The Garden Tour Affair: A Gardening Mystery

The story is fun, the writing first class and the gardening essays made me want to race out and start planting. I will admit, however, that toward the end I did skip over the essays to follow the mystery line. My curiosity appeased, I was then eager to go back for the essays. I did read the paperback version and the cover doesn't do justice to the story or the writing. Also, one minor point. For me, Louise "felt" much older than forty and it threw me when references to her age were mentioned. I fear this is a publisher issue in that there is some fear readers won't want to read about a mature woman. Wrong! I don't know if this was actually the case or not, but it seems likely, and that is my only quibble with my first Louise Eldridge Mystery. This is a very talented writer with much to share with her readers and I thoroughly enjoyed the book!

After Ann Ripley so cleverly blended stories together in the first three Louise Eldridge stories, you think her ability to weave paths together in Death of A Political Plant couldn't be beat; then you read The Garden Tour Affair. The story changes the setting from the capital to the Litchfield Falls Inn in Connecticut. A quaint setting is the perfect foil for the hustle and bustle of the three first novels set in Washington. Our heroine Mrs. Eldridge takes the first major trip for her PBS show Gardening With Nature to a house of quarrel between members of the Seymour family. Halfway through, you'll think you have it all figured out, and then the story takes another twist. The fast paced action continues right up until the last page. Ripley can truly do it all, between her masterful storytelling ability to her knowledge of gardening and wonderful use of allusions in her literature. An entertaining read, the best so far from Ann! 5 stars.