Weeding Out Trouble

Nina Quinn #5

by Heather Webber

Landscaper Nina Quinn would do anything for her employees. After all, Taken by Surprise, her garden makeover business, wouldn''t be blooming if it weren''t for them. So when Kit Pipe, her right-hand handyman, goes missing, Nina immediately starts digging into his disappearance. But all she finds is Daisy Bedinghaus, Kit''s ex—and she''s dead as dirt. An ex-con who''d been dumped by Daisy not long before her murder, Kit''s the prime suspect. But Nina''s determined to prove his innocence and nip this whole thing in the bud. After all, it''ll get her out of her all-too-crowded house, where her ex-husband the cop is recovering from a gunshot wound on her couch and her thorny new stepson is giving her the evil eye. But as she comes closer to unearthing the truth, Nina will find that facing the frost in her home is nothing compared to confronting the real killer''s ice-cold stare.

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy, Romance, Ebooks, Chick Lit, Crime

228 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 29, 2008

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Heather Webber loves to read, drink too much coffee and tea, birdwatch, crochet, and bake. She currently lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, and is hard at work on her next book. *Heather also writes under the pen name Heather Blake.

Facebook author page:
Heather Webber Facebook

Facebook Bookaholics Group: Heather Blake Webber Bookaholics

Reviews

[Corrine-The Book Broad (❁´◡`❁)]

3.5 Stars

[AngryGreyCat]

Weeding Out Trouble is book 5 in the Nina Quinn Mystery series. Nina is a divorced landscaper currently living with her stepson. She gets involved with a murder when one of her employees disappears under mysterious circumstances. There is a large cast of characters supporting Nina and she has an interesting personal and career life. The current murder case is complicated by massive snowstorm dropping feet of snow. There are lots of possibilities to explore here with illegal drugs, crooked police, and jealous lovers. Quick cozy read from Heather Webber, who also writes cozies as Heather Blake.

[Caitlin C]

I swear I love everything this woman writes! This was the 5th installment of the Nina Quinn gardening mysteries. Nina's company Taken By Surprise does surprise landscaping makeovers. She has a very dedicated crew and loves her employees. When, Kit, her right hand man goes missing and his ex-girlfriend is found dead all suspicion points to Kit. Nina knows Kit and doesn't believe for a second that he could be capable of murdering Daisy. Despite numerous warnings and a constant police tail, Nina and her friends (this time Brickhouse and Perry) pull out all the stops to prove Kit's innocence. This is made even more complicated by Nina's ex-husband, Kevin moving back in while he recuperates from a gun shot injury. In addition to proving Kit's innocence, Nina is also trying to figure out what's going on with the influx of poultry that has been invading her neighborhood. I was actually surprised to learn the identity of the killer, I did not see that coming.

[Connie N.]

#5 in the Nina Quinn cozy mystery series

When the girlfriend of one of her employees is found dead, he's the police's prime suspect. He disappears, and because Nina doesn't believe him capable of murder, she finds herself involved in the investigation. To complicate her life, she's hosting Thanksgiving for Bobby's family and hasn't had a chance to go shopping yet. Plus Kevin (her ex) is staying at her house while he recuperates from being shot. Riley (her ex's son) is showing signs of doing some illegal activity that she's worried about. And there are wild turkeys running around the neighborhood, panicking the older folks about the possibility of bird flu. Needless to say, Nina gets finds herself in some sticky (and humorous) situations, sometimes even dangerous. But I like how she methodically sifts through the facts that she gleans from helpful neighbors and other contacts. Nothing about the business this time--it's all personal.

[Toni]

Loving this series

When I first started this series I was still big into the grief of losing my parents. I just wanted things to work out. And so many things in this series didn't workout at first. But eventually they did. It gave me hope that my life might be the same as Nina's, eventually the stars will align and things in my world would be right again. This series is giving me a sign of peace. I'm not sure that was the author's intention, but I thank her anyway

[Barb]

It's been quite some time since I read the previous book in this series, mostly because I kept waiting for an audio version to be released. That never happened, but I discovered that I can have my Kindle read to me, which is almost as good; the pronunciation isn't perfect (e.g., live is always pronounced to rhyme with hive, no matter what the context), but it's usually not problematic to the story itself.

It didn't take long to re-acquaint myself with the major characters, but I'm glad their relationships were explained as this book progressed. I love the idea of Nina's business, doing surprise garden renovations for her clients, but although it was mentioned occasionally, there was very little garden work going on here. Instead the story focused on finding one of Nina's employees who is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend.

Because of the nature of cozy mysteries, it was obvious that he wasn't the killer, but there were only a handful of other characters that made it onto my list of possible suspects. I kept changing my mind about who was most likely to be the culprit, helped along by a few red herrings, but I was surprised in the end when the killer was revealed. Given the story line, the motive made sense, but the reveal still shocked me.

There are only two more books in the series, and I do not currently own either of them. I will have to look around for a deal on the ebooks before I am able to continue the series.

[Sue Ellen]

The last book ended on a double cliffhanger, so I expected this book to jump right in where the last one left off. Wrong! Instead, it fast forwarded several weeks with no details about the two cliffhangers until several pages in. I felt ripped off! Cliffhangers are bad enough. Failure to follow through immediately is unforgivable. It soured the rest of the book for me.

The book itself felt like a series ender, but I know there are a few more books left. I'm wondering if the author thought this would be the final book when she wrote it and that explains the lackluster failure to follow through. I'll finish out the series and hope this is the last time the author gets the readers all worried about the fate of a main character only to treat it like no big deal in the next book.

[Jason D]

I normally don't read this type of book, but wanted to try it just for the heck of it. I think the author does this just for fun and doesn't take any of it too seriously.

It's quirky at best. Some things just don't fit and are kind of goofy IMO. Because of this, the story didn't really pull me in.

I liked the mystery aspect and how she sets you up trying to figure out the perp.

Honestly, if you want something light, goofy and less believable, this might be alright. But if you are expecting more, you might be dissatisfied.

[Allison Ann]

Haven't read about Nina's wacky life in awhile. It was nice to come back to this world but there was not a single scrap of landscaping in this book and that is always my favourite part, so it was missed. Lots of change in Nina's personal life so it will be interesting to see where everything goes in the next book, which I believe is the last in the series. Let's hope there is some closure.

My mistake, two left. :)

[Lori]

I skimmed a lot of this book, but only because I wanted to know who the bad guy was. Next author!

Also, anyone who thinks it is even remotely 'cute' to let your big dog slobber all over people, is totally ridiculous. I don't care how much you love your dog, I can promise you, others do not like being slobbered on, jumped on, sniffed between the legs, etc.

[Rachael]

I really enjoyed the author's down to earth writing style. Nina is a fun and quirky character, who's always getting herself mixed up into trouble. I especially enjoyed watching her grow in her relationship with Bobby and finally put her issues with her ex where they belong.

[Abby]

Nina may not always get who the villian is correctly, but I love her journey trying to discover the truth and get Kit out of trouble. Her neighbors and friends and family are a wonderful assortment of characters.

[Vanessa]

Another adventure with Nina! Looking forward to the next one!

[Susan]

Very good.

[Karyn]

A wonderfully fun mystery. Nina wants to prove that her friend Kit is innocent of the murder of his exgirlfriend. A really great cast of characters. A fun read.

[Fran]

3.5

[Mary]

Nina is on the hunt to find her employee, Kit, and to clear him of murdering his ex. Enjoyable read.

[Truitti]

I am really enjoying this series

[Michael McNulty]

Fun

The story has many facets and story lines that make very enjoyable and unpredictable. The usual cast characters do not disappoint

[Helen]

I loved the reveal and the great ending!

[Emily Gleason]

This was fluff but a good escape read.

[Dlynn1116]

3.5. Sweet funny. Great characters

[Noreen]

Fun fluff while awaiting other more meaty books.

[Gerry]

I should have read the earlier books first. I had trouble keeping track of the characters in the story.

[Martha Pilarski]

As always such a good read didn’t want it to end!

[Michale]

3 and 1/2 stars.

[Shirley Smith]

Too slapstick for me, but I was still hooked into the mystery.

[Robin DeJarnett]

This is the latest edition to the Nina Quinn series, and the third that I've read. It's my favorite so far.

I really love Nina's distinctive voice. There's just a hint of romance mixed in with the mystery - I could use a little more, but it's a cozy, not a romance novel. This felt like it could be the end of this series...there was some serious character wrap-ups. I need to check out Ms. Webber's website to see what she's working on next.

The wrap-ups were very well done - the book had a very satisfying ending (something you know that matters to me). That probably puts it at the top of the three I've read, but I still want to go and catch up on the two I missed.

One thing that this one lacked was the gardening aspect, so if you're into the theme as much as the mystery, you might be a little disappointed. I'm not a huge gardener, so it wasn't a big loss to me.

After three of these fun little books, I feel like Nina is a friend, and can't wait for her to visit again. I will say that Nina is much more generous with who can stay in her house than I would be - but she has some awesome friends.

Check out the series - you may have to order it online, but it's worth it!

[Karen]

This started out pretty exciting and I was thinking "author I can read" !!!! but as always had to add some elements that totally turned me off (why they always preach their unnatural life style-shoving it down my throat is beyond me. Nothing to offer, but death with it. ) So ignoring that part the story was kind of cute with the turkeys and sweet elderly and neighborhood. A really great start of a story which may have been a 5, I can barely give a 2. Since I got this from library loan and will not have anymore-library not carrying this author, I am going to try 1 more since I do have a few days. But even though I have 3 more from this author if #2 I read Digging Up Trouble causes me more weeds of annoyance than the last(or the same trouble )-other 3 from Webber are headed to "compost" library book drop without digging one word out.

[Karen-Leigh]

Landscaper Nina Quinn would do anything for her employees. After all, Taken by Surprise, her garden makeover business, wouldn't be blooming if it weren't for them. So when Kit Pipe, her right-hand handyman, goes missing, Nina immediately starts digging into his disappearance. But all she finds is Daisy Bedinghaus, Kit's ex—and she's dead as dirt.

An ex-con who'd been dumped by Daisy not long before her murder, Kit's the prime suspect. But Nina's determined to prove his innocence and nip this whole thing in the bud. After all, it'll get her out of her all-too-crowded house, where her ex-husband the cop is recovering from a gunshot wound on her couch and her thorny new stepson is giving her the evil eye. But as she comes closer to unearthing the truth, Nina will find that facing the frost in her home is nothing compared to confronting the real killer's ice-cold stare.