Gone But Not For Garden (A Goddess of Greene St. Mystery Book 4)

Author:    Kate Collins

Genre:     Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book (Audiobook Available)

ISBN #:    9781496740021

Kensington Cozies

368 Pages

$8.99; $6.99 Amazon

January 24, 2023

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Athena Spencer works with her big Greek-American family (whom she also anonymously blogs about) at their garden center near Lake Michigan.  She's also gained a reputation for crime-solving -- and that's what brings flower-shop owner and fellow sleuth Abby Knight Salvare to her door...

Abby has come from Indiana to this Lake Michigan town to help her cousin, Jillian, who was emceeing a local fashion show and now stands accused of murdering one of the models.  Some of Sequoia's most prominent citizens were on the catwalk, so there's increasing pressure to have the next event be a perp walk.

The clueless Jillian is in jail after ignoring orders not to leave town, and she isn't happy -- orange is not her color.  Along with her handsome PI partner, Case, Athena starts making inquiries, while tiptoeing around the wives of the town's mayor and police chief.  In the meantime, the two detectives are becoming fast friends.  After all, in addition to homicide, Abby and Athena share an interest in horticulture -- though right now the only thing they're growing is their list of suspects...

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Athena Spencer works at her family's garden center while raising her son, Nicholas.  She also, after solving a few murders, has a new PI agency with her partner and love interest, Case Donnelly.  Their latest case involves the death of a local model, who was found dead in her dressing room.  The main suspect is a woman named Jillian, who happens to be the cousin of another PI.

Abby Knight Salvare, who owns a flower shop and a PI agency with her husband Marco, is is town asking for Athena's help in finding a killer.  She's going to stay as long as it takes to find out the truth.  Unfortunately, two of the other suspects are the wives of top officials in Sequoia, and they aren't happy to be on the hotseat.  But it's up to the three to figure out what happened and why, and they aren't giving up until Jillian is a free woman -- even if it puts their own lives in danger...

This is the fourth book in the series and I have read them all.  I was surprised to see a "cross-over" in this book, but I enjoyed it immensely.  Abby is the protagonist of the author's Flower Shop Mysteries, and a successful sleuth in her own right.  In this book, we have the two women joining forces, and Athena gets to see how Abby goes about conducting her own investigation.  While Athena isn't as assertive as Abby, she's learning from the seasoned veteran, and the two women together are formidable indeed.

It turns out there are even more suspects in the wings, and eventually they get help from an unexpected source (a person I would like to see more of in future books); and while Case is working on another case out of town, the two women are much on their own.  Between working the case, Athena also has her other duties to take care of, and of course, spend time with her son.  (Just reading about it all makes me exhausted!).  

There is plenty going on here, along with a county fair, her sister Delphi keeping secrets, and, of course, her mother trying to set up another one of her daughters in a relationship.  It all makes for an entertaining read that's intriguing and full of fun, and when the ending comes and the killer is revealed, it's a bit of a surprise; also surprising (but great) the climax itself.  This book is probably my favorite of the series so far, and I heartily look forward to the next one.  Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Garden-Goddess-Greene-Mystery-ebook/dp/B0B17DQJF4/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5363317427

More on Kate Collins's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/kate-collins/

A Big Fat Greek Murder (A Goddess of Greene Street Mystery Book 2)

Author:    Kate Collins

Genre:     Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:    9781496724359\/

Kensington Publishing

336 Pages

$6.99; $6.64 Amazon

December 1, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The entire family has been put to work when a big fat Greek wedding rehearsal is booked at the Parthenon.  All hands are needed for rolling grape leaves, layering moussaka, and keeping the bride calm.  But then the groom goes MIA and there's far more to worry about than just whether Yiayia's lemon rice soup has gone cold.

No matter how tangy the tzatziki, everyone's appetite is ruined when the groom is found dead, a pair of scissors planted in his back.  When the bride accuses Athena's sister Selene, a hairstylist, of seducing and stabbing her fiancé, it's all-out war -- and it's up to Athena to dig up the dirt on the suspects and nip these suspicions in the bud...

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Athena's family owns a garden center and a restaurant called the Parthenon.  When her hairstylist sister Selene is asked to be a bridesmaid for her friend Mandy, she agrees.  The rehearsal dinner is at the restaurant, and everyone is waiting for Brady, the groom, to show up.  But he never does.  And when Mandy's brother goes looking for him, they find that Brady has been murdered.  But things get worse when the police discover Selene's scissors in his back, and she can't give a solid alibi, they arrest her for the murder.  Now Athena and her friend Case are determined to find evidence to get Selene off the hook.  But between dodging Mama's attempts to get Athena married, and a rich woman's attempts to get Case, things aren't going to be as easy as Athena wants.  She just hopes she can find the evidence before Selene is formally charged and brought to trial...

This is the second book in the series and I did like it a bit better than the first.  Unfortunately, I really don't like Athena's mama.  She's a nag, and even with a daughter in jail for a murder she didn't commit, she's still trying to get Athena married off.  How much sense does that make?  She sets her up on blind dates knowing Athena doesn't want anything to do with it.  I also don't care for the 'evil nemesis' in the form of Lila; I really abhor those in books and wish she'd disappear.

While I thought the plot was done well, and the writing was very good, there were parts that were slow-going, and I just didn't understand Mitchell's obsession about Mandy.  It was almost unhealthy, if you know what I mean.  

But other than this, the plot flowed and kept me interested in the book and I did like the interactions between Athena and her father.  They are very close, and it shows.  I also liked the fact that her relationship with Case is moving forward.

The way Athena and Case went about asking questions was never invasive, and I liked that they shared the information with police officer Bob McGuire.  It's always nice to have a police officer who's helpful and not nasty to you.

In the end, I did enjoy how everything was resolved; when the murderer is discovered, it was both sad and yet done in such a way that you couldn't hate the killer.  I felt everything was done nicely while giving us a touch of what is going to happen in the next book.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Murder-Goddess-Greene-Mystery-ebook/dp/B085LTLH4P/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4755648412

More on Kate Collins's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/kate-collins/

Statue of Limitations (A Goddess of Greene St. Mystery #1)

Author:  Kate Collins

Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN: 9781496724335

Kensington Publishing

315 Pages

$7.99; $4.99 Amazon

January 28, 2020

⭐⭐

After her divorce, Athena has returned to coastal Michigan to work in her family's garden center and raise her son, while also caring for a mischievous wild raccoon and fending off her family's annoying talent for nagging.  Working alone at the garden center one night, Athena is startled by a handsome stranger who claims to be the rightful owner of a valuable statue her grandfather purchased at a recent estate sale.

But she has even bigger problems on her plate.  The powerful Talbot family from whom her pappous bought the statue is threatening to raze the shops on Greene Street's "Little Greece" to make way for a condo.  The recent death of the family's patriarch already seemed suspicious, but now it's clear that a murderer is in their midst.  Athena will have to live up to her warrior goddess namesake to protect her family from a killer and save their community from ruin...

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Athena moved back home after she lost her job and her husband divorced her, bringing her young son with her, and moving in with her family.  She works at her family's garden center, and has so far accepted that this is her new life.  One night she comes across a man in the center, looking at a statue of Athena that her grandfather bought at an estate sale, and he tells her that it rightfully belongs to him.  After finally getting him to leave, she vows to tell her father about it, but doesn't get the chance when she sees the news the next day and recognizes the man running from the Talbot home as the one she came across.  It seems a man was murdered at the estate and he's suspected of being the murderer.

But when the man - Case Donnelly - convinces her that he's been framed, she agrees to help him find the real killer and clear his name.  But in doing so, she puts herself in danger...and she just might be the next victim...

Well, I liked the blurb about this book, so I really wanted to read it.  Unfortunately, I just thought it was so...dull.  Not even the murder mystery could save this, in my opinion.  I absolutely hated everyone in her family except her father.  They were all so stereotypical of the 'noisy, overbearing Greeks' that it really bothered me.  Her sisters were completely over the top, and her mother was way too interfering, considering Athena is thirty-four years old.  Also, all of them live in one house?  How big is this place, anyway?  Why aren't any of her sisters married?  Oh, right...they're annoying.  (I have three sisters, and if they were anything like any of these three, I wouldn't tell them where I lived).

Speaking of Athena, we know she has a son, but it was like he was wallpaper.  He was there when needed, but otherwise out of the picture.  I also have to wonder about his father, who would divorce her and then just walk away from his child - and we're not given the reason why he was so willing to abandon his son.  

Then the ending...well, the mystery was wrapped up nice and tight, just like it's supposed to, so that is a good thing.  I knew pretty much early on who the killer had to be and why, but still wanted to see Athena and Case figure it out.  It left us something to look forward to in the next book, if I decide to read it.  At this point, I'm not sure I want to visit the Spencer household ever again.

https://www.amazon.com/Statue-Limitations-Goddess-Greene-Mystery/dp/149672433X/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3659572130

More on Kate Collins's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/kate-collins/