Book 6, 2026

[chez_jae]

Acts of Violets by Kate Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I had but two short chapters of my work book to read, so I brought it home and finished it this evening. It was Acts of Violets by Kate Collins, and it’s the 5th in the “Flower Shop” series of cozy mysteries, starring florist Abby Knight.

While attending the Pickle Fest parade, Abby gets into a confrontation with Snuggles the clown. When her boyfriend, Marco, has words with him, and Snuggles later turns up dead, Marco becomes the prime suspect in the clown’s death. Marco asks Abby to do some sleuthing on the sly, reasoning that people tend to open up to her. Abby isn’t sure she’s the woman for the job, but she’ll do anything to clear Marco’s name, including having lunch with odious Greg Morgan, interviewing other clowns, and stooping to a little breaking and entering. Abby’s investigation, however, has drawn the attention of the killer, and now she’s the one who’s in danger.

I typically find myself rolling my eyes at how damned dumb Abby can be in this series, but in this book, Marco was the dumb one. Honestly, what was he thinking?! Eh. Abby was a bit more circumspect this time around, not that it spared her winding up in mortal danger at the end of the book. Mystery authors, please rethink this overdone trope. I mean, how many times can your main character narrowly escape death? I know it’s meant to be exciting, but it actually becomes tedious after about the third book. All that aside, characterizations were good, plot was well-paced and proceeded in an orderly fashion. I could have done without Abby’s airhead of a mother and Marco’s overbearing one.

Favorite lines:
♦ “Snuggles the Clown threatened you?”
♦ Ordinarily, I don’t eat ice cream before lunch, but after being shoved and threatened and stained with mustard, I felt a strong need to soak my irritated nerves in butterfat.
♦ “Never trust a clown. They’ll toss you into a burning building without giving it a second thought.”
♦ At the front door we were swarmed by small, whimpering bodies with oozing orifices and sticky fingers, making my ovaries shrink up in fear.
♦ I loved it when men thought they’d come up with an original idea.
♦ A remorseful, bad-tempered, raving stilt walker. Was there any worse kind?
♦ “I think your mother would understand that finding a killer to save your backside is a little more important than her lasagna.” // “You don’t know my mother.”
♦ “Do me a favor. Hold the pillow over my face and end my misery.”
♦ You did it, you clever, multitalented cat woman!
♦ “You hung in there, even when there was nothing left to hang on to.”

Good enough to earn four stars.

Comments

[tamena]

this sounds like a fun read! I have added to my list thank you =)