Perfect for fans of Laura Childs, Ellery Adams, and Jenn McKinlay, Marty Wingate’s enchanting Potting Shed Mystery series heads to Scotland as Pru Parke plans her wedding...all while a vengeful murderer is poised to strike again.
After her romantic idyll with the debonair Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Pearse culminates in a marriage proposal, Pru Parke sets about arranging their nuptials while diving into a short-term gig at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. At hand is the authentication of a journal purportedly penned by eighteenth-century botanist and explorer Archibald Menzies. Compared to the chaos of wedding planning, studying the journal is an agreeable task...that is, until a search for a missing cat leads to the discovery of a dead body: one of Pru’s colleagues has been conked on the head with a rock and dumped from a bridge into the Water of Leith.
Pru can’t help wondering if the murder has something to do with the Menzies diary. Is the killer covering up a forgery? Among the police’s many suspects are a fallen aristocrat turned furniture maker, Pru’s overly solicitous assistant, even Pru herself. Now, in the midst of sheer torture by the likes of flamboyant wedding dress designers and eccentric church organists, Pru must also uncover the work of a sly murderer—unless this bride wants to walk down the aisle in handcuffs.
It was so fun to visit Pru and Christopher again, in another installment of the Potting Shed Mystery series. Christopher has proposed and Pru has been offered a short-term job in Scotland authenticating the journal of a famed botanist. Pru sees it as a fantastic opportunity while she is planning the wedding.
As nothing ever quite goes as planned for her though, Pru finds herself working with a disgruntled colleague, questions as to why she even has the job and ultimately, the mystery of a dead body. Always curious, Pru can't help but get involved in the investigation.
Pru Parke is just one of my favorite heroines. Partly because she's mature in age, partly because she's just a lot of fun. The secondary characters bring a humor and depth to the story that goes beyond entertaining. It's just good storytelling.
Third in the Potting Shed Mystery series, the book stands alone just fine, although I always recommend reading a series in its entirety for depth and character development.
Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book. You can learn more about Marty Wingate on her website as well as Twitter and Facebook.
Read 2/17
* * * *
4/5 Stars
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