Category Archives: McLaughlin, Maggie

Maggie McLaughlin. Cass and the Gluttonous Gardener. Lexington, KY, 2011.

Gardening seems like a gentle and genteel hobby.  Who knew that the world of professional gardening could be such a hotbed of cattiness, jealousy, and sexual intrigue?  When Cass Nottingham, a national expert on cottage gardens, agrees to come to Raleigh for a conference sponsored by the Allencamp Seed Company, she knows she’ll see the man of her dreams, David Caldwell, a famous nursery owner.  They’ll be speaking at the meeting, along with Gary Graybeard, a garden columnist, Fiona Fenwick, editor of a chic gardening magazine, and the saintly Millicent Stephens, an expert on container gardening.  Rounding out the group of experts is Andrew Hawkins, a botany professor, who will be bestowing his professional blessing on Allencamp’s attempt to introduce certain exotic Asian plants into America.

The conference gets off to a rocky start when Allencamp’s president becomes violently ill on the first day.  When the police learn that he has been poisoned, all the speakers become suspects–and potential victims.  Fans of Agatha Christie style mysteries will enjoy Cass and the Gluttonous Gardener.  Readers who are looking for a lot of Raleigh local color should look elsewhere.  Almost all the action takes place in the unnamed convention hotel, and only passing mention is made of the city and its charms.

The main character of this series, Cassandra Nottingham, is a gardening expert from the Puget Sound area. Other books in the series are set in the Pacific Northwest.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

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Filed under 2010-2019, 2011, McLaughlin, Maggie, Mystery, Novels in Series, Piedmont, Wake