Bindweed

Bretta Solomon #6

by Janis Harrison

River City, Missouri, florist Bretta Solomon is happy to spend an occasional day off with her helper, Toby, a slow-witted young man whose mother died from a terminal illness, leaving him on his own. Everyone in town, including Bretta, takes extra care to make sure Toby is doing okay.

However, today, before Bretta can relax, she must fulfill another her father's new – and younger – girlfriend wants to redecorate Bretta’s home. Bretta is less than thrilled about the task ahead. But the unexpected news that Toby has been killed by a swarm of killer bees deliberately planted in his home puts decorating on the back burner. Determined to find out the truth behind Toby’s murder, Bretta is once again in the thick of things in  Bindweed , another entry in the Bretta Solomon Gardening series--a charming, delightful cozy mystery series from Janis Harrison.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 29, 2005

Reviews

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last book in the Bretta Solomon Gardening Series (as far as I can tell--this was published in 2005 and I cannot find a website or blog for Janis in order to contact her regarding her writing status). I had read this before but for some reason did not mark off my list. So I reread it. This was a good read. The murderer definitely used interesting ways to kill his victims. I really wish that Janis would continue this series. If anyone knows of a way to contact this author please let me know.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bretta Solomon owns a flower shop in a quaint town. She is the widow of a police officer who shared cases with her and currently dates an ex DEA agent. How could she not get involved when one of her freelance workers is cruelly murdered by an enormous nest of hornets, booby-trapped in his bedroom?
As she begins her sleuthing, her co-habitating father busies himself with redecorating the upper floors of their extensive home, as well as keeping time with Abby, the oh-so-young decorator. But there seems to be a deeper, more familiar story behind their ease.
As the plot thickens and another cruel corpse is added to the morgue, Bretta and Abby take it upon themselves to see where the uncovered clues may lead them.
With a nice dose of botany and arachnoid meshing, this is both an interesting and educational read. Tight, believable and entertaining, Harrison nails it again.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

WhenToby, a mentally disabled young man is found dead after the door to his bedroom is booby trapped to release a nest of bees when opened, Bretta Solomon, amateur sleuth and professional florist feels she must get involved. Why would someone want to do this to an innocent and inoffensive young man? Another death occurs in a strange way but despite the need to keep both her business and her home life in order, Bretta is able to get to the bottom of the mystery. The mystery, with the unexpected “weapons” used in the murders is interesting but the characters are not particularly engaging in my opinion.

[Mikayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Usually i'm good at figuring out the mystery or the final murderer but this book effectively kept me on the edge and the end was a twist that I wouldn't have guessed and didn't even suspect until the last few chapters

[Lila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Awkwardly paced botanical mystery where some chunks of factoids feel lifted out of Wikipedia. Set in Missouri, the victim appears to be more autistic than mentally challenged. Of all the lovely plant poisons around, we have to go to poison ivy and hornets? The ending is not very believable.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the prose was somewhat flowery(get it?, get it?) it was an enjoyable mystery. Didn't know till almost the end of this whodunit.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too simple and the characters were not believable

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cozy mystery. I was enjoying this story until the last couple of chapters, then the story took a turn to the bizarre. Glad this was a bargain from a thrift store.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a quick read, and give readers what they expect from a mystery: dead bodies, suspects, clues.

[Drebbles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before she died, Agnes Sutton made arrangements with several shop owners that her slow-witted son Toby would do odd jobs for them. All of the shop owners, including flower shop owner Bretta Solomon, like Toby and are happy to oblige. Toby was liked by all, which is why it's so perplexing that someone would murder him by rigging a hornet's nest set to fall and break open when Toby opened his bedroom door. Even more perplexing, the motive seems to be that Toby discovered someone was stealing his mother's hibiscus plants. Bretta has investigated some murders in the past and with the encouragement of the other shop owners, she looks into Toby's murder. She has plenty of suspects, including all the shop owners Toby worked for, some who weren't as kind to Toby as Bretta initially thought. When Bretta isn't busy selling flowers or investigating the murder, she is working on rebuilding a relationship with her father and turning her house into a boarding house. But even that has its problems as Bretta wonders about the relationship between her father and interior designer Abigail Dupree. As Bretta investigates Toby's murder, she realizes that many people and events aren't what they seem to be on the surface.

"Bindweed" was a mixed bag. Author Janis Harrison's greatest strength in writing is her characterization and Bretta Solomon is a great character - a widow rebuilding her life and in a new relationship with Bailey Monroe. Her struggles with her weight, as well as her struggles in dealing with her father are well written and believable. Other characters are equally well written especially Toby, Bretta's housekeeper DeeDee, her coworkers Lew and Lois, gruff Sheriff Sid Hancock, and the various shop owners. Even Agnes, Toby's mother, dead before the book starts, is well written, as people talk about what she was like and we get to see inside her house and how she set it up for Toby. But other parts of the book didn't work as well for me. Since this book was part of a series (which I didn't know when I picked it up) I felt confused about some things in the book - like how Bretta's husband died and why her relationship with her father was so strained. Also, the mystery elements didn't really work for me. There were two murders in the book, but neither seemed realistically done - I never could figure out how the murderer was able to get the hornet's nest in Toby's room without letting the hornets loose. And the motive for the murder was convoluted and unbelievable, as was the killer's reaction when caught.

"Bindweed" had its moments, but ultimately was disappointing.

[sylph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite of the Gardening Mysteries so far. I would rather give it 4.5 and the others 3.5, something like this, or give stars out of 10 than 5, but, there we are. As "cozies" I'm willing to rate them in their own place in the world, you see. They compare to themselves, not necessarily to literature at large. But this one had something more to it, some striking depth, almost from the opening page, and I had a real sense of how much more this author can do with a story if she continues to go deeper into them.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this gardening mystery, florist Bretta Solomon tries to solve the mystery of who would want to kill the nice, somewhat retarded adult helper of her shop and those along the main street in their small town. She is also trying to deal with her father coming back into her life and wondering why he keeps pressing this new decorator on her. Although the mystery was pretty good, I doubt the ending was really guessable from the info given; also Bretta was a bit too brusque and obtuse about her father's friend for a real detective, I thought. Still, it was diverting.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's my own fault for picking up mysteries with cover art and blurbs that let me know they are not just "cozies" but probably "sillies." I keep wanting to find another M.C. Beaton, an author that can write a light mystery well, but it's really very hard. Bindweed is Chick Lit with a mystery twist, an improbable story line and the solution is ridiculous. You might enjoy it, but don't say you haven't been warned.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed this last book of the series, I was rather disappointed that Bailey didn't have more input into this last murder mystery. I thought it would have concluded the series more, seeing that he and Bretta's relationship grew together in solving the murders.
Also, I wanted to read more about how the boarding house was evolving and have it completed at the end.
The book kind of left me wanting another book to follow.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a simple little mystery, but nice for a light read, entertaining and clean. Of course I loved the gardening and flower references.

Also written by an author in Missouri, and set in a small Missouri town, so it was easy to picture having lived in one myself. The quirks of the small town people were well described!

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Miss Marple in South Carolina! Read this because I found it in the beach house we were staying in. Simple, fast read, and enjoyable enough if you can get past the main character constantly missing clues that are as obvious as an elephant in a swimming pool. I learned a bunch about various poisonous plants though, and really icky ways to die - poison ivy bubble bath anyone? Yeeech!!!

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything I expect a cozy to be. I didn't know it was part of a series until later (oops) and I can't say that I would go back and read all of them but this book was perfectly fine for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

[Marian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this is the 6th book in the series it was my first. It was a fun little mystery I enjoyed the characters. If I happened across another one of her books, I would read it.
Most of the book I read are free from various sources.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mystery was pretty intriguing and engaging but I didn't really like the main character, Bretta.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relaxing read from a nice mystery series

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last in the series so far.

[Kay Maynard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice quick mystery.

[Karen Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was REALLY good! I love gardening mysteries.

[Eamount · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting ideas but she just missed in so many ways.

[Melissa Koss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book for a short and easy read!

[Justine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This quick mystery novel was just the short-paged vacation I needed from the 'heavier' books I've been reading that are also piling up high waiting to be read next.