Pushing Up Daisies
By Rosemary Harris
Thomas Dunne Books, $23.95
ISBN: 978-0-312-36967-5

The subtitle of Rosemary Harris' debut novel is A Dirty Business Mystery — Paula Holliday is a gardener in the town of Springfield, Connecticut. The owner of her own small landscaping business, after less than four years in town she succeeds in getting the job of restoring the garden at the home of one of the most prestigious families in town when its last known surviving member dies. The house had been built in the 1830's on a lush piece of property. On her first day on the job, Paula unearths a skull apparently belonging to a newborn baby, buried in the garden. She muses that "everything pointed to its being evidence of someone's old secret, as opposed to someone's new crime." It soon appears, however, that it is tied in to the mysterious disappearance of a young Mexican woman some thirty years prior.

Having recently broken up with her boyfriend, Paula describes herself as a "single woman, thirties, no kids, no cats." She spends much of her down time at the Paradise Diner, the social hub of the town, owned by Paula's friend, "Babe," quite a character all by herself — former backup singer for a metal band and the mother of twin sons, now grown, named Dylan and Daltry.

When someone locks Paula in the greenhouse of the mansion, soon followed by a stabbing which results in the arrest of one of Paula's friends, she tries to get to the bottom of the mystery. Hidden secrets are ultimately revealed. As Paula says, "It is a nice town. It's like the garden, though — everything looks beautiful from a distance. It's only when you look closely that you see the snakes."

The novel is replete with gardening information. This reader knows next to nothing about gardening and its nomenclature, and at times felt on flower and plant overload, which tended to slow down the plot for me. Nonetheless, the novel was a fun read. Paula is an original and interesting protagonist, and the author's sly humor is much in evidence.

Review by GLORIA FEIT

©2008 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.