Lavender Lies

"Damn it. This is my wedding. Why can't the week be normal?"

After I discovered Thyme of Death, I went a little overboard and tried to get the whole China Bayles series - I ended up with one paperback and two audio downloads. This was the paperback... Eminently readable (this was one of 2 1/2 books I read on New Year's Eve, content on the chaise longue outside my uncle's caravan at Tuross), yet missing something in that fantastic idea collection of the first book.

So China Bayles has quit her toxic lawyering in Houston for Mean Nasty Companies and retired to a little place called Pecan Springs where she runs a herb shop and her shop-neighbour is a crazy new Age lady called Ruby, and they are about to open a joint tea room. Local real show more estate mogul found dead. Most residents think "Good riddance", but it transpires rather quickly that Mr. Coleman was having a number of affairs and was blackmailing city council members for their support on a dodgy land investment deal. And then a few more bodies pile up...Oh and China is planning her wedding (at last) to McQuaid, acting chief of police, so the case needs to be wrapped up by Saturday otherwise China's honeymoon is going to get derailed.

I love a single lady investigator, and I've raved about the first book in this series; something in this one left me underwhelmed. It might have been that there was too much side chatter and not enough actual case; Ruby seems to have got even more mad and tipped over into caricature territory, and Wittig Albert is a little heavy-handed with the emotional preaching (China fiiiiiiiiiiiiinally gets over her issues with her mother).

That all notwithstanding, there are any number of red herrings, I didn't guess the bad guy, China's life is quite amusing to read about, Ruby does provide a lot of amusement and China does a nifty amount of sleuthing in a rather clever manner.

It's a decent detective story, it's just not as good as the first one in the series was. show less

I have read all of the books in this series up through this one (book #8) and will continue to do so. I have really enjoyed all of them ( except one which I can't talk about because that would be a spoiler). China Bayles is the main character in all of the books. She's a former Houston lawyer who now lives in the fictional town of Pecan Springs which is in the Texas hill country. They are all murder mystery stories but not the gory, scary, hardcore stuff. There are reoccurring main characters who you will feel like you know as you read the books. It's small town Texas life and the stories are enjoyable, light reading. They were recommended to me and I will do the same to you. Read them in order so things will make sense :)

In this installment of the series herbalist China Bayles and her soon to be husband have a week to solve the murder of local real estate shark Edgar Coleman or put their nuptials on hold. China's intended is the temporary police chief of their Pecan Springs town and he feels that he cannot leave for a honeymoon with an unsolved murder pending. China does some investigating of her own to help hurry things along. There are many suspects to sift through as Coleman had numerous affairs and blackmailed most of the members of the City Counsel.

Interspersed throughout the book are factoids on the lavender plant. I was not aware that there are thirty different varieties of the plant so these factoids were interesting to me. I found it a little show more unbelievable that China's fiance, McQuaid, would cancel his wedding because of an unsolved murder. However, the book was a page turner and the usual characters that I have come to love were present. It almost feels like a family reunion when a new book is published. Highly recommended. show less

Synopsis: Will China and McQuaid ever get married? Not if people keep getting killed in Pecan Springs. Once again, China and Ruby unearth clues that help the police track down a murderer; they also help a mother find her kidnapped daughter.
Review: Although this book is a solidly written as readers have come to expect, it also has several scenes that make you laugh out loud.

All China is trying to do is plan one simple little wedding with a nice
little honeymoon afterwards for her and her long-time beau, Mike McQuaid.
And then the sleaziest real estate shark in Pecan Springs turns up dead in
his own garage, shot through the face at close range with a small caliber
gun. Since McQuaid is acting as the interim police chief while the city
council decides who to hire permanently, the case is squarely in his lap and
he's bound and determined to give it his full attention at the very time
that China would like a little bit of that attention, if you would be so
kind. She decides to start digging on her own with the help of her friends
Ruby and Sheila and it isn't long before she unearths information that the show more
murdered man was blackmailing nearly the entire city council and the mayor
to boot, to try to force a new zoning ordinance for his latest real estate
venture. With a list of suspects as long as the train on her wedding dress,
they've both got their work cut out for them to try to get this case solved
before the church bells ring. And when another body turns up, so does the
heat. Unless China wants to go on that honeymoon all by her lonesome,
something's got to give.

This was a very satisfying read, which for me was all about the backstory.
I'm glad to see China finally married to McQuaid. Again, another
interesting mystery, skillfully told, with characters I really like coming
back to visit. I'll give it a 4.5 show less

"You're not practicing that focus pocus on me," I said. "If you have to tell fortunes, Ruby, start with Justine." Across the table, Justin Wyzinski looked up from the lavender stems she was attempting to braid. "Palm reading is only a parlor game, China. Just superstition. Play along- it won't hurt you." She tossed the braid onto the table with an impatient gesture and leaned back in her white wicker chair. "Isn't there something else I can do besides making these ridiculous lavender hearts? Ruby's are perfect? Mine are hideously deformed. "

At last, China and McQuaid get married, but not before having to solve a murder or two in the week leading up to the wedding. In fact, McQuaid doesn't want to leave until it's all tied up which is not making him the least bit popular on the home front. So China and Ruby decide to lend a helping hand.

The murder is solved a good chapter before the end of the book, the final chapter deals with the wedding which goes nothing like to plan, but is memorable.