Customer Reviews

The Trail of the Wild Rose (English Garden Mystery, Book 4)

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

 

 

Mr. Eglin has produced another well written, extremely well plotted mystery featuring Dr. Lawrence Kingston. However, after several books, I still don't know/empathize with/like or care about Dr. Kingston. He has no personality! We learn about his habits and possessions but never find out what makes him tick. I want to like my protagonist and I'm getting a little tired of waiting for Mr. Eglin to give me a reason to keep reading this series.

I agree with "A voracious reader" about the personality, or lack thereof, of the protagonist of this series. I've held on because I like the garden part, but this fourth and last book has little to do with gardening. The plots are OK but a bit dry. The characters, especially the potential victims, seem a bit dense and unconcerned about their fates. Most mystery series succeed with not only an engaging protagonist but also a likeable, reoccuring supporting cast. The good doctor in this series has only two lackluster friends, an absent daughter and no love life. He does seem to eat and drink alot -- and each meal is described in detail. He also lives quite a cushy life for a retired professor -- maybe pensions are higher in England. The second book, The Lost Garden, was the best. I probably should have stopped there.

I am a fan of Eglin's English garden mysteries, but while this one is entertaining, it is not a page turner. What's missing is a plot that revolves around a botanical topic. The plant collecting expedition is only tangential in the book. The other three books either raised interesting scientific issues (plant hybridization and desalinization) or gardening challenges like uncovering an overgrown garden... this plot could have focused on the issues surrounding plant collecting. I agree with the other reviews that the protaganist lacks personality. If you haven't read Eglin's other books, I'd recommend them over this one.

Recently returned from a horticultural visit to China, Peter Mayhew is driving his motorcycle when he is run off the road. The other driver does not stop and Peter is rushed to an Oxford hospital in critical condition, The victim rambles incoherently about the Asian journey so a colleague ask retired botanist Lawrence Kingston to talk with Peter and see if he can make sense of what the man is saying.

Kingston learns the expedition was seeking wild roses, but soon afterward someone murders Mayhew in his hospital room. Thames Valley Detective Inspector Sheffield leads the police investigation into the homicide while Kingston interviews the other people who accompanied the victim to China. However, the cops and Kingston are stunned when Mayhew's half-sister Sally comes to to the morgue to identify her brother only to insist that the cadaver is not him; she also says Peter allegedly died in a fall in China. As the retiree digs through the mud, he begins to uncover fraud, double crosses and murder as more members of the quest die.

The fourth English Garden mystery (see THE WATER LILY CROSS, THE BLUE ROSE and LOST GARDENS) is an engaging amateur sleuth that showcases the world of historical botanist hunters seeking obscure exotic plants around the globe; mindful of Darwin's trip on the Beagle. The story line is fast-paced once Sally makes her assertion and never slows down although the ending seems to easy and intermittently Kingston's life intrudes on the plot. Still this is a fun modern day meeting of Darwin and Agatha Christie in And Then there Were None.

Harriet Klausner

I recently "discovered" Anthony Eglin and have finished four of his books. This is a good read with a decent plot. His garden descriptions are excellent. He weaves British food and wine into the tale which puts the reader back in the UK with ease.

First Line: They walked more slowly now.

A party of plant hunters who journeyed to the remote corners of China and are now dying off one by one supply Dr. Lawrence Kingston with his fourth mystery.

A colleague at Kew Gardens enlists Kingston to go to an Oxford hospital where a member of a recent horticultural expedition to China lies very seriously injured. The patient's unconscious ramblings raise questions about what happened on that expedition, about the group's objectives, and about the man's own identity. After the patient's death, Kingston interviews other members of the party, gradually uncovering a nasty conspiracy.

I have greatly enjoyed the other books in this series, but this one had a few elements that got right up my nose. Kingston's fastidiousness and vanity were emphasized a bit more in this book, and with his penchant for haring off to interview and investigate-- with and without the prior knowledge of the police-- led me to believe that the man thought of himself as a silver-haired John Steed. He also lost several Brownie points by obsessing over whether or not to be seen with a female character because she didn't wear makeup.

Kingston's friends always want to fix him up with a female so he'll be happy. With his attitude, I hope for the chosen female's sake that they never succeed. Speaking of friends, several times throughout the book, Kingston went to lunch with a friend to new restaurants. The result of this made the book feel more like a gourmet's tour of southern England than a mystery.

The Trail of the Wild Rose began with such promise in a biologically diverse and remote corner of the world, but it devolved rapidly into a bumbling investigation in which a former professor told the reader much more than what was shown. I sincerely hope that in the fifth book in this series, Kingston's opinion of himself is not nearly so high.

You can read this book out of order without becoming confused; however, I would suggest that, if you've never read a book in this series before, you try one of the first three. They are very enjoyable.

I do wish the author would make a few changes to his style and give the main character more personality. I despise the author's bad habit of attributing the personality of other's to his characters so he didnt have to do any work of his own. One character is like Woody Allen. The main character is like the tv sleuth Morse. Then the author goes to google and gets a chapter on early roses and includes that. Please some one make Anthony stop doing these things because I like the English qualities of the landscape, the absence of disgusting details of murders, the details of food and drink etc. This book really didnt hinge on gardening. Poor Anthony. He very lazy boy.

Once again Mr.Eglin has written another great story.Very exciting tale of mayhem and mystery.I was never quite sure how this story would end and was very pleased with it from the beginning to the final page.I enjoyed ,very much, the writers style and the way the plot unfolds .I was totally absorbed with every turn of the page and felt I was there also, in England ,on the pursuit of the answer to this mystery.I highly recommend this book to all lovers of great mystery and can't wait for the next installment.