Blue Dahlia is Nora Roberts' latest romance novel - the first of a trilogy. Unfortunately for me, the beginning revolves around a plane crash; and I read it while on a rickety Czech Airlines flight. Other than that, it's just like most other Nora Roberts novels: she meets him, he dislikes her, they fight, she grows on him, he realizes he loves her, they kiss, she gets nervous, he tells her he loves her, they get married. Not her best, not her worst. I like her trilogies because she has a tendency to end books abruptly, and with a trilogy you get to see the story continued in the next book (well, twice, anyway). ( )

An entertaining tale of three women who meet at very important points in each of their lives. The story centers around a mother whose children are grown and gone, a widowed single mother raising two boys, and a pregnant single woman who is soon to become a first time mother. This is the first book in the trilogy, and you can see initial lines that have been laid into the story that will be expanded upon in the future books. While I'm looking forward to reading the others, it took me around 75 pages or so to get into this one. Hopefully the others are able to grab me quicker. ( )

The first in the "In the Garden" trilogy, BLUE DAHLIA introduces us to the 3 women who will each take center stage in the books: Stella, Roz and Hayley. We are also introduced to a 4th influential female character, Amelia - only she has been dead for over a hundred years.

After Stella's husband is killed in a small plane crash she relocates back to her home town, just outside Memphis. She accepts a position to manage a plant nursery called In the Garden, part of the conditions is that she and her two young boys move into the ajoining Harper House with the owner Roz, a blunt, self-assured woman whose family have owned the house and estate for many generations. Though strictly regimented Stella forms a fast friendship with Roz, however she clashes with Logan, the nursery's sexy landscape designer he is the complete opposite of Stella—brash and impulsive, he thrives on chaos. Shortly after Stella's arrival a distant relative of Roz's turns up on the door step. Hayley is very pregnant and also looking for a new start.

The three women develop an instant closeness, however there is a fourth - The mysterious Harper Bride. This ghost loves children and sings and watches over any child that comes into the house. It soon becomes very clear that the ghost doesn't like Stella and Logan exploring a relationship. While everyone admits to the ghost always being a presence, they have never suffered the anger that the ghost directs toward Stella and Logan. So just who is the Harper Bride and why is she so sad?

This is a very well written story, and the characters are wonderful with a perfect blend of wit, charm and angst among the women and their male admirer's. Yes the romance in the plot is very predictable - but it is romance it is suppose to be - and that's why I love it. ( )

First in a trilogy...story about three women in TN. A ghost lives in the Harper house and adds a twist of the supernatural ( )

I enjoyed the ghost story twist on what was basically a "romance" plot. I liked how the ghost story continued to be developed a little bit more in each book. This trilogy was my first exposure to Nora Roberts. ( )