Vanish with the Rose

Barbara Michaels may have written a big batch of books in a certain genre, but she kept most of them unique and didn't indulge in formulaic safety nets. In Vanish with the Rose she does again focus on her love of old houses, rose gardens and landscaping, but the story-line isn't an old fashioned ghost story. Lawyer Diana Reed is doing undercover sleuthing and pretending to be a rose expert while she tries to figure out where her older brother ended up. Was he dead? Missing? That's the real reason she's out there digging through the dirt of a particular family.

Diana may have personal family issues, but the family dynamics of the house she visits brings a lot of charm and humor to the story. The mother is especially cute in a quirky way. show more Throwing in the dedicated housekeeper as a companion and fellow detective was a fun as well, including her weird situation with her ex (potential red herring alert). There are two men who may contend for the heroine's heart but as usual Michaels doesn't put much romance into the plot pot, and it could have been either/or by the end of the story with the same result.

The mystery isn't bad; it hints at paranormal and slowly solves a crime she's not sure exists. I wasn't terribly surprised at the ending but it was a good, somber one that fit the dreary mood of what they find out. While the mystery is only so-so with its strength, it does come across heavy in comparison to some of her other mysteries. A lot of those books dealt with horrors of the past, but this one makes sure they stay present, front and center.

It's not my favorite of hers, but it's a good one, made even better by her usual gorgeous writing style and knack for sarcastic dialogue as the characters bounce theories and debates off each others egos. Recommended for Michaels fans or those who like slow-paced mysteries...with rose gardens. show less

Diana Reed isn’t who she says she is. She isn’t an expert on antique roses (the ones that predate the now-ubiquitous, ever-blooming hybrid tea roses, introduced in 1867) or a garden landscaper. Diana Reed isn’t even her real name.

Diana has maneuvered to get herself hired as a rose expert by the Nicholsons, a family that literally won the lottery and used the proceeds to buy and renovate an 18th century home near the small town of Faberville. The Nicholsons bought the home from the senile Matilda Musser, and it was in the last days of Miss Musser’s tenure that Diana’s brother, Brad Randall, had come to stay at the house, serving as handyman and helper to the 90-something-year-old lady. Until one day, without warning, Brad was show more gone, never to be heard from again. Diana knows her brother would never just disappear without a word. And she’s staying at the Nicholsons’ in hopes of finding out what really happened.

Barbara Michaels (pseudonym, along with Elizabeth Peters, for archeologist Barbara Mertz) usually pens delightful supernatural romances. Vanish with the Rose doesn’t rise to the level of the Georgetown series, Be Buried in the Rain, Other Worlds, or Wait for What Will Come; Michaels spends so much time on Diana’s guilt and Mrs. Nicholson’s son’s goofiness that it isn’t until nearly halfway through the novel that we get to the crux of the matter. But once Michaels gets going, readers will have a hard time putting Vanish with the Rose down. Also, Michaels’ worst novels — like this and The Copenhagen Connection — are still much better than the vast majority of other writers’ best. So be sure to save this one for a rainy day when you’ll have lots of interrupted reading time. show less

I have a favorite I reread every summer or so, a suspense by Barbara Michaels, that takes place during a Virginia spring. It's Vanish With the Rose.

The characters draw me back. This cast of four is outstanding.

It’s set in a rural, rundown mansion being renovated by a lively pair of elderly lottery winners who are offstage most of the book.

Andy, the hapless son of the endearing wife, is my favorite. Tall, gangly, talkative, he lives and bumbles on the page, with a history of saddling his mother and stepfather with “vintage” cars and animals that need a home. That includes Baby, a Saint Bernard trained to protect women. Her MO? Knock them down and recline on them until the danger passes.

Walt is a builder hired to do the work. Tall, show more muscled, prickly, he’s dragged into a dab of dishonesty by an attractive, cool Philly attorney, and it doesn't sit well.

Diana is searching for her younger brother. Brad worked for the former owner of the house, and disappeared from there. Diana has gained entry by posing as a landscape architect hired to recreate the gardens, especially the rose gardens--and it doesn't sit well. Plus, Diana is, for the first time, flying in the face of her powerful, domineering father to do this.

Fiercely independent Mary Jo has several jobs, including working for Andy’s parents, goes to school, and has an abusive ex-husband who turns up shooting.

Bring them all together in the old Musser mansion, season them with a little attraction, a dash of the paranormal, a spoonful of the history of roses, throw in a short, parallel historical story, and they start looking out for each other. Add a bevy of animals, and another keeper is born.

And every chapter begins with a lovely quote or verse about roses.

Like I said, a keeper.

Sharon K. Garner
Sanctuary, River of Dreams, Lokelani Nights, The Spaniard's Cross show less

I enjoyed the book throughly even the rather silly fourteen page coda which ends in a desire to conserve water. Vanish with the Rose is vintage Barbara Michaels. I just wish she would save some of this writing style for her Elizabeth Peters non de plum as the Michaels book are always so much more deliciously dark, brooding and macabre. I do have to admit to figuring out who done it about seventy pages before the ending as it otherwise would have made no sense to introduce that character into the book. I also wish that more had been done with the hidden stairway but I guess it would have been too much of a distraction from the rose and gardening theme of the book.

I enjoyed Vanish with the Rose. It had a gardening theme (roses were the focus, of course) and the main characters were quite likeable. I wanted the characters to solve the mystery and I am glad the romance went the way it did. It is a perfect book for vacation reading -- the right mix of mystery, romance, and paranormal.

This is one of Michaels better books however I totally just disliked the main characters, Diana and Mary Jo. They were just rude and bi**chy all the time, especially to Andy. I thought the story would have been better without the attitudes- it wasnt necessary to the story as a whole i dont think.

@ death, roses, good

Fearing for the safety of her missing brother, lawyer Diana Reed will do anything to get to the truth. Taking a job as a landscape architect at the last place Brad was seen—the sprawling estate where he worked as a caretaker—she prowls the strange old house determined to unlock its secrets. But each mystery Diana uncovers is more unsettling than the last, as odd visions, scents, and sounds pervade an atmosphere of dread and barely suppressed violence.