The Maine Mulch Murder
From Publishers Weekly
Smalltown Maine holds some unsettling and dangerous surprises like the unknown dead man Amy Creighton finds in a mulch pile. Sometime sweethearts Amy and constable Dort Adams find out they don't know all their neighbors as well as they'd thought in A. Carman Clark's debut mystery, The Maine Mulch Murder, the first in a projected series.
The Night-Blooming Cereus
(Joan Hadley is Joan Hess)
Retired florist Theo Bloomer couldn’t be happier. His night-blooming cereus, a plant that only flowers every five years, is finally threatening to bloom. Then his imperious sister calls with the news that he must hurry off to Israel, where her daughter Dorrie has threatened to remain on a kibbutz and miss her return to college.
Theo knows better than to argue and sets off for Israel, where he finds a very adamant Dorrie refusing to leave unless her roommate Judith goes with her.
Then, on an outing with Miriam, a charming founder of the kibbutz, Bloomer discovers the body of a harmless, feeble-minded servant girl. In his efforts to unravel the cause of her death, he makes some startling discoveries. Without their knowledge, his neice and her friend have stumbled onto a deadly game involving ancient Biblical scrolls and bombs for terrorists. What’s more, a man posing as a guest from Texas is really working for the CIA and couldn’t be more interested in what the girls have been up to.
Meanwhile, any minute now, back in his greenhouse, Theo’s cereus might well be ready… (from the publisher)
Three Dirty Women and the Garden of Death
In THREE DIRTY WOMEN AND THE GARDEN OF DEATH, an all-female landscaping company, Three Dirty Women, unearths more than than they bargain for when Amilou Whittier finds her philandering husband buried under a client's azaleas.
Her friend and partner, Korine McFaile, follows a twisting path to discover who really killed Greg Whittier. Was it Susannah Graham, whose past relationship with Greg Whittier may have been heating up again? Or was it Sally Tucker, who ran away with Greg and broke up Amilou's marriage, only to come back to town without him?
Things get really complicated when a second victim turns up. When the evidence points squarely at Amilou, Korine finds that supporting a friend can be easier in thought than in deed. (from murderexpress.net/juliewrayherman/dirtywomen.htm)
Devil's Trumpet
Rachel O'Connor's company, Rain Country Landscaping, may be struggling, but she has a dream job at Oregon's famed Columbia River Inn--until owner Henry Bassinger plunges to a suspicious death in the Columbia Gorge. If Rachel doesn't solve the murder soon, she will lose not only her livelihood but her life. (from fantasticfiction.co.uk)
Devil's Trumpet is Mary Freeman's triumphant mystery debut. Labeled "A Gardening Mystery," the novel successfully walks a razor's edge: detailed enough to satisfy gardening fans, but not so detailed that it alienates nongardeners. And for readers who can't wait for Freeman's next book, there is good news: under the name Mary Rosenblum, she has published three science fiction novels (The Drylands, Chimera, and The Stone Garden) and one collection (Synthesis & Other Virtual Realities) that are every bit as entertaining, ingenious, and populated with fascinating, sympathetic characters. --Cynthia Ward
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