The Garden Plot [Hardcover]

J. S. Borthwick (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

On a free trip to Europe courtesy of her garden club, Sarah begins investigating why people on the tour seem interested in anything but gardens while her husband Alex attempts to find out what happened to missing garden expert Ellen Trevino.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A free garden club trip to Europe for series sleuth Sarah Deane ends up testing the sleuthing abilities of both her and her husband, Alex. Murder, attempted murder, and suspicious behavior: another cozy work in an established series.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Teacher/sleuth Sarah Deane (Dolly Is Dead, 1995, etc.) and her rugged Aunt Julia, a horsebreeder--State of Mainers, both--have joined a group tour of European gardens, led by horticultural expert Ellen Trevino and Whirlaway Tours director Barbara Baxter. Things go wrong from day one, when Ellen misses the plane's departure from Boston and turns up, wrapped in plastic and stabbed to death, on a Maine highway exit road, her car nowhere in sight. The group has arrived in England, meanwhile, and, after absorbing the shock of Ellen's death, goes about its sightseeing business. Sarah is kept up to date on the murder investigation by telephone reports from her doctor-husband Alex, a confidant of Deputy Sheriff Mike Laaka's, and before long she has plenty to report from her end: her ransacked room; the sudden depression of the elderly Hopper sisters; strange behavior involving underutilized cameras; the arrival of substitute garden-guru Henry Ruggles, who's shortly rescued from a drowning ``accident''; and a visit from Barbara's brother Gregory, a dealer in exotic arts and crafts. All the bits and pieces, and a lot more, coalesce--sort of--as the group arrives in Bellagio, Italy, and a final absurd incident brings a merciful end to the tour and to this totally unconvincing scenario. There are one or two characters who might catch the reader's interest here--mainly Amy, a teenaged would-be writer of mysteries- -and some places half-heartedly evoked, but Sarah and Julia's busy- bodying becomes repellent halfway through, and the plotting is from never-never land. The author has done much better on her home territory. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312151314
• ISBN-13: 978-0312151317
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,393,953 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very complicated plot but thouroughly enjoyable., February 3, 1998

By 

S. Lesperance "skye" (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Garden Plot (Hardcover)

I love the way this author writes. She has some different plots so you aren't bored. And they keep you up late at night to finish them!Great read!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Seemed a bit long., December 21, 2001

By 

"bibliofiend" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Garden Plot (Hardcover)

My favorite part of this book was the setting. Although not a botanist at heart, I enjoyed the descriptions of the inns, hotels, gardens, etc., that are a part of this European trip. Sara Deane and her aunt Julia find themselves filling in a couple of vacancies on a European garden tour when the tour leader ends up taking a tumble down her cellar stairs and can't go. Then, Ellen Travino, a colleague of Sara's and the botanical 'specialist' who is also supposed to go, ends up missing and presumed dead. Everybody in the tour group is under suspicion, and Sara puts herself right in the middle of everything. Although the story seemed kind of long (by the time the book ended I was more than ready) it was still an enjoyable read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Okay, but not her best, October 10, 2001

By 

"ellebee" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Garden Plot: A Garden Tour Of Europe Unearths Murder-And Has Sarah Deane Digging For Clues... (Dead Letter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read all of the books in this series, and while I wasn't completely disappointed in this book, there were some areas for improvement.

I didn't get much of a sense of the gardens. Based on the title, you'd think they would be almost a character on their own, but they were kind of glossed over.

The characters were fun, interesting, and basically well developed, but the actions of one character at the end of the book seemed to come out of left field. I even backtracked a little to see if I'd missed something, and I couldn't connect the dots.

Some annoying grammatical/typographical errors distracted me, too, but that's a minor point.

All in all, an enjoyable read.