Death in the Orchid Garden

Going to Hawaii to film part of her PBS TV gardening show sounded great to Louise Eldridge. They were filming in the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kaui, with three world renowned botanists. The shoot went well. She would even have time to relax in the hotel's lovely water lagoons. She did not expect to find one of the botanists on a cliff ledge with his head bashed in.

By setting her story, Death in the Orchid Garden in Hawaii, Anne Ripley manages to make the islands another character in her mystery. She shows us the beauty of the area (checkout the website of the gardens - http://www.ntbg.org/) and hints at the darker side of tourist lands. Louise's suspects equally have their own mysterious pasts. It is a small community of scientists, but they have worked with and against each other for years. Just who is telling the truth, and who is lying?

Louise is bit reluctant to investigate. She really has been lured by the islands' seductive powers. But people, she has come to respect and admire, are getting hurt. And it looks like she is in danger too. This is an exciting story that will interest the serious plant enthusiast and Hawaiian islands fan as well as the mystery lover. A great read.

Black Orchids

Rex Stout's novella Black Orchids has a bit of everything from his classic books. The setup - Nero Wolfe hears about certain black colored orchids that are featured at the New York City flower show. The progression - he sends Archie Goodwin to scout them out and report back. He then must see these amazing plants for himself. The death - was at the flower show. One of the people who was featured in a grower's display is killed while Wolfe and Archie are there. It happened in front of an audience. The dame - happens to be the other person featured in the display. The victim - was a blackmailer. There were a few people who would not mind seeing him dead. The mystery - can Wolfe figure it out? Of course he can. But the real question may be: will Wolfe end up with the black orchids?

One has to love the way Stout aptly mixes snappy dialog, clues and characters into one lively story. I really loved the way he planned the murder at the flower show - having just been to one - it was pretty perfect. A very fun read.

Flower Confidential

Be careful the next time you buy that cheap floral bouquet. Do you know where your flowers have been? And what they have been dipped in? You might want to read Amy Stewart's book about the floral industry - Flower Confidential. This is a well written book that takes the reader through the international market of cut flowers.

Some fun facts:
- Europeans buy more flowers per capita than folks in the United States - especially Germany and Switzerland.

-The United States' consumers may pay less for flowers than other countries - but there is a reason those flowers are cheap: they are not top quality and do not last as long.

- Most U.S. grocery stores have their floral areas in the worst possible place - near the produce area where the riping fruit and veggies produce ethylene. Ethylene - "which will cause downward bending of flower foliage, failure of buds to open, or open flowers to close or fall off. Florist greens will yellow, and leaves and berries will bend downward or fall off in the presence of ethylene. Damaged or diseased plant material also give off ethylene. " (from the USDA website) (Costco supposedly does a better job with their floral area than most!)

- Some foreign growers use pesticides that are banned in the United States. But try telling which flowers are which...

Stewart takes you to rose growers in Ecuador, the Miami airport's inspection area for cut flowers - where most of them are dipped in fungicide - remember that next time you take a sniff from cut flowers (most of which do not smell anyway), and the frenzied Dutch Flower auction which sets prices for most of Europe's flowers. She also writes about the growing movement for organic certification (most of Europe is already there) for flowers in the U.S.

This book is definitely worth a look if you are a flower lover. It will make you want to buy a bouquet - or run outside and cut your own. But be careful where and what you are buying.