The Garden Plot (Book Review and Giveaway)

Title: The Garden Plot
Author: Marty Wingate

Publication Information: Alibi, Random House, 2014, ISBN 978-0-8041-7770-2 (ebook original)

Genre: Mystery     Setting:  England

Plot: 50ish Pru Parke has always dreamed of living in England, her mother’s country, so after a failed relationship, she moves from Dallas to London hoping to get permanent work as professional gardener.  Giving herself a year to find a full time position, Pru makes ends meet through small projects so is pleased when she is hired by Vernona Wilson to tidy up a garden.  But when Pru finds a body in the garden shed, she is plunged into a police investigation.  Although intrigued by Detective Chief Inspector Pearse, Pru can’t help following up a few leads on her own, even though the handsome detective warns her she might put herself in danger…

Audience: Anglophiles, gardening fans and fans of cozy mysteries.  Remember that you don't need to own a Kindle to read an ebook.

What I liked: This is a charming debut mystery with an appealing heroine whose melancholy is understandable in someone basically alone in the world and living in a new city.  One yearns for Pru to alleviate her loneliness by making more friends, and DCI Pearse’s interest seems like more than enough reason for Pru to extend her sojourn in England.  There aren’t a lot of books about women of a certain age which is another plus for what I hope is the beginning of a new series.

Each chapter begins with a letter declining her services from one of the gardening positions Pru has applied for – I wish my job rejections were that funny (not that Pru is amused).

What I disliked:  I know a plot involving an amateur sleuth requires that she pursue her curiosity but I get tired of heroines who withhold information from the police and gratuitously put themselves in danger. It works better if there is some plausible reason other than pique to pursue leads on one’s own.   This was a good read although the whodunnit seemed a bit obvious.

Source: I received this book from TLC Book Tours (via the publisher and NetGalley) and urge you to stop by the Garden Plot tour.   This tour includes a giveaway for a Grand Prize of a $30 egiftcard to the ebook retailer of the winner's choice, and a First Prize Mystery Prize Pack of three mystery mass market paperbacks and a gardening title from Random House.
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The Garden Plot Tour

 Monday, April 28th:  5 Minutes for Books

Wednesday, April 30th:  Reading Reality

Thursday, May 1st:  Patricia’s Wisdom

Monday, May 5th:  From the TBR Pile

Monday, May 5th:  Kelly’s France Blog 

Tuesday, May 6th:  Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews  

Wednesday, May 7th:  A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, May 8th:  Bibliotica

Monday, May 12th: Under a Gray Sky

Wednesday, May 14th: A Bookish Way of Life

Thursday, May 15th: Joyfully Retired

Friday, May 16th:  Kahakai Kitchen

Tuesday, May 20th:  Serendipity Reviews

Wednesday, May 21st: Mom in Love with Fiction

Thursday, May 22nd:  Stitch Read Cook

Thursday, May 29th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Northanger Abbey (Book Review)

Title: Northanger Abbey
Author: Val McDermid

Publication Information: Harper Collins, Hardcover, 2014

Genre: Fiction

Setting: 21st century Scotland

Plot:  Giddy teenager Cat Morland, a minister’s daughter, is invited to accompany affluent and generous neighbors, the Allens, to Edinburgh for the Festival.  Homeschooled and naive, Cat has spent more time obsessing over Twilight than preparing for a career. 

So Great a Love (Book Review)

Title:  So Great a Love
Author: Gladys Malvern

Publication Information: Macrae Smith Co., 1962, Beebliome Books 2013 (ebook)

Genre: YA Historical Fiction

Setting:  17th Century England

Plot:  It is 1641 and lovely Lady Henrietta Wade, known as Hal, is lady in waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England (the cover actually comes from a portrait of the Queen). 

Happy Easter!

How true, how true!

The Idea of Him (Book Review)

Title: The Idea of Him
Author: Holly Peterson

Publication Information: William Morrow, Trade Paperback, April 2014

Genre: Fiction verging on Chick Lit

Setting: 21st century NYC

Plot: Chick lit used to refer to a genre of fiction involving sprightly single women experiencing the travails of love and a usually not too demanding career, surrounded by friends and family (in that order).  The genre expanded (perhaps as that first group of Bridget Jones readers aged, or perhaps because the industry needed some fresh plots) to include busy working women, with bland or troubled marriages, facing some kind of challenge, sometimes with the spouse.  Points/extra credit if the book is set in a vibrant city like New York or London, though I am partial to the quaint village backdrop which is a favorite of British authors such as Katie Fforde.

The Winter Siege (Book Review)

Title: The Winter Siege: A Daniel Cheswis Mystery
Author: D. W. Bradbridge

Publication Information: Electric Reads, 2013, trade paperback

Genre: Historical Fiction     
Setting:  17th Century England 

 Plot:  “...but pray tell me, are you for the King or for Parliament?”

1643. The armies of King Charles I and Parliament clash in the streets and fields of England, threatening to tear the country apart, as winter closes in around the parliamentary stronghold of Nantwich. The royalists have pillaged the town before, and now, they are returning. But even with weeks to prepare before the Civil War is once more at its gates, that doesn’t mean the people of Nantwich are safe.

Common Ground (A Pictorial Review)

When David C. Scheper, former Harvard center turned attorney, was in Boston recently, he told me Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas, was one of his favorite books, and asked me to describe how the Boston neighborhoods depicted in that book geographically relate to the parts of Boston with which he is more familiar.  Common Ground, a Turbulent Decade in theLives of Three American Families, won the Pulitzer in 1986 for its memorable depiction of three Boston families from very different backgrounds experiencing Boston school desegregation in the 1960s and 1970s.   My father, having worked with legendary judge W. Arthur Garrity in the U.S. Attorney’s Office (who later issued the decision that mandated school busing), was one of the first people Tony Lukas interviewed for the book, and I am very familiar with it.

Bellagrand (Book Review)

Title: Bellagrand       
Author: Paullina Simons

Publication: William Morrow, hardcover, March 2014

Genre: Historical Fiction   Setting: 20th century

 

Plot:  Bellagrand is a sequel to Sons of Liberty (which is likely a better starting point for new readers than this book) and written as a backstory to Simons’ bestselling trilogy, which begins with The Bronze Horseman.  In Sons of Liberty, blueblood and Harvard educated Harry Barrington met a beautiful Italian immigrant, Gina Attaviano.  They eloped prior to Bellagrand and, disowned by his wealthy Brahmin family and unable to hold a job, Harry continues and escalates his involvement in radical politics while Gina takes on the most menial jobs to support him and her infirm mother.