Evil in Carnations

Florist Abby Knight is delighted that her romance with hunky Private Investigator Marco Salvare is back on track. Her roommate Nikki Hiduke is less thrilled as she just broke up with her boyfriend. To cheer Nikki up, Abby convinces her to go to a speed dating event. Abby thinks she's found the perfect date for Nikki, but to her dismay Nikki is attracted to Jonas Treat, better known as "Treat the Cheat". When Jonas is found murdered shortly after their date, Nikki is the number one suspect. Abby works frantically to clear Nikki's name and find the real killer, even if the police and Marco don't want her help.

"Evil in Carnations" is another fun mystery in the Flower Shop cozy mystery series, a series that gets better with every book. Abby show more and Marco are back together and take their relationship up a notch (perhaps more than they realize!) and they make a good team working together. It is nice to have more of Nikki in this book and she too has grown as a character. There is also plenty of Abby's coworkers, Grace and Lottie, in the book, which adds a sweet touch to the book. There is a great sense of humor throughout the book, including (as always) Abby's mother's latest "art" creation and her cousin Jill's attempt to "help" out in the flower shop. In fact, both Abby's and Marco's family add quite a bit of humor to the book, including the end of the book which ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. The mystery itself is well plotted with plenty of suspects and the revelation of the identity of the killer and the motive for the murder adds a bit of poignancy to an otherwise humorous book.

"Evil in Carnations" is a nicely done cozy mystery. show less

Abby returns from a romantic weekend with Marco to find that her roommate Nikki has gone out with Jonas Treat (after Abby warned her not to) and now that Jonas has been found murdered, Nikki is in a bundle of trouble since she was apparently the last one to see him alive.

Nikki's lawyer hires Marco to investigate and, of course, Abby has to join in. The suspects include a Speed Dating Coordinator (where Nikki and Jonas met), an ex-fiancée, previous business associate, previous client, and Jonas' own private stalker. With all those to check out Abby gets into a few unusual situations getting her family to jump to some interesting conclusions.

It's been a while since I read the last Flower Shop mystery and I'm wondering how I could have show more let that much time go by. This cozies are always so much fun because Abby Knight along with her family and employees just make me laugh. I definitely cannot let this much time go by again. show less

Of all of the Flower Shop Mystery books, this is my least favourite thus far (although I still enjoyed it).

Abby's roommate (and longtime friend), Nikki meets Jonas Treat at a speed dating event. Although Abby has a steady boyfriend, she tags along to keep Nikki company and server as an advisor. Although Abby is turned off by Jonas and tries to stear Nikki away from him, Nikki is immediately smitten. Despite the rules, Nikki exchanges contact information with Jonas, and they arrange a date soon after the speed dating event. Unfortunately, Jonas ends up dead the night of his date with Nikki. Nikki is, of course, the last person on record to see him alive.

The investigation soon focuses on Nikki, and Abby wants to swing into action. She is show more convinced that Nikki could never kill anyone, and she wants to help with the investigation. However, Nikki's attorney (who Abby interned for when she was in law school) is equally determined that Abby stay out of the investigation because she is biased. So Abby's boyfriend Marco is put in charge of the investigation. But, of course, Abby can't help but worm her way into the investigation through the back door.

What I found lacking in this plot was that it took so long to find an alternate suspect. It also took a very long time for Abby to start investigating (even unofficially). This is the eighth book in the series, so it was obvious that Abby WOULD get involved in the investigation one way or another. And whether Nikki committed the murder, it's rare that a murder mystery would have only one suspect, so there HAD to be at least one other suspect, if only the red herring! Once these two things got going, the pacing was great and the book was the page-turner that I've come to expect from Collins.

It's nice to see Abby and Marco trying to negotiate their relationship, and it's also nice to see a female character with her own business who has concerns about the balance between career and domesticity.

While I say that this book is my least favourite in the series, it's worth noting that I still liked the book, and am eager to read the next book in the series. show less

Abby and Marco come back from a long weekend in Key West to find that Nikki, Abby's roommate and best friend since grade school, has been implicated in the murder of her date.

Marco uses his PI license to help Nikki's attorney and Abby does her normal interference, snooping and hunting for things to help Nikki.

Abby's attitude toward being told to leave things alone and let the professionals deal with the problem bothered me more in this book than usual. I think it was her insistence that she *had* to help because it was Nikki in trouble. Or maybe it was that Bloomers (her flower shop) was short staffed and she still just walks out to go investigate.

All the normal characters are here, Nikki, Abby's parents, her cousin Jillian and her show more staff, Marco's mother and sister, and various shop people, cops and neighbors.

I didn't dislike the book and the story was really well done, I just wish that Abby would listen to people when they tell her that she could get hurt snooping. show less

Abby Knight is back for the eighth book of the series. Abby and Marco are trying to mend their relationship and decide to sneak to Key West for a weekend getaway. Abby empathizes with Nikki, her roommate, because her boyfriend just ended their relationship. To help heal Nikki’s broken heart, Abby decides to attend a speed dating event with Nikki. Much to Abby’s chagrin, Nikki chooses the one guy that Abby did not like. Breaking the “no contact” rule, Nikki exchanges phone numbers with Jonas Treat and agrees to go out with him, all the while keeping this a secret from Abby.

When Abby returns from her weekend with Marco, Nikki gets arrested for homicide. Abby agrees to help Nikki, however Nikki repeatedly sabotages the case by not show more being forthcoming with Abby. Soon Abby begins to doubt Nikki’s innocence and questions how well does she really know her best friend.

While trying to figure out who killed Jonas, Abby is also trying to keep her weekend getaway a secret from her family, especially her mother. If her family knew about Key West, they would assume she and Marco were getting serious. . .which meant marriage. Abby is aware of her feelings for Marco, however she’s not sure if she’s ready for marriage.

Although the killer is easy to spot, this book is a great addition to the series. While it centers around solving the murder, the reader learns more about Abby’s relationship with Marco. One can’t help but to wonder what the future holds for them.

4.5/5 show less

Book 8 in a series, this is just one more installment of the very popular cozy-mystery types. Its narrator is a lovely red-haired woman named Abby who owns a flower shop, and there's a cast of characters surrounding her, a romance, and a murder mystery.

Over all it is a generally pleasant book and I liked Abby. I found most of the supporting characters to be highly annoying, some too good to believe, and was generally happiest reading when Abby was at work in her flower shop, not when she was out trying to solve the mystery. Or when she was talking with the other characters.

The writer has a penchant for having supporting characters call Abby by all sorts of other names: Sunshine, Chili Pepper, etc. that doesn't seem as funny as it was show more meant to be. The secondary plot line that revolves around Abby's romance with her beau and both of their families overweening interest in making sure it leads to marriage and baby carriages is also generally annoying and overdone.

I will say that it got better as the story progressed, and it is light and enjoyable reading as long as you don't want any realism in how murders and the police actually investigate.

This was the first book in the series that I have read (dropping in randomly within the series) but I didn't find that I had trouble following the set-up, and the author did a good job of quick reminders of past mystery adventures when it was called for.

I do very much like the cover art, though. It is kind of a chic gothic. show less

mystery, flower shop mystery

This is the eighth Flower Shop Mystery by Kate Collins.

Abby Knight, happily reunited with her sexy boyfriend Marco, is determined to help her best friend and room mate Nikki find similar happiness, so signs Nikki up for speed dating.

Abby tells Nikki not to let herself be picked up by an arrogant jerk there, but Nikki does go out with him - and he is murdered later that night, making Nikki the prime suspect.

To make things worse, Nikki lies her head off to Abby, the police, and everyone else, about the date and what happens that night. When the truth comes out about what happened, it all was very innocent, so it actually makes no sense that she even lied about it, other than to create some artificial tension show more within the story.

The main part of the book centers around Abby's attempts to clear Nikki, and around the heating up on-again romance between Marco and Abby.

The books in this series are sort of hit and miss for me. This one, due to the needless and nonsensical lying to create artifical tension within the story, is sort of a miss. If something scandalous had happened on the date (like hot public monkey sex with a complete stranger) perhaps the lying might have made more sense. But...meh. show less