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Self proclaimed sleuth and PBS-TV garden show host, Louise Eldridge, is staying in the upscale Bethesda neighborhood of Washington, DC while visiting her old college friend Emily Holley. Emily asked Louise to do a TV garden show story about her main pastime, The Old Georgetown Garden Club. Louise felt that it was as good a story as any so she agrees to stay with Emily for the week. One evening when Louise, Emily, and her husband were walking the dog they suddenly heard shots fired. They ran to a neighborıs driveway to find a woman dead and her husband very much alive next to her in their car. She had been shot through an open car window even though the air conditioning was on. Having had some success in helping her local police solve some previous crimes, Louise decides that itıs up to her to solve the shooting of Catherine Freeman, the wife of prominent Washington DC economist Walter Freeman Louise thinks that the Bethesda police are wrong to believe that the shooting was a botched attempt on Walter. Although Walter Freeman is a national figure and a man of some controversy, she thinks that the late Catherine has had her own group of not so happy friends. Catherine Freeman was the president of The Old Georgetown Garden Club, a den of angry, jealous, and competitive women. Louise corrals Emily to help her and is soon off to do what she does best, asking questions and snooping. This is the newest in Ann Ripleyıs gardening mystery cozy series, but the flowers and gardening take a back seat to Louise and her unending bothering of people. Flower names are quickly mentioned and there are a few ³sketches² of flower arrangements, but both are so abbreviated and sparse that it ultimately means nothing to the readers. Ann Ripley has written DEATH AT THE SPRING PLANT SALE with the mindset of a woman of the fifties. Louise canıt help but feel sorry for the poor unfulfilled gardening woman who donıt have husbands and her heart hurts to think that her dear friend Emily has no children. She decides the best thing Emily can hope for is to be a child care surrogate for Emilyıs neighbor, a very successful woman in the financial world in DC politics, who is very pregnant. When Louise is challenged by men who donıt take her snooping seriously and tells her sheıs just a housewife, Louise answers by saying that she has a job and has been working on the PBS show for years so sheıs not just a housewife. I can hear all the housewives in American muttering ³Wait just a minute. Just a housewife? I donıt work?² When another woman calls Emily and Louise Miss Marples, Louise get insulted. She states that she isnıt Miss Marple and unlike Miss Marple, sheıs young and fashionable. When I read that line I had to agree. Louise is no Miss Maple. Miss Marple manages to solve her cases through thoughtful deduction and insight. Louise managed to solve this case by being annoying and through a lucky coincidence. Ms. Ripley can write chitchat with the best of them, but the overall pace of the story drags. The never ending asking of questions and gathering of clues came to nothing and the flashiness of the actions by the two woman trying to be secretive made no sense. I didnıt much care for DEATH AT THE SPRING PLANT SALE. Ms. Ripley didnıt seem to put much time into planning and following through on the case but if youıre interested in a different type of cozy give it a try.
Reviewed by Sharon Katz, September 2003
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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