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GARDEN VIEW might well be subtitled: WATCH SPIDER STEAL THE SHOW. Mary Freeman has created one of the most engaging, charismatic, charming, and witty characters in all mysterydom in "Spider" (actually, John) Thuant. More of him later. Rachel O'Connor has been hired to landscape the grounds of Garden View Retirement Village (never call it a "nursing home"), located in Blossom, Oregon, not far from Portland. Rachel is under some pressure, because a national magazine will be doing a pictorial essay on the village, something that will put the once foundering institution on the map. The director (referred to by aides and residents alike as the Dragon Lady) is, according to one of the aides, trying to get Rachel to quit. She will then bring in a less costly landscaper and pocket the difference herself. One of the residents, who had protested that she as being charged for services she never used, is poisoned. The search for the person who poisoned a total of three residents is really an excuse to explore three different relationships. Rachel is engaged to Jeff Price, Blossom's police chief, whose job is in jeopardy because there's been a wave of vandalism in town, and the vandal hasn't been caught. Jeff has been saddled with a hard-nosed deputy from Portland, whose idea of getting rid of vandalism is locking up kids after dark. Rachel has her own problems. The pipe system she and her assistant so painstakingly installed is sabotaged, and her plans did not account for the lava she keeps striking, all these problems bringing secret delight to the Dragon Lady, who plans to use the fact that these difficulties have put Rachel behind schedule as an excuse to both dump her and sue her. At the other end of life's spectrum is the romance of two of the residents -- Madame Anne Marie DeRochers, a charming if imperious Quebecois and Harris McLaughlin, a wheelchair bound former detective. Though she is in her 80's and he a good twenty years younger, their obvious lust is a scandal to some residents and a delight to others. Clearly the most fun is the relationship between the half Vietnamese eighteen-year-old Spider and Rachel's crotchety landlady, Mrs. Frey. Rachel's assistant Julio has resigned but has promised to find a replacement. Early one morning, the police appear because Mrs. Frey called them about a young man loitering in the yard -- Spider, leaning on Rachel's truck and ready for work. Spider, who worked for Rachel some years ago, when he was living on a farm for troubled youths in Blossom, has spent the last two years working for a landscaper. Matters get worse, when Spider tells Mrs. Frey, Blossom's rose maven, that she has been pruning incorrectly. They bet as to which one will be right in a year. In short order, Spider is referring to Amelia (even her long term tenant Rachel calls her Mrs. Frey) and Amelia has wormed out from Spider that his given name is John and has begun fixing huge meals for him. Soon they are tighter than ticks, and Spider has a substitute for the mother who threw him out in favor of her boyfriend, and Mrs. Frey has a surrogate son. Don't read this book during a heat wave. The vicious summer sun of Oregon beats down on Rachel and Spider as they dig and plant. At points, one wants to scream, "Get a job as a file clerk. At least you'll be in air conditioning." Eventually, the efforts of Harris, Madame, Jeff, Rachel, and Spider come together to figure out how a long ago auto crash led to the poisoned pensioners. Even if you don't know mulch from a martini, you will enjoy spending time with Freeman's richly drawn set of characters.
Reviewed by Mary Elizabeth Devine, June 2002
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