Joyce and Jim Lavene, Poisoned Petals

Poisoned Petals

Joyce and Jim Lavene

Berkley, May 2007, $6.99

ISBN: 0425215814

Fiftyish Dr. Peggy Lee is coming back to life after the death of her beloved husband two years ago. Although she is still teaching at the college, her heart is with her garden shop, The Potting Shed and she has a new man in her life, Steve, a vet seven years younger than her. She wonders if she should give up teaching to work full time at the shop and as a forensic botanist consultant to the police.

While collecting endangered plants to replant in the Community Garden that is part of Feed America and led by her friend Darmus, she meets his brother Luther, who tells her he is dying of cancer. On impulse she goes to Darmus' house and smells gas; the place explodes and Darmus is declared dead. However when she looks at the corpse, she knows this is not Darmus. Luther who now heads Feed America dies a few days later. An autopsy reveals he was poisoned with the evidence pointing towards his sibling; Peggy thinks otherwise and plans to prove it.

Joyce and Jim Lavene are a fabulous team who create poignant entertaining mysteries. The investigation is cleverly plotted and potted so that readers struggle with the identity of the killer as Darmus looks guilty, but the heroine thinks otherwise; fans will wonder if she could be wrong. The support cast from her parents to her friends to her new man adds depth to a delightful botany mystery.

Harriet Klausner