Garden of Scandal

From a veteran like Blake, one expects a little more than annoying characters who do improbable things. Agoraphobic Laurel Bancroft has been unable to leave Ivywild, her Victorian house, since she accidentally killed her husband five years before. The grounds surrounding the house are in dire need of weeding and sprucing up--something her late husband had adamantly refused to do. When dark, dangerous Alec Stanton arrives at her door with an offer to clean up the place, Laurel hires him in a heartbeat. Alec, who had been implicated in his elderly wife's death years before, is ten years Laurel's junior and is reported to be a gigolo; and as one expects of any small Southern town, rumors about the two begin to surface. But when someone begins stalking Lauren, kills her dog and burns her potting shed, it becomes apparent there is more than Lauren's reputation at stake at Ivywild. Although a twist in the end catches the reader off guard, it isn't enough to rescue this tale. (May)