Dead Head: A Dirty Business Mystery (Dirty Business Mysteries)

In Rosemary Harris's third mystery featuring gardening professional Paula Holliday, readers discover some real dirt and an illegal secret from one of the preppiest moms in town. The Dirty Business series combines humor, small-town personalities and gardening insights to delight fans of amateur sleuth puzzles. Paula is trying to keep her gardening business and finances afloat during the fall, when many of her clients are scaling back due to their own money struggles. She is spending even more time than usual in her friend Babe's Paradise Diner, redoing the landscaping outside. The diner is Paula's shabby but friendly hangout, and it is threatening to go upscale with a new outdoor patio and a bevy of Main Street moms who now come in between taking their kids to lessons. One of them, Caroline, has been a friend and client of Paula's for a few years. She wants to back Paula in a new business venture: buying a nursery and garden design center. But Caroline does like to drink, and Paula is becoming nervous at the amount of liquor they put away at "business meetings." She is also wondering why Caroline does not seem to want to put her name on the papers. The situation gets murkier when Caroline runs into a stranger at the Paradise. He says something to her, and she flees. A few days later, an anonymous tip to the police reveals that longtime escaped prisoner Monica from Michigan and Caroline are one and the same. Worse, everyone in town thinks Paula is the one who tipped off the police for a reward. Caroline's husband knows she did not do that, and hires Paula to find out who did and why. He just wants his wife and the mother of his children back, no matter what she did in her teens that landed her in prison for drug trafficking. Paula is persona non grata in town now, hurting her business even more. Then the Paradise is broken into, and she begins to realize that all these things are connected and decides to find out what happened that uncovered Caroline's secret. The path leads her to interview several folks who have turned up at the diner lately, including two others who are suddenly interested in the old nursery --- the same one she and Caroline were going to buy. Digging into Caroline's/Monica's high school past leads Paula into danger. Someone wants to stop her and get to the purported money that Caroline made off with all those years ago. Paula tries to work with the local police sergeant, who seems ready to take their easy flirtation to a new level. Rosemary Harris continues to give Paula a great heart and voice with lots of humorous asides. Babe; Paula's co-sleuth and friend, Lucy; and even Caroline and her family are fun, quirky characters who still seem like realistic people. A scene in a local motel where Paula tries to hide Caroline and her husband with Lucy is laugh-out-loud funny. At times the mystery suspects get confusing as Paula herself tries to untangle the lies, but readers will be rooting for her in this strong series.

This is the third terrific read by Rosemary Harris. It is said that a book is like a garden carried in your pocket. Well in this case the main character Paula is a gardener who likes to dig literally and figuratively. She is quick and witty and her escapades provide some laugh out loud dialogue. But note - there is a great story line and you will find yourself wondering who the unknown speaker is along with the proverbial whodunit question. I read it in one sitting and when you finish go buy the first two in the series. Nina Mazzo, Lincoln, California

This delightful series, checking out the somewhat less presentable side of life in the Connecticut suburbs, never fails to enthrall. And it deserves every reader it can find. Paula has a wry wit and a genuine curiosity that isn't just nosiness--it's concern for her fellow humans. Reading the books is like visiting an especially interesting friend and hearing the latest of her unexpected escapades. It might be considered "cozy," but it's never saccharine or unbelievable. Harris knows how to write characters, and characters, not plot, are what drive excellent series like this one. Jump on the bandwagon before it passes you by!

I've loved all of the Dirty Business mysteries and this is the best yet! The characters are so fabulous you wish they were real. Dead Head delivers moments of laugh-out-loud funny along with a fast-moving tale of suspense and intrigue. Paula Holliday is the kind of woman you'd want for a friend -- funny, smart and brave -- if you didn't mind her propensity for getting involved in so much crime. This is a great read -- whether you love gardening or are a complete failure at it like me!

In Springfield, Connecticut, gardener Paula Holliday is shocked when the news explodes that one of her clients whom she was considering a partnership with, Caroline Sturgis, is actually Monica Jane Weithorn, who escaped from prison over a quarter of a century ago. Monica Jane had been convicted of drug dealing, but has since straightened out her life becoming a wife and mom as a pillar of society. Now the "Fugitive Mom" is going back to prison to complete her sentence and probably more for her escape. Caroline's stunned husband Grant tells Paula his wife is a stranger, but needs to know who turned her in to the authorities. Knowing that Paula has solved cases (see The Big Dirt Nap and Pushing Up Daisies), he hires her to investigate; she accepts as she can use the money with the economy still tanked and besides she is curious too. Her friends Police Sergeant Mike O'Malley and reporter Lucy Cavanaugh also wonder who. Based on headlines from a few years ago, Dead Head is a terrific amateur sleuth though it is the parallel look at the life (past and Present) of the Fugitive Mom who makes this an exhilarating character driven tale. Fast-paced in both eras, readers will be as spellbound as Paula and the rest of Springfield are comparing Dead Head Monica Jane with family matriarch Caroline. Harriet Klausner