Kate Collins Dearly Depotted

Dearly Depotted

Kate Collins

After flunking out of law school, Abby Knight buys Bloomers, a New Chapel, Indiana flower shop from the original owner Lottie who sold the store when her husband's medical bills nearly forced them into bankruptcy. For the Fourth of July weekend, one of Abby's clients ordered begonias in red, white, & blue but the supplier sent pink carnations forcing Abby to spray paint them red.

She is also the bridesmaid at her cousin Jillian's wedding, the same relative who stood up four husbands-to-be. Abby makes sure that her cousin goes through with their wedding but after the nuptials, she finds a dead body in the gazebo. The dead man is the father of Melanie's child (jillian's cousin) who had a fight with Melanie's father. Instead the police arrest the boyfriend of Abby's assistant because he threatened the victim after he discovered he was embezzling from his company and has a record that says he murdered someone in Texas. Abby sets out to prove he is innocent even though it puts her life in danger.

Dearly Depotted is an exciting who-done-it because there are so many suspects who had reasons to kill the victim that readers will become absorbed in the story and will finish in one sitting. The heroine is loyal to her friends and is determined to find a suspect other than Richard while she is trying to figure out if her friend Marco who she is attracted to is ever going to take her out. Kate Collins' amateur sleuth tale is original and charming with so many unexpected twists that readers will have a hard time trying to figure out who the murderer really is.

Signet, July 2005, $6.50, 304

ISBN 0451215850

Harriet Klausner