Snipped in the Bud (Flower Shop Mysteries, No. 4)

In the 4th book in the Flower Shop Mystery series, Abby Knight, owner of the Bloomers flower shop, receives a funeral order and decides to deliver it herself. None of this initially sounds odd for a florist, but the order that Abby received was for one perfect "black" funeral rose. When she sees that it is to be delivered to one of her most hated prior educators in law school, Professor "Snapdragon" Puffer, she is determined to bury her bad memories and make the delivery herself. Nothing goes well in the delivery...first Abby almost runs over Puffer with her car. Then, she tries to sneak into his office to deliver the flower and gets caught riffling through his desk. Puffer is famous for breaking pencils and throwing them at students, and doing a poor imitation of him, Abby gets caught by a furious Professor Puffer. Fleeing from the office, Abby then runs into another nemesis professor, Carson Reed. Professor Reed is involved with Dermacol Labs, a company that performs lab tests on animals. Abby was recently involved in a protest in front of the lab and was arrested. When she sees Professor Reed in the hallway and is taunted by him, she yells some very harsh words in his direction and stomps off. Feeling smug for having the last word, Abby decides that she has finally buried the demons that have haunted her after flunking out of law school. But when Abby righteously decides to get back the flower she delivered to Puffer, she finds out that the nightmare is just beginning. She stumbles over the dead body of Professor Reed, and once her fingerprints are found on the murder weapon, the town starts to insist that she be arrested. While dodging the relentless press, staying away from angry law students, and cracking a pet-stealing ring, Abby works diligently to clear her name. This is a fresh, funny series! Even though I figured out early on how several of the details tied together, I was still intrigued to see how Abby would solve the case. She stumbles around a bit in her investigating, and gets herself involved in quite a bit of mischief, which is always amusing. I found her choice of disguises to be hilarious, and her budding relationship with Marco was sizzling. Great addition to the cozy genre! The first book in the series is called "Mum's the Word". Enjoy!

I loved this book! She is funny and the story moves quickly. I am going to collect them all!

Loved It!!! I can't wait to read the other Flower Shop Mysteries.

Abby Knight is nervous. She's delivering a black rose to her old law school nemesis, Professor Puffer. Sure she could have had someone else delivery the order, but she refuses to let the fact that he terrified her in her short term at law school keep her from doing her job. Things didn't start out well, when she almost runs him over in her car and then while trying to sneak the flower on his desk he walks in and catches her. Yelling and screaming at her, he throws the flower in his trash and sends her running out of the room where she runs into another professor, Carlton Reed, who had recently had her arrested at an animal rights protest. Making it safely to her car, Abby decides that she wasn't going to leave a perfectly good flower die in the Professor's trash can, so she sneaks back up to pluck it out and finds Carlton Reed dead in Professor's Puffer's chair with one of the Professor's signature pencils stuck in his neck. Now things are really a mess as Abby realizes that she is at the top of the police's list of suspects. (So what if she had forgot to mention she had handled the pencils earlier, just because the one used in the murder had her fingerprints on it didn't make her a killer, did it?) You would think being suspected of murder would be the worse thing that could happen to you, but unfortunately for Abby, that distinction falls on her cousin Jillian, who in the last story Abby spent most of the time convincing that she really, really, really wanted to get married. Jillian has left her husband on the honeymoon and has moved in with Abby and her roommate Nikki. It's up to Abby, to find out who killed Carlton Reed, who is stealing pets from the neighborhood, and can she get Jillian to go back to her husband, or at least to move out of her apartment. With the help of her "boyfriend" Marco Salvare - owner of "Down The Hatch" bar and grill, Abby sets out to solve the mystery before she ends up in prison herself. Highlights: Abby and Marco. Marco is a former cop and instead of always telling Abby to stay out of investigating, he actually encourages and helps her all he can. Being a former cop, he still has contacts with the police department and they make a great team. Abby's flower shop employee's. These women are always willing to help Abby in her investigations, which usually consists of them having to do all the work at the shop, as Abby can't show her face due to all the reporters hanging out in front. Abby's disguises: Due to all the reporters, Abby has to resort to disguises to get around town and do her investigations. Unfortunately, she is relying on her cousin Jillian to dress her up. A very good mystery which reaches out in several different directions, causing Abby to suspect a lot of people of the crime. Abby solves it by really investigating, discovering information and following up on it, not just having the killer announce, "it's me, I did it." Jillian - the runaway honeymoon bride. She was ex

I recently started reading this mystery series, and I have read all three of the predecessors. I love this book, I couldn't put it down. I loved the other three also, but I clearly think this one is the best. Abby is a great amateur sleuth with a sharp wit and a nose for murder. Collins creates wonderful, believable characters that will keep you coming back for more. I loved Abby's disguises in this book, they were hilarious. I also am quite fond of the cat Simon, who Collins seems to work into every story, which I appreciate. I love her descriptions of the flowers and Abby's banana colored convertable. This is a great new series and so far I haven't been disappointed. I hope Kate Collins continues to produce these books because I can't get enough!