Christie O'Mara watched as the artist added the last flourish to her store's name on the front window. This was her way of celebrating the first anniversary of her business, Christie's Flower Shoppe. Despite a rough first year with newspaper headlines of "Killer Flowers" and a disastrous wedding reception a few months later, Christie O'Mara felt more confident that her second year of business would be better. She had recently been commissioned to create elaborate floral decorations for the fiftieth wedding anniversary party for a local prominent couple. With an expansive guest list, Christie hoped the affair would trigger more commissions for her design work.
Meanwhile, she and her best friend Laura had started a garden design sideline. With Christie's knowledge of flowers and shrubs, and Laura's flair for design in outdoor spaces, it was a natural step that would expand business beyond the four walls of her shop. A property line dispute was an unforeseen complication when a potential client invited Laura for a consultation.
But was that enough for murder?
Christie O'Mara watched as the artist added the last flourish to her store's name on the front window. This was her way of celebrating the first anniversary of her business, Christie's Flower Shoppe. Despite a rough first year with newspaper headlines of "Killer Flowers" and a disastrous wedding reception a few months later, Christie O'Mara felt more confident that her second year of business would be better. She had recently been commissioned to create elaborate floral decorations for the fiftieth wedding anniversary party for a local prominent couple. With an expansive guest list, Christie hoped the affair would trigger more commissions for her design work.
Meanwhile, she and her best friend Laura had started a garden design sideline. With Christie's knowledge of flowers and shrubs, and Laura's flair for design in outdoor spaces, it was a natural step that would expand business beyond the four walls of her shop. A property line dispute was an unforeseen complication when a potential client invited Laura for a consultation.
But was that enough for murder?
Chapter 1
Christie O’Mara and her great-aunt Doris stood hand-in-hand across the street from Christie’s Flower Shoppe. They watched as the artist finished painting the shop’s name on the storefront window in Old English lettering. The artist added a couple of last flourishes, then turned to smile at her admiring audience.
“Is that what you wanted?” asked Tonya as she climbed down from the stepladder. She was a friend of Anita’s who had recently opened a local art studio. “I can add some flowers or even your cat if you like.”
“It’s fabulous just as it is.” Christie grinned. “And a perfect way to celebrate the first anniversary of being in business.” She’d been reluctant to move from San Francisco back to her hometown a year ago, afraid it would be too dull by comparison to the Big City. It had been far from dull. In fact, a dull second year would be just fine with Christie.
Aunt Doris put her arm around her niece’s shoulders and gave her a squeeze. “What a good way to celebrate getting through such a scary first year.”
“Don’t remind me,” said Christie with a laugh. “But all that is behind us. And now I’m looking forward to expanding from just a floral shop into a garden design business also, with Anita’s ideas. Plus, I’d love to try some new things inside the shop as well.” The two women chatted about possibilities as they walked back across the street.
Back inside, Christie and her aunt began the work of finishing the floral arrangements for Rodney and Sharon Cole’s fiftieth wedding anniversary party to be held the next evening.
“I love working with these colors,” said Christie. “Dark-blue and white always make me think of magical nights, like bright stars shining at midnight at the beach.” She sighed.
“You have a good imagination, Christie,” said her aunt. “These silver spirals will add extra sparkle to the overall look. I’m glad you talked Mrs. Cole into using the baby roses for one of the white flowers instead of sticking to the typical white carnations.”
“Yeah,” said Christie. “With the budget she gave me, I thought a few roses would elevate the elegance without being much more expensive. She also agreed to add hot-pink to the color scheme for a pop of pizazz. You know, she kinda wanted to go with a Halloween theme because it’s late October. But when she told me her wedding colors had been blue and white, I encouraged her to use them for her anniversary instead—for sentimental reasons, if nothing else.”
“I’m glad of that,” said Aunt Doris. “Halloween colors might be good for a costume party, but could be a little too spooky for an anniversary.”
Christie nodded. “And black flowers are even harder to come by than blue ones at any time of year. These dark-blue hydrangeas and delphiniums are gorgeous!”
Doris smiled at her niece—actually her great-niece—who had quit her job as an accountant for a furniture chain in San Francisco the year before reopening her deceased grandmother’s floral business. In addition to the usual bouquets for birthdays, funerals and anniversaries, Christie had now added a side business with her longtime friend Anita Sanders. She had also expanded her selection of vintage furniture and decorative items despite the shop's limited square footage.
“Did you order the cookies for our shop’s anniversary celebration tomorrow, Aunt Doris?” Christie asked while scrutinizing the first finished arrangement on the worktable in the back of the shop.
“Yes, honey,” said her aunt. “The bakery shop will deliver ten dozen cookies and a sheet cake later today.”
“Wonderful,” said Christie. “Anita said she’d be here with the punch ingredients after school today and will arrive before we open in the morning to put it all together. And Madison, the reporter from the newspaper, said she’ll come tomorrow with her photographer so they can do a killer of a write-up.” Christie gave her aunt a sly look, waiting for a reaction.
“Real funny.” Doris shook her head at the word ‘killer.’ “Actually, that reporter owes you a nice article after that debacle about ‘Killer Flowers’ last spring.”
Christie giggled. “Oh, I’ve forgiven her. She’s been nicer to me since then; I think she’s still trying to make up for that nasty headline. One more thing: I talked with Joel at the radio station about doing a few more special public service announcements today and tomorrow morning to promote our anniversary party. We could have an enormous crowd! For White Castle, that is.”
***
The late-October Saturday morning dawned clear and dry, although it was also crispy cold. Christie was especially grateful that it was not raining, despite the meteorologist’s prediction that it would start dripping during the day. She hoped it would wait until the evening hours. Rain could discourage attendance at their anniversary celebration.
With Halloween being only a week away, Christie and Aunt Doris dressed in costume for the party. The previous year, her aunt had surprised Christie with a Cinderella costume, while Doris had transformed herself into a witch. She explained that it had been a tradition of Grandma Maude O’Mara’s to celebrate Halloween in costume at the shop when she was alive.
This year, Doris brought costumes from The Wizard of Oz. Christie felt a little silly in the Dorothy-style white blouse and blue-checked jumper. She teased her golden blond curls into bouncy pigtails and tied perky blue ribbons around them. It almost made her feel like a teenage cheerleader again. Aunt Doris had opted to dress as the scarecrow, although Christie thought she looked more like a haystack. She wisely kept her thoughts to herself, however. Stormy, the black shop cat that Christie had adopted the year before, played her usual role of being the observer from her perch above Christie’s sales counter. The cat-sized witch hat that Christie tied onto her kitty’s head lasted for less than a minute before Stormy pawed it off. Oh well. A black cat always fits a Halloween theme anyway.
Throngs of the local community popped into Christie’s Flower Shoppe throughout the autumn morning. Many of them purchased a card or small item while others came in just to say ‘Hello’ or ‘Congratulations.’ Quite a few had noticed the newly painted storefront window and complimented Christie and Doris on the new look.
Mrs. Fremmerlid, Christie’s high school English teacher, came with a big smile on her face and a copy of her first novel, a romance, Twilight in Havana, in her hand. “I autographed it for you, Christie,” she said proudly.
“Thank you, Mrs. Fremmerlid. That’s so thoughtful of you.” Christie hugged her warmly. Noticing the title, and with Cuba having become open to American tourists recently, she asked, “Is this novel based on a genuine experience by any chance?”
Mrs. Fremmerlid reddened a bit but quickly recovered. “Oh, Christie! It’s all fiction! But I am thinking about visiting Havana.” She winked. “I’ll need more material for a second book.”
Christie giggled at the thought of her slightly dowdy teacher having a romantic visit to Cuba. “You know, I would be happy to keep some copies of your book here and sell them for you.”
“That would be outstanding! Deb at the bookstore said she’d keep them in stock as well.”
“Perfect,” said Christie. “You’ll get twice as rich that way.”
Mrs. Fremmerlid laughed. “I’m sure you know that writing a book doesn’t guarantee it will be a smash hit or that I’ll get rich, but I certainly enjoyed the process. I might even write another one. After I go to Havana.”
“You can celebrate your accomplishment regardless,” said Christie. “Come with me and grab a cookie. I’ll add a little champagne to our punch glasses, and we’ll have a toast. We’ll celebrate the end of my first year in business for me and a first novel for you.”
“Cheers to that,” said Mrs. Fremmerlid.
Doris, who had been listening in, added, “And please let’s hope we don’t have any ‘killer flower’ episodes this second year.”
First and foremost, a large thank you to Reedsy Discovery and P.J. Peterson for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.
Always a fan of P.J. Peterson and her work, I jumped at the chance to read the latest novel in the Christie’s Flower Shoppe series. Christie O’Mara has done well for herself over the last year. Running a flower shop in small-town Washington, she is thriving and word of mouth is working. However, when she provides floral arrangements for an anniversary party, someone is stabbed and ends up dead. Juggling floral arrangements and sleuthing, Christie works with a few others to uncover who killed a local man and the other secrets that are tied to it. P.J. Peterson impresses once more with this cozy mystery.
Christie O’Mara is happy to see things ‘blooming’ after a year owning and running Christie’s Flower Shoppe. While there have been some stumbling blocks, success has been gradually finding its way into her life, so much so that Christie is looking to expand alongside her new partner. Word of mouth has been great and this is how she lands the job to supply floral arrangements at a 50th anniversary party.
At the party, Christie is happy to see the end result, but things take a turn when a man goes missing, soon found bleeding out in the alley. When he dies soon after being taken to the hospital, Christie cannot help but want to tap into her sleuthing side and solve this mystery. She begins poking around, noticing a number of potential suspects and motives, but nothing concrete comes together, even with the authorities involved.
When Christie answers the door one night, she is pulled from her home and taken into custody. It is only the quick work of her ‘boyfriend’, Jason, that she narrowly escapes her time with a number of masked men. This crew speaks of the murder and their utterances could be the key to better understanding what took place and how Christie can assist with bringing them to justice. A great mystery that shows not only Peterson’s abilities, but that cozy can be just as enthralling as gritty storytelling.
While I have been enjoying the work of P.J. Peterson for a while, I am always pleased to see fresh ideas emerge in her stories. The narrative pushes the reader to feel a part of the entire process, pulling not only on the light and cozy side of the story, but also keeping it moving in a forward direction. Chapters speed by and leave the reader needing to know more, as they uncover the key elements of this mystery, piecing the truth together. Characters flavour the story well and keep the reader on edge, especially Christie herself, who had become a great protagonist. Her development continues with each passing novel. The plot provides a great set of surprises and revelations that Peterson uses to thicken the storytelling and keep the reader on edge. I am eager to see where things are going and how Christie O’Mara will find added ways to become impactful!
Kudos, Madam Peterson, for a story I could not put down, not that I tried!