Growing Light [Hardcover]

Martha Conley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993

Growing Light, a New Age software company, seems like the perfect place for Anne Munro, a young widow and single mother, to work, until the firm's president is stabbed and someone tries to frame Anne for the crime.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This spirited debut mystery mines California's New Age culture--neatly skewering its tendency toward overinflation--for comedy, romance and a puzzling murder. On her first day of work at Growing Light, a northern California firm that produces horticultural software, young widow Anne Munro discovers the body of her boss, George Ashby, with a knife in the back. The police find a note in Anne's tote bag suggesting she killed him. To prove her innocence to the suspicious sheriff, Ann enlists the help of his sympathetic lieutenant and hunts down company secrets. Claims to company ownership are made by the firm's vice-president and by the new widow, who was about to divorce the victim. Further complications are added by the staff of ex-hippies and former flower children who include mantra-muttering Carein, an ex-convict shipping clerk and a chief engineer named Jimi Hendrix Johannsen. Anne also encounters a group of disgruntled former employees who meet weekly at a local diner and an angry programmer who says the firm's main product was stolen from him. A cast of outrageous and/or sympathetic characters and a deftly handled plot will capture readers' hearts.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Lake Harris County, California, may be a made-up place, but Growing Light, the horticultural software company located there, feels like the ultimate Marin workplace--from its New Age president George Ashby (``re-creating what `working' means'') to its numerically challenged bookkeeper Audrey Lincoln (``I can't say what he called you, but it's not very, like, self-actualizing''). On single mom Anne Munro's first day of work, George is murdered shortly after he starts the rumor that her late husband was a substance abuser, and the dimwitted sheriff goes after her with both barrels. The mystery of who killed George is routine in a pleasantly old-fashioned way, but the interludes with the likes of beer-drinking aura cleanser Rev. Hankins (``what is, is'') and ever-stoned EverLife notary John Lifeblood lift this first novel above, like, the ordinary. Bright and funny--a welcome debut. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312098235
• ISBN-13: 978-0312098230
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,133,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Who Is This Author?, January 28, 2012

By 

E. B. McCay (San Jose, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Growing Light (Kindle Edition)

The book cover shows the author as Martha Conley. I finally found it on my Kindle under Marta Randall. Sorry, I haven't read it yet - just wanted to point out the mix up of names.