The Lost Gardens
Anthony Eglin
Dunne, Apr 2006, $23.95
ISBN 0312328729

Upon inheriting Wickersham Priory in Somerset from a person she never met or heard of, a Major Ryder, American winemaker Jamie Gibson hires retired botany professor Dr. Lawrence Kingston to restore the neglected gardens overrun with weeds. As he clears much of the underbrush, Kingston uncovers a ruined chapel and healing well that contains the remains of a human. Inside the chapel are more bones and some modern day coins.

Kingston makes enquiries starting with why his client inherited the estate from a stranger, and into the lack of information into the family history of the previous owner. He borrows books from a local historian, and soon believes that the chapel built over a priory must contain a passage to what lies beneath it. Jamie tells him to forget ancient history and get on with his job, only to be severely injured in a questionable car crash while someone murders the restoration foreman. When the history books are stolen from his flat, Lawrence returns to the investigation knowing he must find the clues in the past to uncover the crimes of the present.

The second English Gardens mystery is a delightful amateur sleuth tale (see THE BLUE ROSE) that works on two levels, a superb whodunit cozy, and a fabulous look at gardening. Kingston is terrific in the dual roles of horticulturist and detective, while his client Jamie, though not sure why a total stranger bequeathed the estate to her, just wants to get on with fixing up the place and not deal with murder past and present. However, the stars of this superb British mystery are the gardens, as Anthony Eglin takes readers on a delightful tour filled with flowers, weeds, and corpses.