Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Death at the Spring Plant Sale
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Ann Ripley
Class/Genre: Mystery Amateur Sleuth Woman Main Character Cozy
Series: Louise Eldridge # 8
Kensington, Oct 2003, $22.00, 320 pp.
Always on the lookout for a good idea for her PBS television show Gardening with Nature, Louise Eldridge agrees to tape the spring plant and flowers sale of the Bethesda Garden Club. When she arrives to set up taping, two women of the club complain about the club chairman Catherine Freeman, who always wins first place and hurts their business. Catherine is an arrogant overpowering juggernaut and Walter Freeman, head of the President’s Special Task Force on Monetary Reform is her long-suffering husband.
After the taping, Louise plans to spend a few days with the club’s vice-president Emily. While the two women are walking the dog at night, shots ring out and the women rush to the Freeman residence. Walter is in his car covered in brain matter after Catherine was shot in the head. The police believe that the killer was after the radical economist but Louise thinks Catherine was the intended victim and sets out to prove it.
The protagonist of DEATH AT THE SPRING PLANT SALE is a levelheaded intelligent woman except that she always seems to find herself in the middle of a murder investigation. This one is especially nasty because Catherine had many enemies who had the means, motive and opportunity to kill her if she was indeed the intended victim. The heroine once again almost gets herself killed in her quest for justice and readers will hope she makes it through this dangerous time. This light-hearted and entertaining amateur sleuth mystery is one fans of the sub-genre will enjoy.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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