Ann Ripley (1926–2023)

The First Lady is hosting a Gardening Conference around Christmas-time. Several gardening experts including television hosts Louise Eldridge and her rival Bunny Bainfield are among those present. When Bunny ends up dead, it becomes apparent that many of the experts had motive and opportunity to kill Bunny. Louise helps the investigating officers. There were several problems with this book. Far too much time was spent introducing the characters in the beginning and the murder takes place too show more far into the book. The book would have been more effective if the murder had taken place earlier, and we had come to know Bunny and the other gardening experts as the investigation progressed. For a book billed as a Christmas book, it seems to have been an added afterthought as this book could have taken place at any time of the year. There were only a few mentions of the holiday, and they had no real effect on the narrative. There were too many elements in the plot which seemed to lack credibility. It seems unlikely that the Alexandria police would call in Louise's detective friend from the Fairfax jurisdiction to assist in the investigation unless there were things which linked the crime with Fairfax. That link was never established. There were ways in which characters or officers behaved that seemed out of line. show less

The Christmas Garden Affair by Anne Rigley
Love the holiday and gardening and thought this would be a good read.
Louise and 47 others have been invited to visit with the first lady at the annual Christmas Garden Party. Bonnie Banfield was also invited-a rival that is trying to take over her PBS show from her.
Bonnie talks to her audience in a sexual demeanor and dresses with very few clothes on and that is causing her ratings to go sky high. Louise is losing her ratings...
There are many others show more who also don't like how Bonnie is sexulizing the garden industry and want her gone. When she is discovered dead at the party there are many who point to Louise and others.
Love the garden tips throughout the book and the clues as they come to lead us to the person who did kill Bonnie. Hard at times to keep track of all the people involved as there are so many of them.
Enjoyed the read so much I will be finding the other works of the author to read.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). show less

This is the start of a new series that calls itself 'cozy" but almost
reads as a political thriller in spots. The identity of the killer is
not hidden, but trying to figure out just which of the folks in the
neighborhood it is takes a bit of doing. But, like any good mystery
series, it will be the characters that bring me back to this series for
more. 4

I loved this book. The characters are very believable, and the warmth of the many friendships makes me feel good. The main character, Louise, is enough like me that I identify with her, plus, she is genuinely shook up when the dead body of a man she doesn't like shows up buried under her azaleas. This is a great read.