Garden View

Gardening Mystery #4

by Mary Freeman

Rachel O'Connor, owner of Rain Country Landscaping, is delighted to be working to restore the decrepit landscape at Garden View Retirement Village, especially in light of the happiness it brings to the elderly residents, until, one by one, the inhabitants of the retirement community began to pass away from other-than-natural causes. Original.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Cozy Mystery

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published May 7, 2002

About the author

Author of a series of gardening mysteries. These are published under her maiden name. Also writes as Mary Rosenblum

Reviews

[KathyNV · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t come across many gardening mysteries so when I found “Garden View” I was excited! I am happy to say that I enjoyed the plot and loved the characters! Rachel and her assistant Spider are wonderful! She’s a landscaper with irrigation and personnel problems. Throw in a Retirement Community project, rumors running faster than the irrigation, a very large dog and a few mysterious deaths…I could not put it down! It’s a wonderful weekend read!

[Judith · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read. I'm truly sorry that this was the last book of A Garden Mystery series. I was also sorry to hear of author's passing March, 2018. I may have to try some of her science fiction series. 😉

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gardening is hard work and having good help is wonderful. The help Rachel has is the best, always willing to go to her help when things get messy in more ways than just gardening.

[MD · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed there didn’t seem to be much information about gardening other than rattling off names of plants that I didn’t recognize, but the story was fine.

[Margaret]

Not a bad cozy mystery, part of a series - I've read several. In this one, Rachel and Jeff are engaged and Rachel seems a little more mature and less impulsive than in previous stories (perhaps she's learned from her mistakes). I always enjoy the gardening aspect of the story, although the plant palette is for the Northwestern US. I liked that Rachel finally warmed up to the dog, Ben :). It could have had more plot intrigue/twists - I figured it out about halfway through but an enjoyable read.

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Characters: Rachael O'Connor who works as a landscaper in Blossom, Oregon; her boyfriend turned husband, Jeff, the chief of police; Mrs. Frey, Rachael's landlady; Spider, a kid who works for Rachael: and Peter, the cat. Characters connect throughout the series but the story line felt weak to me. I was also somewhat put off by a few rambling sentences. Nice easy read though, good for a restful summer day.

[Ryan Mishap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still like these more for the familiar setting then anything else, but not a bad way to spend a quiet afternoon, reading a cozy little mystery and all.

[Eunira · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Rachel had given up on the dog, I would have given up on this series.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good-solid storyline, I like!!

[Nancy H]

A good entry in this series!

[Nan Hurley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the setting, loved the story.

[H. Weisel]

I'm a gardener so I related to this on that level. And I thought the mystery was well done. It held my interest.