Abby’s more pressing problem at the moment is the media circus in the town square where her shop Bloomers resides. It’s due to the arrival of local singer Cody Verse who has just won America’s Next Hit Single with the song “Code Blue,” which his former singing partner Andrew Chopper is suing him over.

Cody’s attorney is the high-profile Ken “the Lip” Lipinski who is going up against Abby’s former boss Dave Hammond. Dave is certain that Ken has just removed some damning evidence from the defense’s table. When Ken is found dead in his office the next morning, Dave and his client are at the top of the police’s suspect list.

Abby knows Dave would never murder another human being, no matter how angry he was. She sets out, with the help of Marco, to prove that Dave had nothing to do with Ken’s death and in the process, uncovers secrets about Ken and about other local residents, any number of which could have gotten Ken killed.

Abby is an excellent heroine who finds herself in some of the most unlikely, entertaining situations, such as finding her yet-to-be-worn engagement ring on Marco’s brother Rafe’s new fiancée’s finger and the comedy of errors that led to Cinnamon finding the ring and how it is finally returned to Abby.

Abby has a very supportive staff at the flower shop allows her to take time to investigate murders and to try and keep control over her life that threatens to erupt in chaos at any given moment. Adding more character and texture to the plot are Abby’s pre-teen niece Tara and her cousin Jill who figure prominently into the story. Marco is true blue and only wants to be with Abby and start their life together and is willing to make some serious changes to his own life to enable this to happen.

The plot is carefully laid out and not so convoluted that nothing makes sense, but has enough red herrings to keep readers off the trail of the real murderer. The ending is bittersweet for several reasons, adding to the overall feeling that Abby and Marco are true to life characters.

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry