A Botanist at Bay, by John Sherwood (1985)

A Botanist at Bay, by John Sherwood. 1985

TOPICS: Location - New Zealand. Detective - amateur female. Topic: botany


Celia Grant, botanist and amateur sleuth, is on her way to New Zealand, where her daughter is about to have a baby.

She also plans, at the request of her friend the Duchess Hermione, to look for Uncle Bertie -- Lord Albert Melton -- whose strange disappearance is made even more puzzling by his photos of some very rare plants and a very naked redhead.

Upon her arrival, Celia learns that the redhead is Rosie Murphy, a radical member of New Zealand's Parliament, and a leader of an environmentalist battle against a dam that would endanger certain rare wild plants. Trouble is that Celia and her new friend, fellow botanist Tom MacRae, are certain those plants -- the very ones found in Uncle Bertie's photos -- aren't wild, aren't endangered, and were obviously recently transplanted at the proposed dam site!

Suddenly Rosie Murphy is murdured, and Celia Grant is the prime suspect! Can Celia combine her horticultural and investigative skills to learn the truth about the plants, find Uncle Bertie, and clear her name?

Celia Grant
1. Green Trigger Fingers (1984)
2. A Botanist at Bay (1985)
3. The Mantrap Garden (1986)
4. Flowers of Evil (1987)
5. Menacing Groves (1988)
6. A Bouquet of Thorns (1989)
7. The Sunflower Plot (1990)
8. The Hanging Garden (1992)
9. Creeping Jenny (1993)
10. Bones Gather No Moss (1994)
11. Shady Borders (1996)

Murder, My Suite, by Mary Daheim (1995)

Murder, My Suite, by Mary Daheim, "A bed and breakfast mystery", 1995

Truth to tell, I don't like Daheim's "Bed-and-breakfast" mysteries. Amateur detective Judith's cousin calls her coz all the time, an affectation that grates on my nerves. In addition, Judith's mother lives with her, and is a mean old biddy who doesn't like Judith's second husband, so we get a lot of verbal abuse. I just want to slap the old woman!

Nevertheless, it's definitely a "cozy." And there are a lot of books in the series so someone must like them...

Backmatter
Gossip columnist Dagmar Delacroix Chatsworth and her yappy lapdog Rover's recent stay at the hillside Manor left hostess Judith McMonigle Flynn's nerves, and best bed linens, in tatters. So Judith joins Cousin Renie for some well-earned off-season R&R at Canada's famous Bugler Ski Resort-only to discover with horror that the swanky getaway is the next stop on destestble Dagmar's itinerary. But it seems the cousins aren't the only guests with serious grudges against the dirt-disher and her malicious mutt.. And when one of the despised lady's entourage is murdered on the snowless slopes, Judith sets out to corner a killer-before more hapless hangers-on discover that Dagmar's company can be even more poisonous than her pen.

Opening paras
Judith Grover McMonigle Flynn stared in horror at the slashed beige drapes, the shredded down comforter,, and the tattered petit-point chair. Hillside Manor's choice bedroom was a shamble. Judith understood why her current guest had been thrown out of the Cascadia Hotel.

Between A Wok and a Hard Place, by Tamar Myers

Between A Wok and a Hard Place, Tamar Myers, 1998

Author Tamar Myers prose begins to grate on me after a while, and I cringe at her pun-laden titles, but her books are certainly popular. I've just checked out her website and learned her biography, which is pretty interesting. Her parents were missionaries in the Belgian Congo, where she was born and grew up for the first 16 years of her life. So when she talks about culture shock (having never driven, never used a phone, never used a vending machine, she knows what she's talking about! She's been in the US since 1964. http://tamarmyers.com/bio.htm

So, to the plot of Between A Wok and A Hard Place:
Ever since her brand new husband flew the coop, Magdalena Yoder, owner of the quaint Penn-Dutch Inn, has had time to kill. And now the local Amish commmunity has a murder in its midst: an Asian tourist found strangled and run over by a horse and buggy. It isn't a crime Police Chief Melvin Stoltzfus can easily handle; after all, he was once kicked in the head by a bull he was trying to milk. But he's smart enough to deputize Magdalena.

Soon Magdalena is off visiting the neatly kept farms of the Plain People, in search of the truth. Although not an outsider, she's about as welcome as a fox in a henhouse. Something dangerous is being concealed behind their dour faces and determination to protect their own. And as for Magdalena, finding a killer may just put her between the rock of faith and a hard place called justice....

Opening paragraph

I was a virgin until I married at age 46. Use it or lose it, my sister Susannah always said. Maybe she was right.

Of course this is none of your business. I am a God-fearing womanvand I certainly do not intend to discuss my sex life with you. It is imperative, however, that you understand that I was still in a state of shock when the events I am about to relate happened. After all, I had been married only a month, and what Mama had only hinted at paled in comparison with the real thing. I was born and raised on a farm and had seen animals-cows and horses-but never a naked man. How was I to know they looked like that? Thanksgiving is forever ruined for me. I can't even look at a turkey neck now without feeling embarrased.