From Publishers Weekly
The title of this 12th Jane Jeffry gardening mystery from Macavity and Agatha Award-winner Churchill (Grime and Punishment; A Farewell to Yarns; etc.) says it all, as the crime element is almost an afterthought. When Jane and neighbor Shelley Nowack sign up for a gardening class at their local community center, they end up with a substitute, the pompous Dr. Stewart Eastman, after an unknown intruder sneaks into the home of the regular teacher, Julie Jackson, and knocks her out, leaving her in a coma. Suspects in the attack include everyone taking the gardening class: fastidious computer programmer Charles Jones, persnickety librarian Martha Winstead, lonely widower Arnie Waring and loony aging hippie Ursula Appledorn. But in this leisurely, talky tale, Jane is less concerned with crime solving than with visiting the gardens of her classmates, tending to her injured foot, worrying about her teenage son's unsuitable girlfriend and buying herself a new TV for her bedroom. Only near the end does a murder occurDDr. Eastman is found strangled with green twine in a compost pileDafter which Churchill brings the plot to a tidy conclusion, with the killer's motive turning on Dr. Eastman's patented pink marigolds. While Jane and Shelley make plenty of wry social comments, there's too little sleuthing going on for this cozy to appeal to anyone except gardeners and already established fans. (Dec. 1) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Jane Jeffry is definitely a cozy sort: her best friend, Shelly, lives next door, and her kids are adolescent but adorable. In this latest adventure, Jane's boyfriend, Mel the detective, is mostly offstage. Shelly and Jane sign up for a gardening class, but their lecturer, a plant researcher, is severely beaten before it begins. The class goes forward anyway, with a supercilious replacement and an assortment of broadly drawn but vivid types: a take-no-prisoners elderly librarian, a martinet whose pant creases match his tortuous garden geometry, a befuddled fellow who can't get over the death of his wife, a conspiracy freak, and so on. When the offensive replacement lecturer is found dead in his own garden, Jane and Shelly find digging up the connections among these folks to be irresistible. Jane is only slightly hampered by a broken foot, and this time she even treats herself to a TV in the bedroom. GraceAnne DeCandido
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

FROM OUR EDITORS

While killing time in a gardening class, suburban single mom and sleuth Jane Jeffry and her best friend, Shelly, really get their hands dirty -- trying to unearth the green-thumbed killer who planted their substitute teacher in his own compost heap.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Jane and her best friend Shelly are enjoying the gardening class offered at the local community center, but then their teacher is threatened and attacked. And the substitute is a boorish bore￯﾿ﾽuntil he winds up dead, planted in his own compost heap.

Someone in their class, obviously, is responsible foe the grimy deed. So Jane and Shelly are prepared to comb through many a house and garden until they find the culprit with the dirty hands.

FROM THE CRITICS

Carolyn Hart

Jill Churchill creates domestic malice with a deft pen.

Kansas City Star

Jill Churchill just keeps gettng etter and better.

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

Jane Jeffry is irresistible.

Toronto Star

Jane Jeffry stands alone.

Carolyn Hart