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| What lies in the ground beneath the flowers? |
How many murder mystery books have you read where the body is finally found buried in the garden?
I’ve just embarked upon a summer reading obsession program that includes reading all twelve mysteries written by an author with the initials A.C. where the person who helps solve the mysteries is an older woman whose initials are J.M. She is generally addressed as “Miss” and is often characterized as just sitting and knitting and listening.
Although, in one of the two mysteries I’ve read so far she often seemed to be out in the garden pulling bindweed, and listening.
Anyway, I don’t want to give away too much about which books I’m reading in case you haven’t read the books and decide that you will. They are set in England, by the way.
The two books I’ve read so far happen to be the last two books written by A.C. with this sleuth, J.M. In both books, the body was eventually found in the garden. I’m getting ready to read another book in this series which will actually be the first book of the series. My intention is to read all the books in order now until I’ve read them all.
I’m curious, after reading that the bodies in the first two books were found buried in gardens, if all the bodies in the other books will be found buried in gardens.
I certainly hope that is not the case. If it is, it will be quite obvious to me with each book where the body is. Not to mention, it gives gardens a bit of a reputation for being a good place to bury a body, and nobody wants that.
I have read other mystery series, though I won’t divulge which ones because I don’t want to be accused of spoiling them for anyone else. In those books, the bodies were not always buried in the garden, but the victim was usually killed off with some herbal potion. Is that any better for a gardener?
I’ll have to enlist the help of Hortlock Holmes and Hortcule Poirot to figure that out.
Update: I’ve discovered an Alfred Hitchcook TV series episode involving murder. Guess where the murderer hid the body?
AG?
Oops, A.C.!
If you read mysteries set in cities, the body is usually found in a filthy alley, either in or behind a dumpster. I had rather read about gardens any day!
Love all the A.C. mysteries!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie
P.S. I've noticed that rivers, lakes, and pools are fairly popular places to dispose of fictional bodies, too.
Oh, my! You are headed down a deep rabbit hole now. Gardening and mystery series go together "like peas and carrots," as Forrest would say. My favorite title of all time is Death at a Spring Plant Sale, by Ann Ripley.
Well, if I had my choice, a garden would be my choice for a final resting place:)
All my animals have a resting place in my gardens. There is one under the butterfly bush where he loved to lay and tried to capture those winged things. There is one outside the window where my reading chair is, he was always at my side and this was the closest I could get him. Even the fish from the pond grace the rose beds. And, I usually pause and remember and whisper I love you. jd
My favourite English mysteries are by Dorothy Sayers. Her detective, Lord Peter Wimsey, is a wonderful creation. Read them all years ago… would I still like them? A re-read is in order!
Love mysteries set in England and gardens. I loved the Rosemary and Thyme PBS series.
Well, if nothing else, the bodies buried in the garden would provide a nice bit of fertilizer for whatever was planted on top of them.
I have just watched a "Bones" re-run where a culprit buries the body in one garden, then, fearing discovery, moves it to another garden. Apparently, criminals can get into a rut.
I had a nightmare that ran along these lines. What is it about bodies,burying, and gardens?