Kate Collins A Rose from the Dead

A Rose from the Dead

Kate Collins

Obsidian, Dec 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 9780451222411

In New Chapel, Indiana, flower shop owner Abby Knight worries about her business failing. She needs new customers and knows that flowers and funerals go together like bacon and eggs. Thus she decides to open up a "tasteful" floral booth at the Funeral Director Society's annual convention.

On the down side Abby will deal with some creepy souls who appreciate the DEARLY DEPOTTED as no one else can dig them. For instance the Colonel who is president of the FDS is the self anointed Master Mortician who insists he knows everything there is in converting a corpse into a living tribute and is willing to tell anyone who is not afraid to ask him for a consultation. Then there is the environmental ground hugger Eli "Green Guy" Cotton who believes Kermit is right that grieving relatives should send their loved ones off in green. The lively gala turns morbid when cosmetician to the dead Sybil "the Diva of Death Masks" Blount is killed. Unable to resist, Abby investigates who was drumming up business.

The latest Flower Shop mystery (see MUM'S THE WORD and ACTS OF VIOLET) is an amusing graveyard amateur sleuth that will have the audience laughing at the antics of the conventioneers and Abby's matchmaking mom. The story line is humorous as Abby knows she should have snipped her curiosity in the bud, but instead digs up clues.

Harriet Klausner