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Dearly Depotted by Kate Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I only had a small portion of my “work” book left to read, so I brought it home Friday and finished it this weekend. The book was Dearly Depotted, which is the third “Flower Shop” mystery by Kate Collins. The main character is Abigail “Abby” Knight, who owns and operates a floral/gift shop called Bloomers.

Abby has several hats to wear at her cousin, Jillian’s, wedding: bridesmaid, florist, and now she’s been tabbed with keeping an eye on the groom’s grandmother. When Grandma Osborne doodles off, Abby tracks her down to the gazebo outside the reception, where she stumbles across a dead body. The victim is Jack Snyder, who got into a fight with another wedding guest earlier and was ousted, and who apparently returned. Since Snyder had no shortage of enemies, the police are looking at several suspects, including the gentleman friend of Abby’s employee, Grace. Grace implores Abby to help clear Richard’s name, and Abby reluctantly agrees. Now she’s following up on leads, questioning other guests, and trying to pry information out of the police and the county prosecutor. At least Marco, an actual PI, has agreed to help. The fact that he’s easy on the eyes is simply an added bonus.

While I have to admire Abby’s pluck and enthusiasm, she sure does some stupid things. It’s a wonder no one murdered her while she was investigating. Both Jillian and Abby’s mother are complete ditzes, and I wanted to knock their heads together. Characters were three-dimensional, including new/transient ones, and the plot progressed quickly. It would have been nice to see Abby doing less investigating and more living/working.

Favorite lines:
♦ My cell phone rang. JILLIAN CALLING, it said, which could only have been worse if it had been Satan on the line.
♦ Her golden eyes gazed out at the world with a look of keen intelligence, belying the SPACE FOR RENT sign behind them.
♦ “If she were wound up any tighter her brain would squeak.”
♦ “If it isn’t New Chapel’s handsomest deputy prosecutor, and if you don’t believe me, ask him.”
♦ “Morgan is so conceited, he’s jealous of his own reflection.”
♦ I was so far from smooth I could have sanded the bark off a tree.

Enjoyable, and interesting enough that I couldn’t wait the weekend to find out how it finished. Four stars.

Mum's the Word by Kate Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I spent most of the day with no power, which sucked, but it did enable me to finish reading my "spare" book. There was literally nothing else I could do. The book was Mum's the Word by Kate Collins, and it's the first in her "Flower Shop" cozy mystery series. I'd already read another in the series, so there were some spoilers. Eh. Story is told in first person pov of the main character, Abigail "Abby" Knight.

Having flunked out of law school and broken up with her boring fiancé, Abby takes a chance and buys a floral shop, which has long been a dream of hers. Not long after she arrives at work one day, a guy dashes out of an alley, hops in an SUV, and side-swipes Abby's beloved yellow Corvette. When she learns there was a murder the next street over, Abby is convinced the killer is the one who hit her car. After delivering floral arrangements to the victim's funeral, Abby meets his parents and sees how distraught they are. Since her own father was a police officer, Abby feels the need to get justice for the family. Her amateur sleuthing, however, starts leading to harassment from a local cop as well as threats. She also encounters Marco Salvare, a bar owner and PI. He agrees to look into some things on her behalf, but he quickly grows exasperated with Abby when she can't seem to keep her nose out of trouble. Abby is walking a fine line--one that could break the case wide open or see her become the next victim.

Hm. I liked the story, but reading it really got my blood pressure up. I was absolutely infuriated on Abby's behalf at the level of harassment one particular cop subjected her to. There was also a subplot of an abused wife that made me livid, and on top of all that, Abby's mother is such a dithering ditz that I wanted to give her a smack. I guess that's good writing, though, that it could evoke such a reaction from a reader.

Favorite lines:
♦ "That's what I like about small towns. If you don't know what you're doing, someone else does."
♦ "Not only was there a dead rat, but I also got a nasty telephone message. And we're low on daisies." // "I was afraid something like that would happen." // "Running out of daisies?"
♦ She always had to add her two cents, although in her case it was more like a half cent.
♦ A woman with hair so big it looked like someone had pumped a hedgehog full of helium.
♦ "Why would a landscape store manager carry a gun?" // 'To cover his asspens.'

I'd love to give this 3.5 stars. I think, since Abby didn't find the body, that I'll give it a bump up to four.