Death At The Spring Plant Sale

Gardening Mysteries #8

by Ann Ripley

Louise comes to the Bethesda Garden Club's famous spring plant sale hoping to get great footage for her public television show, Gardening with Nature. But companionable chats take a back seat to sleuthing when club president Catherine Freeman is shot point-blank in her own driveway. The police are convinced her husband, the controversial head of the Federal Reserve, was the true target. Louise, however, is not so sure.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

A former newspaperwoman, Ann Ripley now spends her time organic-gardening and writing mysteries. She lives with her husband, Tony, in Lyons, Colorado. Her first novel, Mulch, won the Top Hand Award from the Colorado Authors' League. She is now at work on her fifth gardening mystery.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Louise Eldridge - wife, mother, amateur sleuth, and host of a public television gardening show - drives from her Virginia home to Bethesda, Maryland to tape a show at the Bethesda Garden Club's spring sale.


The TV episode showcases the club's president, Catherine Freeman, a wealthy, capable leader accustomed to winning first place in all garden club competitions.



Naturally, this irks other club members who crave recognition for their own prowess in growing plants and arranging flowers, etc. As it happens Catherine inspires further envy in some of the local ladies because she's married to Walter Freeman, a high-profile government economist who hobnobs with important people in Washington.



While in Bethesda Louise stays with her old friend Emily Holiday, a once independent, vibrant woman who now seems to be under the thumb of her conservative, repressive husband Tom. On the evening after the garden show taping, Louise, Emily, and Tom are walking the Holiday family dog around their Bethesda neighborhood when they hear gunfire. They come to discover that Catherine Freeman was shot and killed in the car as she and her husband Walter were returning from an evening out.



The question arises: was the shooter really aiming at Walter? Louise, unable to resist her sleuthing instincts, is compelled to investigate the crime and Emily, in need of some excitement, is an enthusiastic sidekick.



This is one of those books where the amateur sleuths are more capable than the police of figuring out what the important evidence is, who the real suspects should be, etc. Louise repeatedly tries to put the police on the right track, but they reject her interference - which only makes her more adamant to solve the crime.

Louise and Emily decide the killer must be one of the women in the garden club (apparently because these are the only suspects they have easy access to) and proceed to investigate the ladies.



I like cozies, but in books set in modern times - with police having access to forensics, phone records, CCTV, and so on - it strains credulity to think amateur detectives are more capable of solving a crime than the cops. Even accepting that amateurs are better, however, this story relies too much on blind luck and an unlikely confession to unveil Catherine's killer.

The characters in the story - with their jealousies and clandestine maneuverings - are mildly interesting but the plot is not credible. The author does, however, weave some interesting gardening tips into the story, and provides a useful essay in the back of the book about gardening in times of drought.



For me, the story was too unrealistic to be totally enjoyable but fervent cozy fans might like the book more than I did.

You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com/

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

TV host, Louise Eldridge and her crew drive out to shoot a segment on an old, established Georgetown garden club and their plant sale. Her old college bestie, Emily, is hosting her stay and gives her backstory to the club and its members. When the president of such is shot dead in her own driveway, with her oh so influential Washington hubby sitting next to her, just as Louise, Emily & husband are walking their dog within a block, it’s a whodunnit of a garden variety. Rotating suspects pop their heads up & out like thistle as motives mount higher than a fall mulch pile. Clues are a constant and scenarios you expect to happen, don’t, yet surprise twists hybridize with zeal.
It’s typical Washington, with bed-hopping, back scratching, blind loyalties, and subservience. Just when things are at their tensest, humor drops in via newsman, Charlie. (A big LOL for me.)
I was bummed not to have the garden tips slipped in, until the last chapter, which was followed by a garden essay. Delightful!
Strong characters, zippy dialogue and plenty to keep you guessing.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Up front, I must say that I chose to read this book on the basis of it's title and cover as part of a spring reading challenge I am doing. Consequently it was quite different to the usual hard-hitting thrillers and crime fiction that I would normally choose to read.

Set in upper class America, the main protagonist is TV journalist Louise Eldridge. Following her filming of a segment for a friend's gardening club, the president of the club Catherine Freeman is shot and murdered in her car as she arrives home from a function with her husband. Catherine's husband is America's top economist, and it is unknown whether she or he was the intended target. With a plethora of suspects with good motives, and with a history of successful amateur snooping in her hometown, Louise can't help herself but to investigate the crime.

Louise focuses her investigations on the garden club and bumbles around town with her old friend Ellen creating enemies and allies alike, before eventually having the case literally solved before her eyes.

Having a preference for gritty, hard-boiled crime fiction this book was never going to be my cup of tea. To be honest I found the plot basic and somewhat juvenile. The investigative skills were somewhere between The Famous Five (with lashings of snobbery) and Murder She Wrote! A few times during the novel, the investigators were labeled 'Miss Marples', but I think this was doing Miss Marples a disservice. I also had the ending pegged well before I got there, which is always a little deflating. There are other books in the series, but I will be content to stop after this one.

[Carol Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This mystery novel featuring a couple of amateur sleuths was not perfect, but it held my interest, and I am not normally a mystery reader. I was intrigued by the title and by the fact that it was on the "librarian recommends" shelf at my local library. It features an amateur sleuth who is a middle-aged TV-show host living in the Washington, D. C., area. She visits an old friend and is drawn into solving a murder mystery that she and her friend witness on one of their evening walks. The characters interested me more than the mystery, to tell the truth, as they were all interesting and multi-faceted. We got to see several of the characters from various other characters' points of view, which is unusual and yielded some surprises. I would recommend it to those who like to combine their mystery reads with character studies of ordinary people.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting mystery. I have read a number of cooking, knitting, and crocheting mysteries but never one with a gardening theme. I may check out others in this series since the characters were interest--wives of "spies."

[Heather Duris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick fun read

[Susan Mattes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer reading 2021 Morse Institute Natick and Goodnow library Sudbury

[Lyn Soulia-Smith]

Nice cozy mystery. Enjoyed the characters

[B Shelton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another light and breezy book by Ms Ripley. An enjoyable read for any Gardner who enjoys cozies.

[Pooch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in DC area, Louise the main character, is a PBS host for a gardening show. Plot revolves around competition @ high-end plant sale leading , of course, to murder to gain the advantage of winning coveted blue ribbon & access to contacts with seed companies.

Very engaging and relaxing read.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun book about a group of garden club ladies that try to solve the murder of their garden club president and get in deeper that they think.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too obvious.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

slow going, so much that I'll trade in the rest of the series for something else.

[Janet Schaffner · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fun read

[Teri-K]

Perhaps I was in the wrong mood, but this book seemed to be full of unlikable, unhappy people all trying to one-up each other. I wasn't enjoying it so I stopped reading. :(

[Marianne Delwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't join a garden club.

Enjoyable book, painted some very nice pictures of suburbia surrounding DC.