peace and quiet of early mornings at the Society.

Amateur sleuth or professional?
I don’t think of myself as a sleuth at all. I started out as a non-profit fundraiser (although I guess you could call finding willing donors a form of sleuthing), and kind of fell into running the Society. But somehow I have stumbled upon more than one murder in the past few years and actually had a hand in solving them, so I guess that makes me an amateur. Studying history, particularly in Philadelphia, comes in handy sometimes in solving crimes.

Whom do you work with when sleuthing?
I use James as a resource, when I have questions, but we don’t exactly work together, unless you call dinner-table conversation when we kick around ideas. Marty Terwilliger has been associated with the Society for many years, as was her father, but now she’s a friend—and she knows just about everything there is to know about the greater Philadelphia area, including who’s who. I couldn’t solve anything without help from people like these!

In a few sentences, what is a typical day in your life like?
Unpredictable? The basic tasks include begging for money, hiring and firing people, planning for future social events at the Society, choosing which in-house projects to pursue, like cataloging our more than century-old collections or choosing which ones to digitize and add to our website. And then a body appears and the schedule falls apart. My life isn’t dull!

You can read about Nell in Digging Up History, the eighth book in the “Museum” cozy mystery series, released June 25, 2019.

The New York Times bestselling author of Dead End Street returns with Nell Pratt discovering one of Philadelphia’s darker buried secrets . . .

When a summer intern at the Preservation Society discovers an aged document hidden in the binding of an antique book, Society president Nell Pratt is intrigued by the possibilities: is it a valuable historic document or just a useless scrap of paper? When analysis reveals that it’s a hand-drawn map of one of Philadelphia’s oldest neighborhoods, Nell learns that the area is being excavated for a new real estate development and may hold long-buried secrets from the city’s historic heyday.

Determined to get to the bottom of the map’s origin and what it might tell her about the mysterious plot of land, Nell will have to contend with a construction company owner who disappears, a former Society board member who’s harbored a dark secret her entire life, and a remarkable discovery that may have the dead turning over in their graves . . .

Purchase Link
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About the author
After trying out careers as an art historian, an investment banker, a non-profit fundraiser, a political staffer, and a professional genealogist, Sheila Connolly decided to become a mystery writer. Now she is the New York Times bestselling, Anthony and Agatha award-nominated author of the Orchard Mysteries, the Museum Mysteries, the County Cork Mysteries, the Relatively Dead Mysteries, and the Victorian Village Mysteries, and the occasional novella and short story. When she isn’t writing Sheila loves restoring old houses, hunting for ancestors in cemeteries, and traveling. She is married and has one daughter and three cats, and she owns a cottage in Ireland, within sight of where her Connolly ancestors lived.

To learn more about Sheila, visit her website at sheilaconnolly.com.

All comments are welcomed.