The Hanging Garden

International intrigue spices up this installment of the cozy Celia Grant series ( Green Trigger Fingers ) when the British widow becomes the executor of niece Antonia Hanbury's will. Celia, loath to leave her nursery garden business, reluctantly travels to the Portuguese island of Madeira, where Antonia had lived with her father, Sir Adrian, former deputy head of the British Secret Service. Celia arrives to find a mare's nest: the dead woman's ex-husband, Gerald, just released from jail for fraud, demands custody of the two children, neither of whom wants to be with him. Small anomalies about Antonia's death begin to bother Celia as she struggles to put Antonia's affairs in order. Meanwhile two men stalk Maria, a reclusive Brazilian woman who has been caring for Sir Adrian following a stroke. Then Maria disappears; Sir Adrian is beaten up; and Gerald, the children and Antonia's lawyer are kidnapped, whereupon Celia reconsiders the puzzles surrounding Antonia's demise, tells the police and helps them assess the clues. Sherwood's jumps between Celia's and Maria's points of view dovetail nicely, giving Celia's apprehensions enough weight to guarantee the reader's rapt attention. Mystery Guild alternate selection. (Jan.)