Last weekend I planted my back garden (okay, I picked out the plants and read a book while my husband killed his knees planting everything). I figure this is the time of year for gardening to truly get underway, so this week's book recommendation leans that way. A little.
Thyme of Death is the first book in a really terrific mystery series. And I love hooking you guys up with a series (this one is at 20 books so far). The heroine, China Bayles, used to be a criminal attorney - hence her ability to solve mystery after mystery. But she threw in the towel, moved to a small town in the Texas hill country and opened an herb shop. She grows many of the herbs she sells (see - the gardening tie in!) and you get to see lots of small town life.
There is a flamboyant best friend, who runs the neighboring New Age shop, an ex-cop boyfriend (spoiler alert - if you stick with the series, you will see their relationship develop in a very satisfying way, and yet with
many surprising twists), a light-hearted tone but some very smart investigating. As the series continues, deeper issues are covered, so it really does stay fresh. In this book, one of China's best friends commits suicide...and yet China doesn't doesn't buy that explanation for her death...especially once more bodies start stacking up. You will learn lots of interesting tidbits about herbs and become an instant fan of this smart, independent, wise-cracking heroine.
