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Abby Knight is beginning to enjoy her new life. She has gotten over flunking out of law school and being dumped by her fiance. She is the proud new owner of Bloomer's, the local flower shop, which she is expanding to include a tea room. She loves her car, a vintage 1960 bright yellow Corvette convertible. Life is good. But life is not perfect. One lovely Monday morning, having parked across the street from Bloomer's, she watches in horror as a huge black SUV rams her car and drives away. The police don't seem inclined to do much about the incident. Abby thinks one officer might actually know who the culprit is; he winced in recognition when she described the SUV. Come to find out (as we say in small towns), the driver of the SUV may have been leaving the scene of Billy Ryan's murder. Billy Ryan is a young man with possible drug connections; he worked for Tom Harding, who owns Tom's Green Thumb, the big discount flower and craft store on the edge of town. Tom Harding is also the abusive husband of Pearl; Abby is helping Pearl leave Tom and get a divorce, complete with generous settlement for their son, who is disabled. Abby does tend to meddle, although that's not the word she likes to use when discussing her proclivity for looking into things. Marco Salvare is the new owner of the Down the Hatch Bar & Grill, the local watering hole down the street from Abby's store. Marco is an ex-cop and he volunteers to help Abby track down the man in the SUV. Abby lusts after Marco, who certainly merits that kind of attention. She's not sure if he lusts after her, but she sure hopes so. Abby's co-workers are matchmaking all over the place, with all kinds of guys. Another speed-bump in the road of her life, but one she uses to her advantage when she can. By the end of MUM'S THE WORD, Abby has tracked down the guy who rammed her car, and (pretty much inadvertently) solved the murder of Billy Ryan, who was NOT killed by the guy who confessed to the murder before he escaped from prison and was found dead by a dumpster. Pearl Harding will be able to get on with her life. The Vette survives many mishaps. Abby's life is still pretty good. OK, this isn't the great American novel. It's a nice mystery, very definitely a cozy, with a likeable sleuth who apparently can stretch a dollar from one end of Indiana to the other, because the repair bills for what happens to her car during MUM'S THE WORD would eat up more money than Bloomer's makes in a month. Other than that, it's a plausible story, a pleasant read. This is obviously the start of a series; I'll be interested to see how Abby grows as the series continues.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, November 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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