by
Colleen J. Shogan
Colleen J. Shogan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Mystery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
After her boss narrowly escaped political defeat, Kit Marshall is
settling into life as a busy congressional staffer. While attending an evening
reception at the United States Botanic Garden, Kit’s best friend stumbles upon
the body of a high-ranking government official. The chairwoman of a
congressional committee asks Kit to investigate, and she finds herself once
again in the thick of a murder investigation. The complications keep coming
with the unexpected arrival of Kit’s younger brother Sebastian, a hippie
protestor who seems more concerned about corporate greed than the professional
problems he causes for his sister. To make matters even worse, the romantic
lives of Kit’s closest friends are driving her crazy, diverting her attention
from the mystery she’s been tasked to solve. The search for the killer requires
her to tussle with an investigative journalist right out of a noir novel, a
congresswoman fixated on getting a statue of James Madison installed on the
Capitol grounds, and a bossy botanist who would do anything to protect the
plants he loves. When the murderer sends a threatening message to Kit via a
highly unusual delivery mechanism, Kit knows she must find the killer or risk
the lives of her friends and loved ones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Sebastian, Doug, and I drifted back to the sidewalk
outside the butterfly garden. “Tell me more about your friend Meg,” said
Sebastian. His eyes sparkled with interest.
“She’s not dating these days,” I said quickly.
“Let’s not go there.”
“Meg is attractive,” said Doug. “But I’m not sure
she’s your type. I don’t see her taking to the streets anytime soon to protest
the world’s injustices.”
“Not unless the protest was taking place inside
Nordstrom’s,” I said. “If you could arrange that location for a demonstration,
then you persuade her to make an appearance.”
Doug and Sebastian both chuckled. But their
laughter was interrupted suddenly by a bloodcurdling scream from inside the
conservatory.
“That sounds like Meg!” I exclaimed. “Come on.”
We rushed over to the entrance, pulled open the
door, and entered the garden court. Meg was standing next to the blooming
corpse flower. I didn’t even notice the odor because I was fixated on her
terrified face.
I ran to her and put my hands on her shoulders.
“Meg, what’s wrong? It looks like you’ve just seen a ghost.”
“Worse than that,” she sputtered, gesturing wildly
behind her.
“Is something wrong inside the tropical rain
forest?” I asked.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Colleen
J. Shogan has been reading mysteries since the age of six. She conceived of the
plot of her first novel one morning while taking a walk in her suburban
Washington, D.C. neighborhood. A political scientist by training, Colleen has
taught American politics at numerous universities. She previously worked on
Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer in the United States Senate. She’s
currently a senior executive at the Library of Congress.
Colleen
lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband Rob and their beagle mutt Conan.
She is a member of Sisters in Crime. Stabbing in the Senate was
awarded the Next Generation Indie prize for Best Mystery in 2016. Homicide in the House was a 2017 finalist for the RONE Award for
Best Mystery. Calamity at the Continental Club was a 2018 finalist in the
“best cozy mystery” at Killer Nashville.
Social Media links:
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The tour dates can be found here
***********************
My review:
4 out of 5 stars
Gore in the Garden by Colleen J. Shogan is Book 5 in the
‘Washington Whodunit’ series that feature Kit Marshall, Congresswoman Dixon’s chief
of staff. An exclusive opportunity to see the rare blooming of the plant known
as the corpse flower becomes all too apropos when Kit’s best friend and fellow
staff member discovers a body. This time, even more of the family gets involved
in the investigation as Kit’s husband, brother, and dog all become embroiled in
the case.
This fun cozy mystery truly gives an insider view of
Washington D.C. and the machinations of some of its denizens. As usual, Kit
tries to navigate the delicate pathway between appeasing those in power,
refraining from antagonizing anyone who could become (or already is) an
important player, and maintaining a harmonious personal life while solving a
murder mystery. Although I appreciate the authenticity of the details that permeate
the story, at times I felt a bit overwhelmed by them and would rather have had
a bit more connection to the characters. I like that Kit is growing in
confidence, although I was a bit surprised that the detective who she is always
thrown into contact with during the course of her investigations has evidently
given up and welcomes her interference, ahem, assistance. Despite the
widespread influence of the players in this environment, this still has the
small town feel of a cozy mystery, and I was happy to read another tale from
this series. Those who are unfamiliar with the series may want to read one or
two (or four) of the previous stories to get a bit more oriented, but you can
probably get by reading this as a stand-alone story. I look forward to seeing
what other complicated situations Kit gets into in the future, as well as
learning about other obscure locations in the nation’s capital.
A copy of this title was provided for review
