Lilies That Fester

Bretta Solomon Gardening Mystery #3. This takes place in Branson MO where Bretta is holding a Flower Arranging Contest during a workshop for almost 200 florists and interested parties. She encounters Bailey Monroe, who holds her interest in a beguiling way. There are murders involved, as usual, and many characters from the workshop. Fun romp.

Janis Harrison's series featuring Bretta Solomon presents stories that are fun to read and hard to put down once you start. The characters in her books are very real and easy to relate to - and the crimes and detecting well constructed. I especially like the realistic struggles Bretta goes through to maintain her weight loss and her relationship with her father.

An interesting, well-written mystery with a much-appreciated twist. This book will be enjoyed by mystery and gardening fans, and also by another group of readers who are rarely, if ever, represented in books of any kind -- folks, especially women, who struggle throughout their lives to lose and maintain the loss of large amounts of weight. Ms. Harrison's protagonist is a woman who has lost 100 pounds, and is maintaining that loss, but fights a daily battle against cravings for high-calorie food. Other characters in the book are in a similar situation, and the danger posed by individuals who prey upon the desperation of those trying to maintain large weight losses is central to the plot of this novel.

"Lilies That Fester" is an extremely absorbing read, that really keeps you guessing as to the identity of the villain until the very end.Bretta Solomon may be feeling good about herself now that she's shed some weight, but the headache of coordinating the first floral competition at the Branson Florist Convention, has done quite a bit to sour her mood. Dealing with avid competitors who will not stop hounding her to reveal more about the different categories that Bretta has thought up for the competition, plus in-house wrangling amongst the board members has been enough to make her wish that she had never agreed to oversee the competition. The only bright spot in the horizon is that she seems to have picked up an admirer -- good looking, single and an amateur gardener to boot! And then just before the festivities start, Bretta receives an urgent message from a couple, the McDuffys, that her dead husband used to know. Knowing about her ability to solve perplexing mysteries, they leave urgent messages with her, pressing for a meeting. Having had no success with actually meeting Bretta so far, they leave a letter and a cassette, with instructions for Bretta to read the letter if they fail to make the planned meeting for the following morning. However the McDuffys fail to turn up the next day. Reading the letter, Bretta discovers that the couple want Bretta to discover what had happened to their daughter just before she died of a heart attack. Her behaviour had changed drastically the few months before her death, and the McDuffys suspect that someone was at the root of all her unhappiness that caused her death. Bretta is of course saddened by the letter, and is not sure what she can do. And then she discovers that the McDuffys seem to have mysteriously vanished. Although her hands are quite full with trying to mange the competition, as well as deal with her many back-stabbing colleagues, she feels she must track down the McDuffys, if only to talk to them. But where to start? And then someone starts playing a series of dangerous pranks on Bretta, and her would-be beau starts behaving strangely. What exactly is going on? And how are the McDuffys connected to all this? Bretta is determined to find out.This is by far the best Bretta Solomon mystery novel, and I was quite engrossed. There are so many things I liked about this mystery novel: the mystery was an intriguing and interesting one, and the plot unfolded smoothly and flawlessly till the very end where Janis Harrison pulled everything together brilliantly. Bretta Solomon is a wonderfully clever, warm hearted and feisty amateur sleuth, and "Lilies That Fester" showcases this character superbly. (I absolutely loved the wry tone she used when observing the silly antics that other members of the board indulged in) "Lilies That Fester" is definitely a first rate read.