Murder Crops Up

Peripatetic, cynical, emotionally cautious Liz Sullivan is back in her fifth mystery and has settled down in a rickety cottage in suburban California. No longer living out of her VW bus (crime scene of her first outing, Murder in a Nice Neighborhood), she ekes out a living as a freelance writer and organic gardener. Having served time for the attempted murder of an abusive spouse, Liz considers her own criminal past over, until a gardener hints that Liz better show up for the community garden workday, warning her that one of her fellows is planting the seeds for blackmail. At the workday, it's not just Bermuda grass that gets sent to its just reward; a body is pushing daisies in one of the garden plots. A bushel of suspects keeps Liz and the police guessing about motives. Despite some understandable distrust of emotional entanglements, the arrival of a desperate niece and body number two leave Liz yearning in more ways than one for her absent neighbor, handsome police detective Paul Drake. Liz is a capable and likable character and Roberts has managed to mesh the clean and cozy atmosphere of compost-loving gardeners with the seedier side life. (Sept.)