Customer Reviews

Mum's the Word (Flower Shop Mysteries, No. 1)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In the 1st book in the Flower Shop Mystery series, we meet "Bloomers" floral shop owner, Abby Knight. She has been thrown out of law school, dumped 2 months before her wedding, and is struggling to pay the bills amongst fierce competition from a discount florist nearby. However, Abby is upbeat, and is enjoying a beautiful day in her restored, yellow Corvette. That all comes to a screeching halt the moment a black SUV rams her car and takes off. Abby is determined to track down the hit-and-run driver, and make him pay for her car insurance bill. When she discovers that a murder had occurred the morning of the car crash, she is convinced that she has witnessed the killer leave the scene of the crime. She begins to investigate, and with help from ex-cop turned P.I., Marco Salvare, she pokes around in the case, and quickly becomes a target for an assassin on the rampage.

I really enjoyed the first book in the series, and completely disagree with some of the reviews that I read before picking the book up at my local library. I read a lot of cozy mysteries, and love the genre. Not everyone will, however, so if you are not a fan of cozies, I would look elsewhere, as it definitely follows the cozy style. I thought the book had an interesting setting, a likeable main character in Abby, great supporting characters in Abby's family and friends, and plenty of romantic tension. I found myself laughing aloud at times...and enjoy the fact that this series offers a bit of humor to go along with the good mystery. If you are a fan of Heather Webber, Donna Andrews, or Maddy Hunter, give this series a try.

The second book in the series is called "Slay it With Flowers". Enjoy!

This book is great. I originally ordered this because it was written by someone on our area. But I was hooked right away. I zoomed thru all of these books and am anxiously awaiting the next one. My husband is on # 2 already and we have passed on this one to our daughter. These have enough funny stuff to make you laugh but the mystery really keeps you guessing. Loved them all!!

Abby Knight, law school dropout and new owner of the flower shop "Bloomers", is minding her own business, going to work when a man running out of an alley, jumps into his black SUV and rams Abby's vintage Corvette.

In her determination to find the person who wrecked her car, Abby becomes involved in a murder that happened in one of the nearby apartments. A young drug addict is murdered and Abby begins to wonder if the man she's seeking may have been the killer.

Threatening phone calls, almost fatal accidents make Abby wonder if a murderer isn't also looking for her. But is it the man in the SUV or is the husband of Pearl, who made several threatening remarks to Abby after she helped his wife leave him and found her snooping into his financial affairs.

With the help of ex-cop, Marco Salvare, Abby has to decide is the killer, the bad driver, an angry husband, or is it something more, a murder which reaches high into the local government and police officials.

Highlights:

Abby is a great character. She is so determined to find who smashed her car that looking for a murderer just seems a natural extension of that.

Marco Salvare, former cop, new bar owner, always seems to be around when Abby needs him.

Not a lot of supporting characters yet, but her employee's are interesting and more characters should be added as the series goes along.

Good mystery. Very complicated, but never cheats.

Lowlights:

Abby's flower shop. I can't see how this could possibly make any money when there's a discount flower franchise nearby.

A nice start to what could turn out to be a very good series.

I think that what struck me as being "off" the most about this story was the behavior of the main character, Abby Knight. She is a woman in her early twenties, just flunked out of law school, yet she has no conception of the language of her generation and can't hold a conversation with a teen-age male (she who has two older brothers). It made me wonder how old the author was, because Abby was too generic. She is as nosy and as meddlesome as the worst elderly cozy-mystery character, yet we're supposed to be charmed by it. Didn't work in my case; I just found it annoying.

The love interest, Marco Salvare, is pretty much a cliché - a gorgeous Italian ex-cop who for some unknown reason finds her interfering ways attractive. And you know, as a reader, you're in trouble when one of the adjectives used to describe a kiss is "manly".

The mystery itself wasn't too bad, with a lot of red herrings, but it was pretty clear early on who was doing what. The book was well-written but nothing special. All in all, a rather pedestrian offering to the mystery sleuth genre. I won't be buying the next installment.

I am a dedicated mystery fan, but this was one of the silliest books I've every read. It starts well enough with an upbeat attitude, but the heroine is so stupid you find yourself wondering how she functions. Reading this book was like watching a horror movie where the girl hears a scream and instead of running the other way, has to go out into the dark corridor without a weapon to investigate. Abby is like that character. She has clues literally hitting her over the head and yet she can't connect the dots. Knowing someone has tried to kill her twice, and that she has been spotted by the bad guy trying to get away with a sample of coke disguised as fertilizer, she goes to her shop alone without making sure she has back up and then she doesn't turn on the alarm to her shop so no one can break in. I finished the book, but I will not buy another in the series.

I have just recently started to read mystery novels, and I have been bored to tears with some of these "cozy" reads people keep talking about. Mum's the Word was a great, cozy read that was exciting. What I enjoyed about this book was how fast-paced it was. When each chapter ended, it left you in suspense. It made you want to keep reading. The characters were fun, and I am sure in the continuation of this series we will get to know them even more. I'm just thankful this book kept on track with the actual "case". Other books I've read would have felt like they needed to put "recipes for floral arrangements" or something superfluous like that. This flower shop mystery series is set in a flower shop, but doesn't take this fact and beat it to death! All in all, I thought it was an excellent read and plan to purchase the next in the series as soon as it is released

Abby Knight, owner of the flower shop Bloomer's, started out that particular Monday high on life. Then some maniac backed his SUV into the front of her classic Corvette and drives off. Not one to suffer injustice, she gets part of his license plate and begins trying to track down the culprit.

Things turn interesting when Abby learns of a murder in a nearby apartment building. It happened just before Abby's car was hit. Could the killer be the person who hit her car? Can Abby and her car live long enough to find out?

I had been interested in this series because of the book titles alone. I love a good pun, and these are great. I finally took the plunge, and I'm glad I did. The book is filled with warmth, from the lovable characters to the writing style. There are several laugh out loud moments and plenty of grins. The characters are interesting and real. I can't wait to get to know them better in the other books. Abby does behave rather stupidly at times. Of course, only once did I completely disagree with her actions.

Unfortunately, the plot suffered a little. I didn't mind the fact that the book spent plenty of time dealing with things not related to the mystery since I truly like Abby and watching her with her family was highly entertaining. In fact, those were some of the best laughs of the book. What did bother me was the climax. While I had pieced things together myself, everything was way too rushed. Hopefully, that was a rookie mistake. I certainly intend to find out.

Whether you love flowers or not, don't miss this book. It's lots of fun. I look forward to reading more about Abby in the near future.

The mystery itself wasn't bad, although it was easy to figure out. However, the character of Abby had to be one of the most annoying I've come across, and because of her, a book that would normally take me two days to read took me more than two weeks.

Abby's meddling was stupid. There was no reason for her to be involved in the first place, let alone keep putting herself in more jeopardy. And it wasn't just the meddling that was stupid -- Abby herself was stupid.

I might give the series another chance down the line just to see if it improved at all. If not, I'll be done with it.

Unsure of what to do with her life after dropping out of law school, Abby Knight opened up a flower shop. She loves her work, but business is slow and money is tight, so she's not thrilled when she sees someone hit her vintage Corvette and then takes off. When a murdered body is discovered not far away, Abby thinks the person that hit her car was the murderer. She's working with a hunky ex-cop to solve the murder, as well as helping a friend escape her abusive husband and soon someone is trying to kill Abby too.

I have mixed feelings about "Mum's the Word". Abby, the heroine, was annoying, meddling to the point where readers could understand why someone would try to kill her. And she comes across as stupid at times, mistaking drugs for fertilizer, as a flower shop owner she should know what fertilizer looks like. No wonder she has very few customers! Marco, the leather wearing, hunk of an ex-cop is a cliché. The secondary characters, like Nikki, Abby's roommate, and Lotti and Grace, her co-workers, are far more interesting. Abby's father, an ex-cop crippled after being shot while on duty, was an interesting character and I'd like to read more about him. Finally, the flower shop set up is fun to read about.

This was an okay book, with enough promise that I've already bought the next book in the series, hoping it will be a better read.

Mum's the Word is a quick read with enjoyable, quirky characters. They are warm and familiar without being too archetypal. Abby Knight, our flower-shop-owner-turned-sleuth, is sometimes ditsy, but always funny! Her romantic foil, Marco, finds her both intriguing and infuriating, a trait he shares with every man who's ever been involved with a woman.

If you like Janet Evanovich, give author Kate Collins a try.