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A flower expert with something to prove.
A dead body. Or two. Or three!
Welcome to the Shellesby College greenhouse—where there’s always something dangerous blooming!
Holly Jackson could be the next rising star in the botanical department at prestigious Shellesby College in New England. On a perfect moonlit night, the rare night-blooming cereus plant is scheduled to open its petals during the College’s much anticipated Annual Night Lights Gala. A famous chocolate maker is the featured guest, there is enough food to die for, and Holly is hosting it all.
What could possibly go wrong?
It’s all honeysuckle and roses until a wily and clever
killer shows up and suddenly everything goes roots up. Is Holly the only one
brave enough to follow the clues and bring about justice?
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Excerpt
“I have something to show you. I wanted to wait until you calmed down because it means a lot to me, and I hoped you might be happy for me. Here, come with me.” He led her back to the previous room, which had amazing, rare rainforest plants in it.
“Check this out!” He tossed her a magazine that
said Horticultural Digest on the cover. Holly neatly caught it and
opened it up to the dog-eared page. Blaring across the page in the huge font
was the title: William Smith, The Rainmaker of Shellesby College’s Famous
Rainforest Room. It was a five-page spread with big glossy photos of the
Rainforest Room sprinkled throughout the article.
“Five, count ‘em, five pages! That’s my record. Until
now, they’ve only given me four. Check it out: I’m the Rainmaker, baby! Let it
rain, let it rainnnn!” William stomped around in make-believe puddles on the
floor.
He picked up a garden hose lying along the side of the room
and held it upright like an umbrella. “I’m singing in the rain, just singing in
the rain. What a glorious feeling. I’m happy again.”
Holly squealed with laughter and applauded. William jumped
up on a large over-turned pot and shifted the hose to now play air guitar while
he repeated the verse.
“William, there is no air guitar in that song!”
“There is now, baby!” Holly exploded again in
laughter, clutching her sides. After a few more seconds of air guitar, William
jumped off the pot and lowered his voice considerably.
“Thank you, thank you very much,” William said in his Elvis
impersonation.
He now held the garden hose like a microphone and said, “My
next song is dedicated to my beagle, my very own hound dog, my Sweetpea.
Sweetpea, girl, this is for youuuuuuu.”
He now launched into Elvis’s famous “Hound Dog.” “You ain’t
nothing but a hound dogggg.” With this, he also twirled the hose by holding it
tight two feet from the nozzle, then twirling the nozzle in little circles
above his head like a lasso.
“Work it, William! Work it!” Holly screamed in
laughter. He did some choice hip swivels as he sang “Hound Dog,” sending Holly
into peals of laughter.
“William, stop! Stop! Where are you? I can’t see I’m
crying so hard!”
William dropped his voice even lower and more dramatically.
In his best Elvis voice, he said, “Well, if you can’t find me darlin’, I’ll
find you.”
He dropped to one knee and gently picked up her
hand.
“Thank you, thank you very much,” he said in Elvis mode.
“My next song, I dedicate to my one and only, to my
Holly-Dolly. Little prickly pear, this one’s for youuuuuu.”
He now launched into Elvis’s famous “I Can’t Help Falling in
Love with You.”
“Take my hand, take my whole life, too, for I can’t help
falling in love with you.”
With that, he gave her hand a soft kiss. He then jumped up
onto an empty potting table and spun around once on his butt, then pushed
himself the length of the entire table and slid off the far end.
“Loose, footloose!” William picked up his garden-hose
microphone again and kept singing. “Kick off the Sunday shoes…”
He sang the entire song, and then Holly exploded in
appreciative applause. He was breathing heavily and had a million-dollar smile
on his face.
“Hoo-wee, that was fun! I am so sweaty now, hoo-boy!” He
splashed some water on his face and then shook his hair.
“William! When are you going to enter that karaoke contest
at the coffee shop in town? They’re paying $1,000 to the winner of their
contest. No one can beat you! That was unbelievable!”
“That was fun.” William laughed. “Are you in a better mood
now?”
“How can I not be? You are the best!”
“Did you read the article?”
He went to pick up his magazine.
“Look at this. They did a whole spread about our corpse
flower plant and our cannonball tree.”
Holly and William moved to the front of the corpse flower
plant.
“Remember when we got this? Direct from Sumatra in
Indonesia? It was so big…twelve feet tall! We had to open the roof and crane it
in here. It couldn’t fit in any of our doors!”
“I remember,” Holly said admiringly. “And here you are
now, being written up in the magazine for your expert planting of it.”
“Here, read the article out loud.”
About the Author
She has a background in nature photography and her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers, on the radio and on TV. Her art earned cultural council grants and was accepted and sold at national and regional juried art shows. A perfect day for her might include exploring in the woods near her home in Boston, MA. She loves cooking and her favorite meal is pasta with vegetables. She never met an avocado she didn't like!
Her writings, (including her short stories, memoir and travel tales), have recently appeared in an anthology, and have been featured in five magazines in the US and U.K. Dead Cereus is her debut novel, and it was #1 in 12 categories on Amazon during its initial release, including in the Free Kindle Store and in new release categories. It also earned five star editorial reviews, and five book awards including First Place award from Royal Dragonfly Book Awards, First Place in Humorous from The BookFest, and a Silver award from Literary Titan.
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This book sounds fun.
ReplyDeleteSounds good.
ReplyDeletefun cover
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a book I'd enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteGreat excerpt and I love the cover, thanks for sharing it with me!
ReplyDelete