Dearly Depotted

Abby Knight is thrilled that her cousin Jillian is getting married. Sure, she's not thrilled that her bridesmaid's dress makes her look like a clown, but Jillian has hired her to do the flowers for the wedding and Abby, owners of the Bloomers Flower Shop, can use the money. Abby's even willing to look after Jillian's grandmother-in-law during the wedding. Life is never dull with Abby around as a fistfight breaks out during the wedding. But the real trouble starts when Grandma wanders off and Abby finds her near a dead body. Abby's not one to shy away from investigating a murder and is especially anxious to solve this case, as one of the suspects is the boyfriend of Grace, her shop assistant.

"Dearly Depotted" is a delightful entry in show more this charming cozy mystery series. Abby is a plucky heroine, not afraid to get involved in a mystery; outspoken, often without thinking ahead of the consequences; bright, yet confused about her relationship with hunky ex-cop Marco. The book is also filled with Abby's delightful sidekicks: shop assistant's Little and Grace (I chuckled when Kate Collins described Grace meeting Elvis when he was in the army); Abby's roommate Nikki and her playful cat Simon; her client Trudee DeWitt; and her incredibly selfish cousin Jillian. Besides the mystery, there are several subplots going on that help make the characters seem real. The mystery itself was well written and plotted and I had no idea who the murderer was until the very end.

Well done. show less

In the third book in the Flower Shop Mystery series, Abby's cousin Jill FINALLY makes it to the alter (thank GOD!). However, drama ensues (shocking): a fight breaks out during the vows, the vows get delayed, the city's Fourth of July fireworks go on as planned meaning the vows get drowned out by the noise (rude!), and during the reception a dead body is found behind the pulpit.

Normally, Grace (one of Abby's employees) implores Abby not to meddle, but this time Grace all but begs Abby to get involved in the investigation of who killed Jack Snyder. Why? Because the person Grace recently started dating, Richard Davis, is the police's main suspect. Although there are several people with motive (Snyder wasn't the most popular guy in town), show more Davis doesn't have a great alibi, and he is one of the people with a great motive.

One of the funnier subplots is that Lottie's (Abby's other employee) son (well, one of her sons - Lottie has quadruplets) keeps hanging out at Abby's client's house. Abby suspects that he has a serious crush on the client, and soon enough, so does the client's husband. Abby finds herself playing marriage counsellor, as well as trying to run interference between the client and a hormone-fueled teenage boy.

As always, Abby gets an able assist from Marco (he reminds me a lot of Stephanie Plum's Ranger), and the two of them work together to figure out if Richard Davis killed Jack Snyder.

The best part was the surprising end. It had nothing to do with whodunit, but it really left me dying to read the next instalment (sorry about that pun; it truly wasn't intended). show less

I love this series. I didn't figure out who the murderer was until near the end and by then, I was supposed to know. The only thing with the main character that bothers me is her inability to stand up to her family when necessary. She has no problem in other situations in being bold enough. I hope the author gives her a little more backbone in the upcoming books.

I like the dynamic with her "almost boyfriend" and her friends. The other town characters are normal enough but with some quirks that make them believable. Overall, this series is very well rounded.

Abby Knight is finally, hopefully, getting her often engaged but cold-footed cousin Jillian married, providing the flowers and being part of the wedding party. It is touch and go, especially when a fight breaks out amongst guests and later a body is discovered in the gazebo. As Jillian goes off on her honeymoon, Abby starts looking into the murder when her friend Grace's new gentleman friend is a suspect. Abby considers herself a PI in training under Marco, but she has a lot to learn. This almost was a 3 star because of some stuff she does but the admission of doing it wrong and Marco trying to push her in the right direction saves it this time. In future volumes I hope she shows she is learning and she builds up a little backbone show more concerning her cousin and family. show less

I wish I could do ample justice to praising Dearly Depotted. Every superlative that I could use has already been employed by others, or by me, but in other reviews. I'll keep this one simple. First, it's sometimes a bonus when the murderer is a sympathetic woman. 'Cherchez la femme' and all that. I can't explain why, not really. The recurring cast of this series are till now beyond blame, yet I still could not guess the culprit among the few new people. And I was amused by the Grace character being possibly the inspiration for Graceland. That was clever. The ending, with the arrival of the newly wed promises more chaos for future books. I'm expectant as to what book will improve on this 4/5 score and get a perfect score. Can't wait.

Abby's neurotic cousin, Jillian, is finally getting married and Abby has agreed to do the flowers and be a bridesmaid. She wasn't counting on dead bodies. But when the groom's grandmother discovers one under a table, Abby jumps in to investigate. The police already have a suspect - her friend's new boyfriend. But Abby thinks they are too quick to draw conclusions. Oh, and what's going on with her hottie escort?

This is the third in a fun series. I enjoyed this one and the others, but I just don't enjoy books like this as much as I used to. The idea of a amateur detective gets a little hard to believe after a while. And why can't she figure out what's going on with Marco? This is the third book and there's been an attraction between them show more the whole time. Then she FALLS ASLEEP when she finally gets to spend an evening alone with him? What's up with that? I'm all for taking things slow, but she hasn't even decided if they are dating or not. How long is that going to take?

If you like cozy mysteries, this is a fun series. There is a little bit of language, but it's otherwise clean. I like the characters, although Jillian is a bit much, and there's not this shove-it-down-your-throat thing that a lot of the 'theme cozies' seem to have. Yes, she's a florist, but it's not a DIY book for aspiring green thumbs. For myself, I would probably read another in the series if I got the chance, but I'm not going to go out and look for one. show less

After reading a serial killer book, I needed something light and airy and Dearly Depotted hit the spot. Abby Knight owns a flower shop and her latest gig has her supplying the flowers for her cousin's wedding. Abby has a habit of playing sleuth so as a member of the bridal party it's just her luck that she is witness to the discovery of a body, a man many people loathed. With so many suspects plus an ex-fiancee and a former Army Ranger now bar owner, Abby manages to juggle them all. This was an entertaining read - and cute book titles (Mum's the Word, Snipped in the Bud, Slay it With Flowers)