Deadly Nightshade by Mary Rosenblum is the second book in the Rachel O’Connor Gardening Mystery series. Rachel O’Connor and her Rain Country Landscaping business have just been awarded a contract by the city of Blossom, Oregon. She has a new employee from the Youth Farm named Spider Train. He is sixteen years old. The town is in an uproar over the proposed annexation of outlying areas. They want to prevent the building of condos and mini malls (which is a good thing). However, Rachel’s Uncle Jack is against the new annexation. He is quite vocal at the town meeting and against Councilman Bob Dougan (who changed his vote).

The next day Rachel and her crew go to dump the mulch from the truck and find the truck has already been emptied. When they start putting it into wheel barrows, they find a body. Rachel immediately gets the police. When they uncover the body, it is Bob Dougan. The main suspect is Uncle Jack. Rachel immediately starts investigating the crime (she just cannot help herself) despite Police Chief Jeff Price (and her boyfriend) asking her not to look into the crime. Who killed Bob Dougan? Did it have to do with the annexation?

Deadly Nightshade is a cute cozy mystery, but I did not feel that the writer spent enough time on the actual mystery. There are many descriptive paragraphs (about characters, the town, and gardening) that detract from the story. I wanted more time spent to providing clues and tracking down the killer. The book is easy to read (nice writing style) with good characters and a lovely setting. I give Deadly Nightshade 3.75 out of 5 stars.

I received a complimentary copy of Deadly Nightshade from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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It might have been the time of year I was reading it (had lots of interruptions while reading it). I didn't like it as much as the first book in the series. I found it hard to keep the characters straight. ( )