I read ‘The Potting Shed Mystery’ quite a while ago and enjoyed it but somehow never got around to reading this second book in the series. I’m glad I finally got around to reading it because it was every bit as good as that first book in the series. Prue Parke is about to start her new job as head gardener at Primrose House – whose garden was originally laid out by Humphrey Repton. She has the Red Book in which he set out his plans for the garden to work from and several willing workers.
Unfortunately the workers do not always see eye to eye with each other and when one of them is found dead in the walled garden following some incidents of vandalism in the garden there are plenty of suspects including Prue herself and her employer, Davina. Prue has her work cut out to finish the garden in time for its planned open day and somehow she also has to fit in time with Christopher Pearse, a Detective Inspector in the Met whom she met when he was investigating the murder in the potting shed in the first book and also to try and trace some long lost relatives of her mother’s.
I enjoyed reading this second book in this murder and gardening series and I thought the information about Humphrey Repton and the way he worked was fascinating. I liked the characters and descriptions of the garden. I’m not a gardener myself but I enjoy reading about gardens. I liked the way the author deals with the growing relationship between Christopher and Prue and it makes a change to have a romance between people in their fifties.
This is a well plotted cosy mystery with an interesting background and likeable characters. I don’t always like the American trend for themed cosy mysteries but this book, and its predecessor is well written with an interesting and well researched background and I recommend it either as a standalone novel or as part of the series.
Leave a Reply