Garden of Evil [Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Edna Buchanan (Author), Barbara Caruso (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2000

7 cassettes 9.25 hours

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Recorded Books LLC; unabridged edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0788744208
• ISBN-13: 978-0788744204
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fast paced mystery/thriller, April 27, 2000

By 

Doug Vaughn - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Garden of Evil (Hardcover)

I thoroughly enjoyed Garden of Evil, the first Edna Buchanan crime novel that I have read. The protagonist, Britt Montero, a reporter for a Miami newspaper who covers the police beat, obviously owes a great deal to Buchanan's own experience as an award winning crime reporter. The story is fast, the characters are interesting and the dialogue is crisp. This is the kind of entertaining read that many readers long for.

On the negative side, the plot is advanced by a series of coincidences that would make Dickens blush. And the fact that the book deals with a serial killer, at a time when the public at large is probably getting sick of that very overused topic, would have been more of a limitation except that this killer is female and her M.O. - leaving her male victims with their pants down and their genitals shot off - will strike an emotional chord, though not the same one, with male and female readers. The ending was something of an anti-climax after the very long and exciting buildup, but I had so much fun in the reading of the book that I didn't even think of that until later.

My wife insists that this is far from the best of Buchanan. If that is true, then her best must be very good indeed. For anyone who likes their crime fiction fast and on the gritty side, this is very entertaining fiction.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark departure for Britt Montero, January 22, 2000

By 

Sherrie Martin "sherchez" (Roanoke, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garden of Evil (Hardcover)

Edna Buchanan's latest Britt Montero novel is very different sans the usual suspects; e.g., Cuban patriots and expatriates. This time out, newspaperwoman Britt goes one on one with a female serial killer as she cuts a bloody swath across Florida. Killer Keppie Lee Hutton is about as warped a character as ever penned by the inimitable Ms. Buchanan. Her main criterion for killing is the mere existence of men who, responding to her sexy mannerisms and seductive come-ons, make love to her. Once the deed is done, this gruesome Southern black widow dispatches them painfully and messily. Her progress across the state into Miami, Britt's bailiwick, is charted by the missing vehicle of each new victim, since the previous victims' wheels are always found near the latest crime scene. Sound familiar? Keppie Lee has a dark and deadly past and a shocking family secret which Britt discovers only after she and a small child are taken as hostages on a joy ride from hell. Britt not only has the little boy to protect from Keppie's murderous mood swings, but is forced to fend off Keppie's amorous advances while helplessly watching this sick puppy scope out her new victims. Quick thinking and a 1-time window of opportunity provides Britt exactly 1 chance to save herself and the boy.

Keppie is finally captured in Barbados and, in a jailhouse confrontation back in Miami, reveals to Britt her final secret and ace in the hole, providing for a shocking but ambiguous ending. We may see Keppie Lee Hutton again.

This book is well plotted, quick paced, distressingly plausible and, while perhaps not one of Buchanan's best, is nonetheless highly entertaining and recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Garden of Evil, January 27, 2000

By 

Charlotte Caffrey (Hollywood, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Garden of Evil (Hardcover)

A great, galumping read that romps playfully--and scarily--through Florida like a hurricane (author Edna Buchanan did that in another Britt Montera book.) It's all in her funny details, like when she washes ashore in Miami Beach and the Beach police, acccustomed to Cuban or Haitian refugees, asks where she's from as they pluck her from the surf, and she answers, "The Miami News." Buchanan keeps you riveted with twists and turns but never strays too far from the rdiculous ironies of contemporary life, especially as she knows it in Miami and Miami Beach. Who knows as many excruciatingly funny details about crime as the great Edna Buchanan?