Everyone realizes that Casey must have seen the killer, and that it must have been the same person who attacked her. Kicking and yelling, she places a solid kick to his shin, thus making a lasting impression on the Secret Service agent who thought he was coming to her rescue.Īs if her day needed one more glitch, it ends up being Casey who finds the dead body of Pauline Bonde, an accountant for the Treasury Department who was murdered mere feet from where Casey was attacked. Dazed, damaged, and covered in mud just moments before she’s supposed to deliver her re-designed gardens presentation to the White House Grounds Committee, Casey is still sharp enough to fight for her life when a man with a gun grabs her. At least, that’s how it works out for Casey. Life is good…Īnd then you wake up facedown in a bed of tulips growing in President’s Park, with a lump on the back of your head and only a fuzzy memory of your assailant’s shoes. It’s an honor, of course it’s a challenge and it’s her life’s passion. Hired by the First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) to convert the White House garden into a showpiece that is organic and sustainable, Cassandra ‘Casey’ Calhoun is both thrilled and anxious. (Jan.Book review: Dorothy James's *Flowerbed of State (A White House Gardener Mystery)*įlowerbed of State (A White House Gardener Mystery) Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyon Literary. Cozy fans seeking a lighthearted, straightforward mystery will be satisfied.

An intriguing plotline and plenty of red herrings redeem in part flat characters who often act illogically. James ensures Flossie’s disability isn’t the focal point of her character), Trudell seeks to identify Duggar’s killer while trying to dodge a suspicious police detective who bullied her in high school. Assisted by various friends, including wheelchair user Flossie Finnegan-Baker (St.

Trudell’s dislike of the unctuous Duggar is well known, so when he’s murdered, she becomes the number one suspect. Horrified, Trudell sets out to transfer as many books as possible to a secret room in the library’s basement. James (the Southern Chocolate Shop mysteries), Cypress, S.C., librarian Trudell Becket discovers that Mayor Marvin Goodvale and town manager Duggar Hargrove’s plan to renovate the library includes sending all print books to a recycling center.

Flowerbed of State by Dorothy St. James