Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425251300
Berkley Prime Crime
304 Pages
$1.99; $2.99 Amazon
June 5, 2012
⭐
Camellia Harris has achieved a coup in the PR world. The premier national magazine for garden lovers has agreed to feature one of Roanoke's most spectacular gardens in its pages -- and world-famous photographer Jean-Jacques Georges is going to shoot the spread. But at the welcoming party, Jean-Jacques insults several guests, complains that flowers are boring, and gooses almost every woman in the room. When a body is found the next morning, sprawled across the azaleas, it's almost no surprise that the victim is Jean-Jacques.
With Cam's brother-in-law blamed for the crime - and her reporter boyfriend, Rob, wanting the scoop - Cam decides to use her skills to solve the murder. Luckily a PR pro like Cam knows how to be nosy...
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Camellia Harris is great at PR for her company, and she's achieved a major coup in being able to photograph Neil Harris's garden done by a famous photographer, Jean-Jacques Georges. But during a party the night before a photo shoot, she overhears a conversation between him and a friend, and she discovers that he's about as French as she is.
She's also disgusted by his rude behavior, when she sees him goosing her sister Petunia and several other women. But before she can make her feelings known to anyone, the next morning she arrives at the home of Mr. Harris and sees that there's a dead man in the main garden -- and he's dead. Finding out it's Jean-Jacques, and that her brother-in-law Nick is the main suspect, Cam is determined to find the killer before he's convicted for a crime he didn't commit. Now if she can just keep her wits about her and out of the eye of the killer she just might find the truth and make it out alive...
This is the first in the series, and unfortunately, it was one of those that was thrown over by Berkley Publishing when they decided to cut their cozy mystery line. Since I haven't seen more than the three that were written, I still decided to read the book to see if the rest were worth my time.
The book started out slow for me. For some reason, it just couldn't grab my attention and it took longer to "get going," as it were. Perhaps it was the fact that Cam seems to have no personality; I think Annie would have been a better choice as the protagonist of the book, but oh well.
First off, who forgets to eat for ten hours? You'd get woozy, and maybe even nauseous. The body is a giant computer that tells you things important. Sorry, but I'm not buying into this one. She's 5'8" and only 117 and gets offended when her boyfriend Rob tells her she's skinny. Eat a sandwich. I'm 5'8" and if I weighed that little my husband would think I was anorexic.
The plot was decent enough, with the man being killed in the garden, and when Cam started investigating, she found a plethora of suspects, who all might have had a reason to want him dead. So when she starts digging, she discovers that many of them had secrets - including her brother-in-law and her best friend, Annie. Secrets that could have led to either one of them being the murderer.
I did think it was rather small of Jake to keep mentioning Annie's "record." She smashed a car window because she found out the guy she was dating wasn't who she thought he was. She didn't rob a bank or get arrested for drugs or an illegal gun. Geez. What a tool. Jake even thought Annie was guilty of murder because of this. Seriously? It also irritated me that the characters needed to get drunk every time they got upset. Drinking doesn't solve problems and it only brings more - like hangovers, liver issues, etc. But these characters found a reason to drink every chance they got. Sheesh.
Aside from this there were plenty of red herrings, and plenty of distractions. Every time you got led down one rabbit hole, another appeared. While you're thinking it's one person, another appears. So you never quite get the answers to the questions, because once you do, more questions pop up. The only person you know didn't commit the crimes is Cam's father, Nelson. It was all completely confusing, all through the entirety of the book. A lot of chaos with everyone running around and then comparing notes about who was doing what.
I got the feeling that the author couldn't decide who to make the murderer, so made nearly everyone a suspect while she continued to write the story and figure out who she didn't like most. The characters weren't developed at all, they just kept investigating - clumsily - and drinking to think things through. Because everyone knows that booze helps you think clearer. Honestly? And Annie didn't have anyone to help her at her bakery, so depended on Cam and Rob when she needed to make a few dozen brownies. (And, of course, they needed to drink so they could bake). Okay, then...not to mention Cam's sister Petunia needed Cam's help when she was catering for her restaurant. Do these people know what the word 'employees' mean? When Annie was in jail, did her bakery fold up while she was gone? Wouldn't that be bad for business? How were either women making any money?
In the end, when everything is revealed, and the police have the right murderer - you think - Cam comes up with other questions and then there's more questions and the end of the book gives you the right answers. I think. It sort of just leaves you hanging, with the murderer about to be caught but never gives you complete closure and finishes up, so how did they get everything closed with the murderer caught and how? So will I read the other two in this series? That's a big NO. Sorry. I like my mysteries tied up nicely with a feeling of satisfaction, not wondering 'what happened here?'
https://www.amazon.com/Azalea-Assault-Garden-Society-Mystery/dp/0425251306/ref=
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3388418594
More on Alyse Carlson: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/alyse-carlson/
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