Book 106, 2024

[chez_jae]

Slay It with Flowers by Kate Collins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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Despite not one, but two interruptions during my lunch hour today, I was able to finish reading Slay it With Flowers by Kate Collins. This is the second in the "Flower Shop" mystery series, starring florist Abby Knight.

Abby's flower shop, Bloomers, is flourishing, thanks in part to a large order to provide the flowers for her cousin Jillian's wedding. However, when one of the groomsmen disappears and another is found murdered, the wedding may not happen. Jillian begs Abby to look into the crime and Abby reluctantly agrees, even though she promised not to meddle again after nearly getting killed once before. In addition to investigating the murder, Abby also finds herself embroiled in the drama of a new massage parlor in town that some people claim is a front for prostitution. Local bar owner, Marco, warns her to keep her nose out of it, and even Abby's employees are telling her to let it go. Abby, however, is like a dog with a bone. She is determined to salvage Jillian's marriage and prove that something hinky is going on at the Emperor Spa.

I've read a couple other books in this series, and I can't help but think this woman is dumber than a box of rocks. Not just dumb, but foolish and foolhardy. The chances she took to snoop into things that really did not concern her were outrageous. Jillian is a self-centered twit, and Abby's mother is a dingbat of the first order. Good grief. Bitching aside, the plot was interesting, although the bulk of it was consumed with Abby's investigation(s). I'd like to see more of her living life. There was plenty of humor in the story, and a budding (hah!) romance between Abby and Marco.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Okay, Punch, Flip, Bertie, and Pryce are the groomsmen. They were in the same fraternity at Harvard." // "With names like those I would have guessed the Ringling Brothers School for Acrobats." // "The Ringling what?" // "The Ringling Brothers...Barnum and Bailey...A circus Jill. Did you grow up in Azkaban?"
♦ She had made it her goal to see us hitched, even though I'd told her that being hitched was for donkeys and wagons, and if I were to marry Morgan I'd be the ass on that team.
♦ "For three hours I get to sit in a room with chicken-salad-and-banana-cake stuffed women, watching another woman tear her way through wrapped packages while making inane comments."
♦ Mend fences with Pryce? Those fences had not only been dismantled, but the wooden slats had been burned and the ashes scattered over the ranch.
♦ "How's the investigation going?" // "This morning I went to the jail for a chat with the police's number-one suspect and made him cry, and this afternoon Onora, the maid of honor, threatened to kill me."
♦ "You are a shameful human being and a discredit to your profession."

Abby is aggravating, but the humor salvaged what would have been a 2-star review and bumps it up to a three.