The Accidental Florist

By: Jill Churchill

Narrated by: Susan Bennett

Agatha Award winner Jill Churchill has delighted fans for years with her Jane Jeffry mysteries. Jane is finally getting married to longtime boyfriend Mel, who’s convinced her and her best friend Shelley to take a self-defense class. But when two people in the class are murdered, all thoughts of learning karate are put on hold. And of course, there’s still that pesky matter of a wedding to plan.

©2007 The Janice Brooks Trust (P)2009 Recorded Books

meh

read through the whole thing, well written, mildly interesting, but kept waiting for a plot to become apparent, to no avail.

yes

loved it, it was very good book. love Jane Jeffrey books. want more new ones.

Boring

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

It could have been a mystery and enjoyable

What could Jill Churchill have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Not have written this book.

Would you be willing to try another one of Susan Bennett’s performances?

No I will not.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Accidental Florist?

The dead mother-in-law and the insensitivity.

Any additional comments?

I tried several times to listen to this from my library and kept stopping. Finally, got through this very boring book. I won't listen to another by this author.

Meh - Last of the series, I expect

No motive, 2 unrelated crimes, reads more like a diary full of irrelevancies than a novel. The mystery is a side-line and honestly has no motive, be warned. On the other hand, if you enjoy following a well-to-do housewife/author around in her daily life it's not too bad. She has plenty of money, enjoys shopping for her wedding, and eats out a lot. She fights with her awful mother-in-law to be and her awful former mother-in-law. She does a couple of book signings. She's building an addition on her house, changes kitty litter and makes good grocery lists. There is a fair amount of product placement which I hope the author was paid for. The main character is never in any danger, regardless of what the blurb says, and doesn't help solve the motiveless mystery. There are a few well-written scenes so I know the author is capable of writing, and I hear the rest of the series is better. This probably isn't a good place to jump in. I suppose if you have followed the whole series and come to love the characters this book sort of wraps up their lives and includes a mystery as an afterthought.

No Mystery and Unappealing Characters

Any additional comments?

I found all of the previous books in the Jane Jeffry series to be fun and lightly entertaining but this last installment reads like the diary of a shallow, self centered woman - completely absorbed by her frivolous suburban reality. The narration didn't add to the experience. While not horrible it seemed flat and made the characters sound even more unlikable. Also, I expect characters in a mystery to do at least a bit of sleuthing but Jane seemed too busy detailing her daily routine to bother.

How different the characters attitudes seemed narrated. Not good

I loved reading the books. This narrator made Jane & Shelly sound so snobby. I won't buy another one