From Publishers Weekly
Eglin's engaging third horticultural cozy (after 2006's
Lost Gardens) pits retired London botanist Lawrence Kingston against rapacious, lawless foes when his longtime friend and colleague, Stewart Halliday, goes missing. Drawing on his cruciverbalist skills, Kingston interprets a coded message in his friend's date book that leads to another cryptogram. Clues indicate that Halliday discovered how to desalinate seawater with a unique crossbred water lily, a scientific breakthrough with potentially far-reaching benefits—and profitability. Kingston believes Halliday has been kidnapped because of the salt-sucking lilies, and even when Kingston is nearly shot down on a helicopter flight, he remains dogged in pursuit of his missing friend. Fans of the brave and erudite Kingston will savor his latest breakneck botanical adventure.
(May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
In this third in the series, after
The Blue Rose 2004) and
The Lost Gardens (2006), retired botany professor Lawrence Kingston of London will not be deterred from searching for missing friend and former colleague Stewart Halliday, despite Kingston's being shot down in a helicopter, knocked on the head, and warned explicitly to desist. Halliday's disappearance, as Kingston rightly suspects, is linked to his secret research to crossbreed a giant water lily that can remove salt from water, a scientific breakthrough with huge financial potential. Descriptions of notable English gardens and information about desalination processes add interest to this mystery, in which--in the cozy tradition--violence is limited, and murders occur offstage. Series fans will be intrigued by the appearance of a mysterious woman, somehow involved in the wrongdoing, who adds a the possibility of romance for widower Kingston. Overlook the occasional dangling participle, and enjoy seeing justice prevail in the English manner.
Michele LeberCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
