Customer Reviews

The Lost Gardens: An English Garden Mystery

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This is Eglin's second "English Garden" mystery (the first being "The Blue Rose") and it is just as enjoyable. His books are reminescent of "tea cozies" but they are a slight elevation about that. The mystery is not particularly interesting, or suspensful for that matter, but Eglin makes up for that with his fascinating asides to gardening lore. Eglin comments that this book was inspired by "The Lost Gardens of Heligan," a true-life account of the discovery and uncovering of an estate garden in England. As retired botanist/amateur sleuth Lawrence Kingston and his client, Jamie Gibson, begin to rescue the overgrown garden at Wickersham Priory, the reader is treated to highly interesting details regarding gardening history, wine-making, Lawrence Johnson and his famous garden at Hidcote, and garden design. The book moves at a brisk pace and doesn't overstay its welcome. A fun read!

The Lost Gardens, the second in a (hopefully) on-going series by Anthony Eglin picks up the story of Professor Lawrence Kingston following the murder and intrigue surrounding the discovery and theft of a unique blue rose, the Holy Grail of gardeners. This story is recounted in "The Blue Rose" and my review can be found in this previous post.

In this new story, Kingston is hired to restore a huge manor garden to its former glory after the property is inherited, unexpectedly and unexplainably, by a young, American woman. When a dis-used chapel is found on the property, complete with a skeleton in its well, Kingston is again involved in detective work, archeological mysteries and murder.

While not quite as action-packed as the first book, The lost Gardens is a grand combination of gardening lore, history, mystery and action-adventure. Kingston become even more likable than before, less curmudgeonly and might even be falling in love again.

Eglin gives a charming feel to the English countryside, despite the untoward events that occur and leads the reader down a wandering garden path to an exciting and satisfying conclusion.

I look forward to more books in this series that combine my interests in gardening and my love of a great mystery.

I bought this book as it turned up as an amazon "recommended" book. Hey, I love gardens. I love English mysteries. What's not to like? The garden and the horticultural details were fascinating. I enjoyed the slow unfolding of the history of Major Ryder.

But it was not exactly an Agatha Christie. No real surprises about "whodunnit". No multiple likely suspects to keep you guessing. No plot twist at the end. The character who makes a suspicious entrance early in the book is really the only suspect. It's just a question of what happens until he's unmasked.

I also never quite understood why the heroine was so downright reluctant to try to determine why this vast English estate had been left to her by a total stranger. I can't believe she just moved over to England and took it on without, apparently, the least bit of curiousity about why it had been left to her. She even actively tried to discourage Kingston from investigating when be began looking on her behalf. That just never rang true, and I kept waiting for some surprise ulterior motive to arise, but it never did.

However I did like it well enough that I've gone and ordered the author's Blue Ross as well.

Retired botany professor Lawrence Kingston seems to have a nose for arcane garden environments in England, and an eye for trouble. Following on the charming and 'atmospheric' BLUE ROSE, Anthony Eglin has once again brought together an eclectic mix of people and places and thrust us into the heart of a mystery that never lets up from start to finish.

He starts with strange events at the end of WWII and the discovery of human remains in a mysterious well. The well has been almost literally buried in an overgrown garden at Wickersham Priory in Somerset, bequeathed under mysterious circumstances to a delightful young American woman, Jamie Gibson. At her request, Kingston goes down from his Chelsea flat to look over the once beautiful but now ruined gardens and is persuaded to supervise the recreation of the original plans in all their glory. He is reluctant at first to get involved but his curiosity and botanical expertise drive him to accept the assignment. He doesn't realize that he is getting involved in dark matters that will involve desperate men, stolen art and imminent (as well as actual) death.

Eglin has mastered his characters in an engaging style that makes us like these people (the 'good guys,' anyway) and care about the outcomes of their adventures--and there are plenty. Through a series of cleverly conceived plot twists, Kingston and his young American client get deeper and deeper into difficulties that threaten their lives, but--as with any good mystery--it all comes right in the end. After all, we will need Kingston for the next book (and let's hope the author has one on the way). Kingston is a true Brit.

In Lawrence Kingston the author has created an intriguing and pleasing character who would seem equally at home on the television screen--he is fully realized and explained all the way down to his tastes in old cars (a Triumph TR4) and good wine. Kingston's deductive powers are at the heart of the man and even though officially 'retired' he can't stop thinking. Just as we can't stop reading.

The 'Britishness' of the man and the book are just right. It all rings true and should intrigue thoughtful readers on both sides of the Atlantic.

THE LOST GARDENS is the second book in this series. The first book is THE BLUE ROSE.

To her surprise, Jamie Gibson, a young woman from California inherits Wickersham Priory, a huge old estate in England. Since she didn't know the owner, she doesn't know why the deceased Mr. Ryder left the estate to her. She's astounded by her good fortune and almost afraid to delve too much into the past.

The estate has over 200 acres of land and most of that is terribly over grown through decades of neglect. At one time, the gardens were known for their beauty and Jamie, in tribute to the Ryder family decides to restore the grounds and gardens to their former splendor.

She hires Lawrence Kingston, who had been the head research botanist at Edinburgh University. Lawrence is a retired widower and only takes jobs that pique his interest. After a visit to the jungle that used to be a garden, Lawrence agrees to take on the restoration. There are numerous ruins of buildings on the site and when Lawrence discovers some human bones in the old chapel, he wants to uncover all of the mysteries of Wickersham Priory.

I found the garden information to be very interesting and my favorite parts of the story. I learned a lot. The author, Anthony Eglin, has a background in horticulture and has co-produced some garden videos. His mystery could have been a little more exciting, but that said; I still enjoyed the story. I didn't find Jamie, the female character, to be believable but I liked the main character, Lawrence Kingston, and think the author has a great formula to continue on with more books in this series. I have the feeling that his stories will get better and better! I also intend to read his first book, THE BLUE ROSE.

This is one of three of Anthony Englin's books that I have read, it was an enjoyable book to read with plenty of things going on to keep the plot going plus being a gardener I tend to find the garden mysteries interesting-if you like mysteries of this kind you should enjoy this book.

This is the second book (The Blue Rose was the first) with Lawrence Kingston as the amateur detective who mixes horticulture with crime solving. Jamie Gibson is an American woman who has inherited Wickersham Priory in Somerset, England. She hires Kingston to restore the estate's neglected gardens. In the underbrush, Kingston discovers a ruined chapel complete with a healing well, which turns out to contain human remains. Kingston investigates and a series of dire events--two deaths, a car accident, a rifled flat--keeps the plot moving, but it's the wealth of gardening description and the work trying to bring the neglected garden back to it's former glory that makes this book such an enjoyable read.

Elgin has an easy style and he doesn't overwhelm the reader with too much gardening information at the expense of the plot. Kingston is an "older" man with a wealth of life experiences and he makes for an appealing detective. There is a vague hint of possible attraction between him and Jamie, but at least in this book, nothing much comes of it. I'll look forward to reading the next Elgin book with the hope that the widower Kingston and Jamie reconnect.

Upon inheriting Wickersham Priory in Somerset from a person she never met or heard of, a Major Ryder, American winemaker Jamie Gibson hires retired botany professor Dr. Lawrence Kingston to restore the neglected gardens overrun with weeds. As he clears much of the underbrush, Kingston uncovers a ruined chapel and healing well that contains the remains of a human. Inside the chapel are more bones and some modern day coins.

Kingston makes inquiries starting with why his client inherited the estate from a stranger and into the lack of information into the family history of the previous owner. He borrows books from a local historian and soon believes that the chapel built over a priory must contain a passage to what lies beneath it. Jamie tells him to forget ancient history and get on with his job only to be severely injured in a questionable car crash while someone murders the restoration foreman. When the history books are stolen from his flat, Lawrence returns to the investigation knowing he must find the clues in the past to uncover the crimes of the present.

The second English Gardens mystery is a delightful amateur sleuth tale (see THE BLUE ROSE) that works on two levels, a superb whodunit cozy and a fabulous look at gardening. Kingston is terrific in the dual roles of horticulturist and detective while his client Jamie, though not sure why a total stranger bequeathed the estate to her, just wants to get on with fixing up the place and not deal with murder past and present. However, the stars of this superb British mystery are the gardens as Anthony Eglin takes readers on a delightful tour filled with flowers, weeds, and corpses.

Harriet Klausner