From Publishers Weekly
The title of this 12th Jane Jeffry gardening mystery from Macavity and Agatha Award-winner Churchill (Grime and Punishment; A Farewell to Yarns; etc.) says it all, as the crime element is almost an afterthought. When Jane and neighbor Shelley Nowack sign up for a gardening class at their local community center, they end up with a substitute, the pompous Dr. Stewart Eastman, after an unknown intruder sneaks into the home of the regular teacher, Julie Jackson, and knocks her out, leaving her in a coma. Suspects in the attack include everyone taking the gardening class: fastidious computer programmer Charles Jones, persnickety librarian Martha Winstead, lonely widower Arnie Waring and loony aging hippie Ursula Appledorn. But in this leisurely, talky tale, Jane is less concerned with crime solving than with visiting the gardens of her classmates, tending to her injured foot, worrying about her teenage son's unsuitable girlfriend and buying herself a new TV for her bedroom. Only near the end does a murder occurDDr. Eastman is found strangled with green twine in a compost pileDafter which Churchill brings the plot to a tidy conclusion, with the killer's motive turning on Dr. Eastman's patented pink marigolds. While Jane and Shelley make plenty of wry social comments, there's too little sleuthing going on for this cozy to appeal to anyone except gardeners and already established fans. (Dec. 1)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Jane Jeffry is definitely a cozy sort: her best friend, Shelly, lives next door, and her kids are adolescent but adorable. In this latest adventure, Jane's boyfriend, Mel the detective, is mostly offstage. Shelly and Jane sign up for a gardening class, but their lecturer, a plant researcher, is severely beaten before it begins. The class goes forward anyway, with a supercilious replacement and an assortment of broadly drawn but vivid types: a take-no-prisoners elderly librarian, a martinet whose pant creases match his tortuous garden geometry, a befuddled fellow who can't get over the death of his wife, a conspiracy freak, and so on. When the offensive replacement lecturer is found dead in his own garden, Jane and Shelly find digging up the connections among these folks to be irresistible. Jane is only slightly hampered by a broken foot, and this time she even treats herself to a TV in the bedroom. GraceAnne DeCandido
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