As the official organic gardener for the White House
Cassandra "Casey" Calhoun, is always up to her elbows in
something. She tries to stay out of trouble, but it always
seems to find her. In this installment of the White
House
Gardener Mystery series, Casey puts out one figurative
fire
after another. One of her most dedicated volunteers,
Francesca (also the Chief of Staff's wife), seeks Casey's
advice to plan the perfect murder -- but only for a fun
charity murder mystery dinner. Unfortunately, a few days
later, a member of the White House press corps is murdered
after targeting both Francesca's husband and arguing with
Casey. And, of course, he's killed the exact way that Casey
advised Francesca would be most effective.
While Casey tries to convince the local police that this is
all an unfortunate coincidence, she's also trying to prepare
for the First Lady's harvest event. Unbeknownst to her,
Francesca has arranged for celebrity organic gardener Gillis
Farquhar to come to the White House and give advice. At
first, Casey is star-struck and happy to hear his advice.
But soon, his arrogance wears on her, and she becomes
concerned that he is gunning her job, especially after she
notices the subtle way in which he tries to dictate policy
to the garden staff, although he's a visiting guest.
As if all this isn't enough to contend with, someone starts
sabotaging the White House garden. Where sweet bell peppers
had been planted and cultivated, red chili peppers appear
overnight. Tomatoes that were hanging over a trellis
disappear in one night. Vegetables are uprooted, but
otherwise undisturbed, which still threatens the harvest
activity.
The Secret Service tells Casey to keep out this and not
investigate (as she has been wont to do in the past), and
she vows to follow their orders. However, she overhears
something incriminating within the halls of the White House
and doesn't know who to trust. So she decides she has to do
some sleuthing on her own. Fortunately, the object of her
affection is part of the Service, and she decides to bring
him into her circle of trust. But while she's trying to
piece everything together, another reporter gets killed.
Will she be able to figure it all out before it's too late?
The only flaw with THE SCARLET PEPPER was that the red
herring
character was played so heavy-handedly that it was obvious
that they couldn't have been involved. While that may have
been part of the ploy, I think it's more fun to be kept
guessing all the way through, instead of immediately
eliminating someone. I will say that I was completely
surprised by who the culprit was, although all of the
evidence was there, in retrospect.
I completely love Casey's character. I adore the fact that
there's an entire backstory, and she has more depth than the
average cozy sleuth. I am definitely looking forward to
more White House Gardener Mysteries.
As the White House's organic gardener, Casey Calhoun is up
to her elbows in dirt. But when someone starts tampering
with the Presidential vegetable garden, embarrassing the
First lady-and a hard-nosed investigative reporter is found
dead, Casey realizes that the next thing buried in the dirt
might just be her...
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