This was my first Nora Roberts book. I went ahead and bought the trilogy before reading the first book, because it was set in Memphis. I enjoyed it more page by page than taken as a whole, because while the characterizations and plotting were pedestrian, the dialogue was sometimes rather entertaining. (Roberts has a particular gift for having a character say something clichéd that is amusingly undercut by another character's reply.) I also rather liked the ghost plot, although I found the ghost's backstory both trite and unconvincing.

Where the book particularly fell down was in the setting. Despite visits to certain Memphis landmarks, the book didn't convey the flavor of the city, either in the flashback sequences or in the main story. I gather that Roberts does a lot of her setting research online, and this trilogy certainly suggests she hasn't spent much time in Memphis, because--aiming for Southern graciousness--she misses out on Memphis's mellow, cranky, threadbare charm. There were no black characters except in walk-on roles as waiters and such, and the white characters didn't seem particularly Southern. A hate-at-first-sight romance between a rugged Southern working man and a control freak raised up North has the potential to be highly entertaining, but in this book everybody might as well be from Indiana.

Pretty typical Roberts romantic suspense. ( )

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. ( )