John Sherwood (1) (1913–2002)

Psychological motivation which supports the plot struck me as unconvincing, but the writing is excellent and a central plot point—events at the local skating rink—-was intriguing. A skating rink in a small English village near Brighton is unexpected to begin with, especially one frequented by a mangy group of “beatniks”—-Sherwood’s term. He obviously knows a fair bit about skating. All in all, considering it was a green Penguin I bought for the cover art, a pleasant surprise.

Pretty good plot but a little too transparent.

This is the second volume in a cozy series about sleuthing English botanist Celia Grant. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the first entry in the series but I’m glad I decided to stick with it. This entry is set in New Zealand and features foolish lords, morally-challenged MPs, leftist terrorists, and endangered alpine flora. If you’re into plants the horticultural name-dropping will keep you googling. If this sounds like you’re thing, give some John Sherwood mysteries a shot.

The surrounding cast of characters were all extremely annoying. But I would like to try another by this author because Celia the main character is likeable.