Customer Reviews

Digging Up Trouble

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I LOVE this series by Heather Webber. All of her books are terrific with delightful characters. I love her relationship with her step-son.

Ms. Webber is wonderful at writing humor. She makes the absurd sound so normal that it's even funnier.

In this book, Nina faces the shambles of her marriage and taking charge of her life while her business and employees go wild.

If you haven't read any of the NINA QUINN mysteries, start with the first and expect a lot of fun. If you have read the first books, you'll enjoy this one greatly.

Probably the best cozy I've ever read! I have to admit I was skeptical at first, as the premise didn't sound all that interesting to me, but based on the two previous reviews, I decided to try it, and I'm glad I did. The dialogue is realistic and naturalistic--doesn't sound overly expository. The characters were interesting and quirky without being annoying and forced. The main character is nicely drawn and enjoyable to spend time with. Nothing felt formulaic. The plot kept me guessing, and there was just a touch of sexiness to keep things moving along. I plan to pick up Webber's other two books and start from the beginning. If you're looking for a bloodless cozy with charming characters and an easy, enjoyable read, give this one a try!

In the 3rd book in the Nina Quinn Mystery series, Nina is hard at work completing a new backyard make-over for the relatives of her soon-to-be ex-husband's deceased wife. It seems complicated, but Nina cannot stop herself from the opportunity to snoop about her ex's first wife, and rushes into a makeover for their dilapidated yard. In the midst of the one-day makeover, the real owner of the property comes home early from work, to discover Nina and her crew excavating his backyard. Keeling over from shock, the homeowner dies...apparently from a heart attack. His wife quickly shows up on the scene, and threatens Nina with a lawsuit that could put an end to her successful business. Nina discovers that the people that hired her for the makeover are really the next-door neighbors, who owned a health food restaurant with the deceased. Adding to Nina's distress is her upcoming divorce (in less than two weeks), and the premature labor of her efficient office manager, Tam. Nina works overtime to save her business, and quickly discovers murder is part of the surprise after all.

I love this series! Nina is a great character, and I found myself laughing aloud at times while reading this book. I couldn't put the book down, and found myself guessing at the outcome. The book contains wonderfully vivid characters and a great premise...it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Nina performed a make-over on either the wrong house or was hired by someone other than the owner. I cannot wait for the next installment in the fun mystery series!

If you enjoy the Meg Langslow mystery series by Donna Andrews, you might want to consider giving this series a try.

The first book in the series is called "A Hoe Lot of Trouble". Enjoy!

New Client Lindsey Lockhart hires Nina Quinn's firm Taken by Surprise, Garden Designs, to spruce up her yard. Nina and her employees, ex-cons sent her way by her cousin probation officer Ana Bertolli, are in the yard when an angry man arrives. He yells at them to leave his property before suddenly keeling over and dying. Nina is stunned that Lindsey, the aunt of her stepson, sent her to do a make over of the yard of her neighbor Russ Grabinsky without his or his wife's permission.

Russ' not grieving spouse Greta sues Nina and her firm for wrongful death. At the same time, the police rule it is murder and look at Nina and her probationers as the prime suspects. Though beleaguered and in trouble, Nina realizes no one grieves for the deceased, which has her looking elsewhere for the motive.

Once again beleaguered but kind Nina learns that "Murder is a Growth Industry" when all she wants is for her landscaping business to thrive. The latest cozy has a different twist than her two previous amateur sleuth investigations (see TROUBLE IN SPADES and A HOE LOT OF TROUBLE) as this time the prime suspect is the heroine. The who-done-it is fun as she struggles to avoid a murder rap and save her business from a wrongful death lawsuit with the help of her ex-con employees.

Harriet Klausner

Let me start this by saying there are possible spoilers in this review. Also, I've never posted a review that wasn't a 5-star review because I don't want to be negative but I'm going to make an exception here.

The premise of this story sounds fun and I was looking forward to reading it but I was very disappointed.

Nina Quinn owns a business called Taken By Surprise where she's hired to makeover people's yards as a surprise. She's agreed to do the Lockhart's yard, not because it's what she does for a living, but rather to dig up dirt on her soon-to-be ex-husband's first wife. When she arrives, she gets a bad vibe from the homeowner but starts the job anyway. Come to find out, she's been duped and really started work on the Lockhart's neighbor's yard. Russ Grabinsky - the true homeowner - comes home sick and is livid to have his yard dug up (you find out towards the end of the book why he might have been so upset, but by then you don't care). During his raging at Nina, he has a heart attack and dies. The "grieving" widow demands an autopsy to determine cause of death, and in the meantime, a murder investigation is initiated.

A murder investigation for a heart attack? Really? And the prime suspect is Nina? Totally did not get that. As far as I can figure, the only purpose it seemed to serve was to have Nina's soon-to-be ex-husband, Kevin around, because, he is after all, the police investigator of the "crime". (Can we say conflict of interest?)

Which brings up something else. Who was supposed to be the "hero" of the romance portion of the story? No, seriously, I want to know because it was not clear. The tension really amped up in the scenes between Nina and Kevin. You could tell she was having a hard time letting him go - she still wanted him - but maybe she didn't think she would a strong woman if she took him back (he cheated after all - or so it was implied). You got the feeling if they'd really talk things over, they could work things out. After all, the only reason she took the job in the first place was to get information on Kevin and his first wife.

Then there was Bobby. There was absolutely no tension or chemistry between Bobby and Nina, yet, I got the impression he was supposed to be the story's hero. In every scene with Bobby, she thought of Kevin and wondered if she was ready to let him go. When she was with Kevin, she was just with Kevin. In my mind, that tells me that Kevin is the hero of the story but I don't think that was the author's intent. Nina does eventually sleep with Bobby (she'd kept putting it off, even though her mother tried to force it...can I just say ewww?!?!) but I was left with the feeling that Nina would regret that when her and Kevin got back together, because it seems obvious that they should.

I had other issues with the story itself but those were the biggies. The writing wasn't that bad but the story had major issues for me. It's part of a series and I think the question of Bobby and Kevin will be resolved at some point but I won't know how it's resolved because I don't care enough to read more in the series.

I started this series when I became disenchanted with
my regular reads. I'd never heard of Heather Webber when
I went online to find something that got great reviews.
I LOVE THIS SERIES!! I'm totally hooked.
Heather Webber is a great writer.
You immediately connect with her characters. Fun and
entertaining storyline.
This series has it all.
Remember when you finished a book and and couldn't wait
for the next one?
The NINA QUINN mystery series is just that.
Start at the beginning and read them all. Well worth
your time and money.
EXCELLENT!

An enjoyable, albeit simplistic mystery. I do like Ms. Webber's development of characters. I would like to get "Nina" to design my backyard makeover!

Loved this sleuth/mystery. First I had read in this series and will certainly read more. Held my attention to the last page!

According to the reviews here on Amazon, Ms. Webber clearly has her fans. I am not one of them. This book comes across like one of those silly party games in which one person starts off a story, and is then interrupted by the moderator, who points to a second person. The second person picks up the story line, trying to insert the most preposterous surprise (s)he can invent to turn the plot on its head, until a third person takes over and does the same thing, etc.

There is no logical continuity whatsoever in the book; the reader is expected to simply sit there and let all the improbable coincidences come showering down from the sky - and I THINK we're supposed to think this is funny, or cute.

If the real world were anything like the one that Ms. Webber has invented here, we would all be afraid to have any dealings with any other human being, because everybody is really someone else in disguise. We wouldn't buy any of her books, because when Amazon delivered them to us, we would discover that they were written in black ink on navy blue paper, and in an extinct Eskimo language besides. Perhaps she and her fans would find that all to be highly amusing, but I wouldn't. Even if someone is going to invent a different world in which to set a novel, that world has to have a certain degree of internal consistency in order for the book to make sense. And this one doesn't.