by Wendy R.

Created on: August 15, 2010

Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris is the first book in the Dirty Business Mystery Series. This series introduces Paula Holliday, a former media executive who has traded her high heel shoes for gardening clogs and a trip to the suburbs and her own gardening business.

In Pushing Up Daisies, Paula finds a small body while digging up a garden which once belonged to the deceased Peacock sisters. Startled by her discovery, Paula starts asking questions of the people who have lived in the area a long time. Once she has started asking questions someone sends Paula a threatening email, and someone even knocks her out when she is working alone.

Eventually Paula learns about a young Mexican woman who suddenly disappeared years ago and she begins to wonder if the woman and baby are related. She enlists the help of Felix and other Mexican gardeners as well as her best friend Lucy and possible love interest Sargent Mike O’Malley. In addition to Lucy and Mike, we get a glimpse into Babe, a diner owner who is also a good friend of Paulas. Babe is a woman who once was a singer in a band and is still quite a character. She shows the most depth as a character than the rest of the supporting cast.

Pushing up Daisies is a decent introduction to the Dirty Business Mystery Series, although I have to admit that I preferred Dead Head, the third book. Pushing Up Daisies is a little slow to start but it picks up part of the way through. There is another murder and one of Paula’s friends is accused of the crime, making Paula more determined to solve the mysteries.

There is gardening information in the book which may interest some readers and the story itself had promise. I would have liked the characters to have more depth and more personality. It was difficult for me to care about any of the characters in this book, even Paula. Luckily I read the third book first and that appears to be a much better read. I am willing to give The Big Dirt Nap ( book number two in the series) a try also. While Pushing Up Daisies wasn’t my cup of tea, other cozy mystery fans may enjoy it; in particular those who are fans of gardening.  This book spent a good deal of time ( the first half) going more into depth with gardening then I cared to read about.

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