Another good whodunit! ( )

When I realized that reading a hundred books in a year meant reading two a week, I started looking for some that would be a little faster to read than the 400 page paranormals I've been hooked on for a while. I picked up 'Digging Up Trouble' at RWA last summer, and at about 240 pages, was able to finish it pretty quickly.This one caught my eye specifically because it's written in first person, something I'm trying to do. I really enjoyed the voice of this book, and was very comfortable in Nina's head.It's been a while since I've read a true mystery - and this one was fun, for the most part. The main character, Nina Quinn, is a kick, with her self-imposed commandments (she doesn't believe in coincidences, for one) and her ever changing middle names ("That's me. Nina Colette Good Citizen Ceceri Quinn"). She's the owner of a gardening company called "Taken By Surprise" that specializes in one-day garden re-dos (a la 'While You Were Out'), but seems to get caught up in murder as regular part of her business.The characters are what made the book for me, the plot was okay, though the under-lying reason for the trouble wasn't too hard to discern. The reason the book only gets three stars from me is due to the ending - I enjoyed the build-up, the subplots, and the multiple suspects, but the final reveal did not live up to the rest of the story.I'm starting to develop a pet peeve for books that build and build and build on a story for hundreds of pages but then only devote one or two pages to the climax. Yeah, I want to know who did it, but I also want a little time to collect my emotional pay off as well. I felt a little short-changed with this one.This is the third book in the series, and I have the fourth, so I'll give that a try and see if the trend continues. Hopefully this was a fluke and I'll get that 'ah' sigh at the end of the next book with an ending that I can savor. ( )

As usual Nina Quinn seems to be a magnet for dead bodies. And she is still struggling with which man she wants to be with.

There were times in this book that I felt I missed a page but didn't; like when her and Ana were gong to go find out about Jean-Claude and they find out about the accident then the next page its the next day and she's at work without telling us what happened the night before it was a bit confusing. And the ending was very anti-climatic and felt rushed. I guess she made her decision but it was never explained and I felt a bit cheated especially since this is the last book in this series. There just seemed to be alot of holes in the story and alot left unexplained. ( )

A lightweight read that's amusing at the same time. Nina Quinn is a landscaper who makes her living from surprise garden makeovers. When the yard owner drops dead from shock that's when things going horribly wrong for her. Add to that the fact that her divorce is nearly final, her mom is remodelling her house and her boyfriend has something to ask that's quite serious.

And then the bodies start mounting!

And it isn't just her elderly neighbour Mr Cabrera's fault! ( )