A body in the begonias — and a tricksy killer who knows just how to disappear into the foliage. It sounds like a case for the Charity Shop Detective Agency!
When word of Arthur Oliver’s murder reaches Dogs Need Nice Homes Charity Shop, Fiona, Daisy and Partial Sue — the retired trio behind the till — are aghast.
They all loved the handsome retired doctor and his swoon-worthy fitness videos. But someone in the sleepy little seaside town of Southbourne is not a fan . . .
Arthur is found dead at the local garden centre. Stabbed in the back with a pair of designer shears.
The police don’t have a clue whodunit. So now Fiona, Daisy and Partial Sue are on the case — their adorably scruffy terrier Simon le Bon trotting closely behind. The deeper they dig into Arthur’s secrets, the more they realize that no one in this case is quite what they seem.
From jilted exes to bitter rivals, the ladies’ list of suspects is growing by the minute.
The clock is ticking for our sleuths to crack the case.
Before the killer returns for a final round of dead-heading . . .
After studying to be an architect, Pete realised he wasn’t very good at it. He liked designing buildings he just couldn’t make them stand up, which is a bit of a handicap in an industry that likes to keep things upright. So he switched to advertising, writing ads for everything from cruise lines to zombie video games.
After becoming disillusioned with working in ad agencies, he switched to writing thriller novels (or was it because he just wanted to work at home in his pyjamas?). He soon realised there’s no magic formula. You just have to put one word in front of the other (and keep doing that for about a year). It also helps if you can resist the lure of surfing, playing Nintendo Switch with his son, watching America’s Next Top Model with his daughter and drinking beer in a garden chair.
My thoughts: The Charity Shop Detectives are back with their latest case, a doctor turned influencer, who’s a hit with the ladies, found stabbed in the back with garden shears at the local garden centre, a place the victim often visited.
Was it a jealous lover, or husband, or is there an angry neighbour lurking behind the hedges?
This series is a lot of fun, although it always makes me hungry!
Partial Sue always makes me laugh, Daisy lives on her own sweet, daffy planet, and Fiona, of course, keeps them on task as much as she can.
As they whittle down the list of potential suspects, they fit in a day out in London, for crucial research (and some strawberries with cream), time to eat a lot of delicious food with their new friend Lolly, and take Simon Le Bon the dog to investigate a few things.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
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