This is the 10th year writing Peggy Lee so the authors would like to do a big anniversary prize with a book and a goody basket of seeds, gardening supplies, gloves, etc. for the gardeners out there who love Peggy Lee. Also a $20 Amazon gift card. You can enter the rafflecopter at the bottom of the post!
But first, please enjoy my review.
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Killing Weeds
by Joyce and Jim Lavene
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Killing Weeds (A Peggy Lee Garden Mystery Book 8)
File Size: 348 KB
Print Length: 235 pages
Publisher: J. Lavene (May 5, 2015)
ASIN: B00UG9SBBK
My Review
This is the 8th book in this series and I can tell you right now, you don’t have to have read the previous books to enjoy this one, but you’ll sure want to.
The first thing I liked about the characters was Peggy Lee is close to my age. She’s a grandmother with a husband several years younger than her, but she doesn’t dye her hair, over exercise to stay firm, or hide her wrinkles. She earned them and wears them with pride.
And something that makes me have to go back to the beginning, besides loving these characters, is Shakespeare, Peggy’s Great Dane. I didn’t get to know him much in this book, but I have a feeling he played bigger roles in some of the other books in the series. I’m huge on animals as key characters in stories and I bet that big, lovable cuss had some major parts in some of these mysteries.
There’s more than one type of killing weed in this mystery. You have your flora and your fauna.
That’s something else I really enjoyed. The local police hire Peggy when they need a forensic botanist. This felt a bit like CSI, especially as Peggy’s son, Paul is married to Mia, a forensic chemist. This probably isn’t the first time these two gals teamed up to solve a riddle.
A strange coincidence or just bad luck. This book is about a killing weed, Hogweed, highly toxic and used in a murder. I was out clearing a flower bed and removed a nasty thorned vine. Forgetting to wash my hands, I rubbed my eyes and was in agony for over 2 hours. Couldn’t open my eyes, couldn’t shut them for the fiery pain. They finally cleared up after two days. Shows how deadly plants can be.
This has the usual recipe for a cozy mystery. Fun, colorful characters, a furry friend, and, or course, a murder. One that wasn’t easy to solve. I had an idea, then I didn’t, then I did.
Great fun, which I’ve come to expect from these authors. I’ve read books from a few of their other series’ and enjoyed them too.
4 Stars
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Synopsis:
It’s spring in Charlotte, North Carolina, home of forensic botanist and garden shop owner, Peggy Lee. This spring has been beautiful, as always, with flowering trees and blue skies.
But a killer is on the loose, and seems determined to destroy everyone and everything she cares about.
When her garden shop, the Potting Shed, is brutally vandalized, Peggy doesn’t realize that it is only the beginning. Her son, Paul, who has been moonlighting as a private detective to investigate the death of his father, John Lee, is suspected of murder when a mink coat lined with poison kills the woman who is wearing it.
Peggy identifies the particularly virile blend of botanical poisons in the coat. Unfortunately, her work as a specialist with plant poisons makes Paul even more interesting to the police. When attacks against her and her family continue, Peggy must go back through her years of sleuthing to finger the person responsible . . . before it’s too late.
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About Authors Joyce and Jim Lavene
Joyce and Jim Lavene write award-winning, bestselling mystery fiction as themselves, J.J. Cook, and Ellie Grant. They have written and published more than 70 novels for Harlequin, Berkley, Amazon, and Gallery Books along with hundreds of non-fiction articles for national and regional publications. They live in rural North Carolina with their family.
Author Links
Joyce and Jim Lavene ~ Peggy Lee Mysteries
Purchase Link
Amazon
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Tour Participants
May 5 – Shelley’s Book Case – Review, Guest Post
May 6 – I Wish I Lived in a Library – Review
May 7 – MysteriesEtc – Review
May 8 – fuonlyknew – Review
May 9 – A Chick Who Reads – Review
May 10 – Laura’s Interests – Review
May 11 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, & Sissy, Too! – Guest Post
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