Landscaper, Paula Holliday checks into a hotel where in its lobby is an encased corpse flower, appearing to be ready to open up a big bud of stench. It’s a girls weekend to be shared with her bestie, Lucy. To make a few bucks, Paula consigns herself to write an article on the flower and surrounding interests.

In the lobby, a smarmy Armani-scented fella tries a few cringe-worthy lines that fall flatter than a room key. He later saddles up alongside Paula, as she still waits for Lucy to show, and tries a few more. Shortly after Paula retires, alone, the locals escort her out of her room to a back alley to ID the body of the letch she dissed earlier. Assured she was uninvolved, she is left to go. But still no Lucy. Cryptic texts arrive and set Paula off to sleuth her whereabouts, just as it appears her own are also of concern to not so savory characters too big for the shadows.

Plenty of who, what & where twist and turn as the story gets to the guessing. No way was I even close! It was a fun cast of characters that rival Evanovich, with zippy lines and madcap scenarios. Love the epilogues. ( )

Enjoyable cozyish mystery with gardening at its heart and some charming characters; also a very stinky flower! Recommended for those who like to learn a little something with their mysteries. ( )

Just ok. Cozy gardening mystery. ( )

I had a hard time getting through this one. I couldn't connect with the characters or the story. I did like how it was wrapped up at the end with a little recap of all the characters.

I really enjoyed this book, would definitely recommend it to others who like mysteries. I enjoyed this book so much that I went to a book signing with the author at Red Bones in Somerville, MA to meet her, and bought her other book so I could get them signed. I am looking forward to more books by Rosemary Harris so I can find out what will happen next. In scrolling down I see some reviews that call Harris out for being racially intolerant, I honestly didn't notice that, but then being white, I suppose I wouldn't see it. I am sorry that I didn't take the book that seriously. I don't think bigotry is acceptable... so maybe I need to rethink my enjoyment of the book - I just didn't give that much credence to the things the other reviewer finds fault with, and I think Harris actually doesn't reserve her racist stereotyping only to certain ethnicities... from what I remember reading, she seems to paint a fairly broad swath...