Customer Reviews

Pushing Up Daisies: A Dirty Business Mystery

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rosemary Harris' debut mystery, Pushing Up Daisies, introduces a gutsy heroine with an offbeat supporting cast. The first in the Dirt-y Business Mystery is a blooming success.

Paula Holliday is a gardner with a small landscaping business in Connecticut. Her business is struggling, and Paula spends a great deal of time hanging out in the Paradise Diner, owned by her friend, the outspoken "Babe" Chinnery. When the last member of the Peacock family dies, Paula's time spent at the Springfield Historical Society lands her the job of landscaping the family estate, Halcyon. It's just an accident when she digs up a body on her first day on the job.

Paula, a single woman in her thirties, with a dry sense of humor, pushes Sergeant Mike O'Malley to investigate a murder that could be forty years old. Can Paula weed out the killer in a story of past scandals? It takes some help from a retired cop, Paula's friend, Lucy, and the Mexican landscaping community.

Harris has a solid grasp on gardening details that will please many readers. For those of us without any knowledge of gardening, she supplies a well-constructed mystery with likable characters. Here's hoping the "Dirt-y Business Mystery" series flourishes.

Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris is a delightful cozy mystery. Paula Holliday has given up her life in New York City to come to Springfield, Connecticut to start a gardening/landscaping business. Getting her first big job, that of reviving the gardens of a mansion recently inherited by the local historical society, Paula uncovers the mummified corpse of an infant. Of course, as in any good cozy mystery, Paula embarks on finding out who buried the infant, much to the dismay of the local police.

I truly enjoyed this mystery. Paula had the requisite wise-cracking friend, actually two of them, her friend Lucy from New York City and Babe, the owner of the local diner. I found the characters well fleshed out and the banter was witty and amusing. Paula's exchanges with Sergeant Mike O'Malley were fun to follow and I'm hoping their relationship develops in the next installment of this proposed series. Because I am from Connecticut I particularly enjoyed this book and found references to things I am familiar with enjoyable, particularly her reference to Dunkin Donuts coffee, one of my favorite things!

This is a very entertaining read. Paula is a contemporary heroine with a big attitude! I enjoyed the local color and locale. Can't wait for the next book!

I lucked out getting my hands on this book I loved it! The characters were quirky and funny and I cant wait to read the next installment!!

I really enjoyed the characters the author is developing. Especially interesting is the funny relationship between the Paula and the police Sergeant O'Malley. I hope that the author will bring develop this relationship in future books. Also, the big-city friend Lucy is extremely funny. I was impressed by the author's gardening know-how and the way she utilized the information to keep the plot moving forward. Less impressive was her one-sided portrayal of the poor and abused Mexican day-laborers.

I enjoyed this book. I thought it was less cozy than many cozies, and I liked that many of the book's puzzles had different answers, rather than all channeling down to one evil-doer. Not being from Connecticut, the shifts in location didn't both me at all. I did find there to be confusing moments, or sentences that just didn't make sense, and I thought I wasn't paying attention, but reading these review, perhaps it was the editor who wasn't paying attention. Nonetheless, I finished it off in a couple of days and felt that my time was well spent.

After the buyout of the production company she worked for, Paula Holliday moved from the Big Apple to Springfield, Connecticut where she opened up a landscaping business, PH Factors, Garden Solutions. When Dorothy Peacock died, she left her estate Helepin to the Historical Society, but the grounds desperately need a good landscaper. Paula applies and gets the contract.

Her euphoria turns to horror when she digs up a box containing a mummified baby inside. Unable to forget or ignore her grisly find, Paula asks questions of those locals who lived in the area for decades in an attempt to identify either parent of the unfortunate child. She upsets someone who sends her a threatening email to back off or else, and someone knocks her out when she was in a deserted area. Paula learns that a young female Mexican who worked nearby decades ago mysteriously vanished although most people assumed she went home. The newbie ponders whether the interred baby and this woman are related like a mother and child. When another landscaper is murdered, Paula knows she has to stay involved even though she risks her life by still snooping.

This "Dirt-y Business" mystery by first time writer Rosemary Harris is an exciting well plotted (pun intended) amateur sleuth due to a quirky heroine and an eccentric Connecticut support cast. There are two mysteries that Paula feels must connect and has her theory how, but struggles to affirm her supposition. The novel also contains gardening tips and flora lore that enhance the appeal especially for fans of China Bayles.

Harriet Klausner

Even if you aren't a regular mystery reader you will love Rosemary Harris's books. Her main character, Paula, is so real she quickly becomes a close, quirky friend and you will want to keep in touch to see what she's been up to! Pushing up Daisies (and its sequels) are funny, fun, entertaining reads, guaranteed! I work in a library and love to recommend Rosemary's books. Everyone loves them.

Rosemary Harris starts this new series with an entertaining mystery that deftly brings the past and present together. Great characters and swift pacing will keep you reading till the end. Wonderful book!

Rosemary Harris has created characters that I'd like to hang out with. In "Pushing Up Daisies" former television executive Paula Holliday leaves New York for Springfield, Connecticut and gives up a stressful career for gardening. The supporting characters are funny and quirky and I especially like Wanda "Babe" Chinnery. I highly reccommend "Pushing Up Daisies" and all the books in the series.