Monday, November 29, 2021

Petals and Poison - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads: Petals and Poison (A Flower House Mystery #2) by Jess Dylan

Rating: Liked It
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Sierra Ravenswood has embraced her role as owner of Flower House floral shop and companion to her former boss's pet, Gus the Corgi. Sierra’s team are enjoying their new jobs too. At least until everyone realizes their lack of experience might be contributing to their lack of customers . . .

Sierra decides they need a change in luck, so she creates a special window display featuring lucky bamboo and auspicious flowers. It seems the new arrangement has worked when the shop is flooded with customers the next day, including a van full of college students on a horticulture club field trip. Unfortunately, Sierra doesn't notice that the students’ distracted professor has gone missing until Gus's urgent barking leads her to the storeroom – and the body of the unfortunate professor.

With folks now referring to Flower House as “Poison House” and suspects galore, Sierra fears her new business is doomed before it has a chance to get off the ground. Determined to reverse course and see justice served, she sets out to solve the crime and change her luck once more.

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I read the first book in this series and liked it and was curious about what would happen next.

My Impression: I have some mixed feelings about this series.  I love that the setting is a flower shop and I love that there is a dog and not a cat.  I also really like the strong community of side characters with Deena, Richard, and Sierra's family along with the other residents of small town Tennessee.  In the previous book the character of Calvin was introduced and while he was likable he was always a bit of a mystery.  I was thrilled to see that this second book focused a bit more on Calvin and some of the questions were answered.  The mystery was an interesting one with lots of possible suspects and motives.

That said I just don't like Sierra.  She goes off on random monologues occasionally talking about her philosphy about laws of attraction and signs and whatnot but at the same time can be kind of dismissive of her grandmother's superstitions and beliefs.  I also have hard time with the whole premise of ownershop of The Flower House being kind of dumped on her.  

Even though this wasn't a favorite I did enjoy the read and like the novelty of a flower shop featuring in a cozy mystery.  The mystery was interesting and I really enjoy the group of likable side characters (plus a Corgi!).

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? The next book in the series won't necessarily be an auto-pickup from me but if the premise looks interesting I'll probably grab it.

Would I Recommend this Book? If you love flowers and a cozy with a lot of side characters then this series might be worth a try.  

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *

2 comments:

  1. Some books have some positive things going for them but still enough to make us think there might just be a whole lot of other books we could be reading that are just - better!

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