A
Rose from the Dead
A Flower Shop
Mystery with Abby Knight
Kate Collins
Signet (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-451-22241-5 (0451222415)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22241-1 (9780451222411)
Publication Date: December 2007
List Price: $6.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Abby Knight is attending the Midwestern Funeral Directors Associations regional convention, where the associations intensely disliked chairperson is found dead in a locked casket, her signature rose missing from her hair. Abby's determined to find out who loved the victim—and who loved her not.
Review: Florist Abby Knight continues her amateur sleuthing in A Rose from the Dead, the 6th delightful mystery in this series by Kate Collins.
Never one to turn down an opportunity to drum up business for her
flower shop, Abby agrees to share a booth at a local convention for
funeral directors. When the organizer, Sybil Blount, a flamboyant and
eminently dislikable woman who always wore her signature red rose, is
murdered and found, appropriately enough, in a casket, the police
suspect Abby's friend Delilah. Of course Abby finds this unacceptable,
and with the help of Marco, her ex-cop, ex-Army Ranger boyfriend, she
follows her "gut feeling" about who might have killed Sybil. But will
her pointed questions help identify the murderer, or will she simply
set herself up to be next?
Despite, or maybe in spite of, the venue of the story, Collins introduces a considerable amount of (sometimes dark) humor into A Rose from the Dead.
An early scene where Abby walks into an upright casket painted to look
like a telephone booth, and is promptly locked inside as a prank by the
sons of a local businessman, is very humorous. Then there's Angelique,
a harpist, owner of Music for the Soul, who is available to play music
at a funeral written from the soul of the dead. There are several more
eccentric characters, all of whom seem perfectly suited for this
light-hearted mystery, who add a great deal of diverting pleasure for
the reader.
Even with the fun and laughter there is still a murder to be solved and Abby with her "gut feeling" is up to the task. A Rose from the Dead is entertaining from start to finish.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of A Rose from the Dead and to Kate Collins for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Mum's the Word
Signet (Mass market paperback), September 2004
ISBN-10: 0-451-21350-5 (0451213505)
Slay it with
Flowers
Signet (Mass market paperback), March 2005
ISBN-10: 0-451-21455-2 (0451214552)
Dearly Depotted
Signet (Mass market paperback), July 2005
ISBN-10: 0-451-21585-0 (0451215850)
Snipped in the
Bud
Signet (Mass market paperback), May 2006
ISBN-10: 0-451-21831-0 (0451218310)
Acts of Violets
Signet (Mass market paperback), March 2007
ISBN-10: 0-451-22074-9 (0451220749)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22074-5 (9780451220745)
A Rose from the
Dead
Signet (Mass market paperback), December 2007
ISBN-10: 0-451-22241-5 (0451222415)
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-22241-1 (9780451222411)
Omnimystery keywords for A Rose from the Dead
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Location(s) referenced: Indiana.