Book Review: A Twist of Orchids by Michelle Wan

Teaser Tuesdays, hosted by MizB, asks you to choose two sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.


"I'm only orchid-crazy a small part of the year, you know," he said earnestly." The rest of the time I'm a normal, everyday sort of bloke. Please believe me."

A Twist of Orchids: A Death in the Dordogne Mystery by Michelle Wan

Location and background info: Mara Dunn of Montreal is an interior decorator and her British partner Julian Wood is a landscaper and orchid collector. Things are testy between the two because of Julian's obsession with finding a rare, possibly non-existent orchid in the mountains of the Dordogne, France, where they live. They become sleuths when strange things begin to happen in the town where they live - a mysterious death of an elderly woman, the disappearance and death of a young man, and the haunting of a widower with Parkinson's disease who swears he has mysterious nighttime visitors. However, Mara and Julian don't necessarily work well together all the time.

My comments: Apart from the constant bickering between the two lovers, the plot was enjoyable and original, having all the loose ends tie together nicely and conveniently at the end of the book.  But that's one reason I love mysteries - all is solved and resolved in the end and the bad guys get their just rewards. I loved the setting and the description of the  forests in the Dordogne.

Rating: I would rate this a 4 1/2 out of 5 for plot, characterization, and writing.

Here is an interview on YouTube with Michelle Wan, who says her book is about "sleeplessness, murder, and a sprinkling of orchids."

Title: A Twist of Orchids: A Death in the Dordogne Mystery
Author: Michelle Wan
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (April 13, 2010)
Genre: Mystery Series

Book Review Party Wednesday

New and Older Books: Just Arrived

Here's what arrived in my mailbox:

A Cup of Jo (Maggy Thorsen Mysteries) by Sandra Balzo, an ARC to be published Oct. 1, 2010.  Coffeehouse owner Maggie Thorsen is a suspect in the death of her chief rival in a barista competition. She has to solve the mystery, clear her name, and "heat up her love life" at the same time.

Inside Out: A Novel by Barry Eisler, released June 29, 2010. "...the propulsive thriller that only former CIA operative turned bestselling novelist Barry Eisler could write." Jailed soldier Ben Treven will be released from prison if he accepts an assignment - find a rogue operator who has stolen torture tapes from the CIA and is using them to blackmail the U.S. government. Some heady stuff in this thriller!

And what I brought home from the library:

A Twist of Orchids: A Death in the Dordogne Mystery by Michelle Wan, 2008. I've read her previous orchid mysteries, Deadly Slipper, and The Orchid Shroud. The up and down  relationship between Julian Wood and Mara Dunn is tested when strange things start happening to their friends in the mountains of France. I enjoy botanical mysteries such as this series set in France among orchid lovers and plant finders.
 

TO SPEAK FOR THE DEAD (The Jake Lassiter Series) by Paul Levine, published 1991, introduced readers to linebacker-turned-lawyer Jake Lassiter.

PAUL LEVINE worked as a newspaper reporter, a law professor and a trial lawyer before becoming a full-time novelist. Two of his other books, Night Vision, and 9 Scorpions are also being made into e-books.