Release Day Review: For Whom The Bluebell Tolls

Author: Beverly Allen

Publication Date: January 6, 2014

Publisher: Berkley

Series: Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery # 2

Deadly thorns lurk among the roses in this Bridal Bouquet Shop Mystery.

Florist Audrey Bloom, co-owner of the Rose in Bloom, creates fragrant bouquets for brides. But when a wedding goes fatally wrong, it’s up to Audrey to sniff out a killer…
 
Everything is coming up roses for Audrey when her dazzling creations are picked to be featured on a wedding reality show. The hot series is filming an episode about a bride who’s bonkers for bells, and Audrey’s bouquets of campanulas, calla lilies, and Bells-of-Ireland are perfect for the bridal theme.
 
But Audrey’s debut quickly becomes a hothouse of trouble. Her ex, Brad, shows up as a crew member on the show, threatening her blossoming relationship with Nick the baker. To make matters worse, when one of the show’s hosts is found dead in the bell tower of a historic church, all the evidence points toward Brad.

Now Audrey needs to weed out the real killer before someone else’s chance at stardom is permanently nipped in the bud…

“No, I’ve dealt with my share of bridezillas. Usually I just smile and nod and give them what they want until they go away.”

Why is it that easy decisions are always so difficult?

“I always used to tease your grandma that someone was spray painting her flowers overnight. Child, you have no idea how much I miss her and her garden.”

Audrey Bloom and her cousin, Liv, own the Rose In Bloom flower shop in Ramble, Virginia. In the second installment in this series, a wedding reality show comes to Ramble to film a new episode. The bride-to-be is all about bells and this becomes the theme of the wedding. Audrey and her cousin work hard to start assembling flower arrangements in order to make this wedding a success. However, we can’t have a cozy mystery with a murder. Our murder mystery starts when the bells at the First Baptist Church begin ringing and a dead body is discovered, but alas, the show must go on! Audrey truly has her hands full in this book; she has to deal with a bridezilla, her ex-boyfriend who so desperately wants to get her back, and to top it all off she has to solve a murder!

This series did not disappoint with its second book. Audrey is back and her character is being developed more and more. Readers will start to learn more about her intricate thoughts, her fears, and her disappointments. We also get to see more of Nick, and his relationship with Audrey begins to bloom as well. The mystery was very well-written and kept me guessing and piecing clues together more than halfway through. The talk of flowers is always enjoyable and I always learn a lot about etiquette and what flowers pair nicely together. It is nice to see Audrey’s passion unravel and unfold.

***A free copy of this book was provided to me by the publishers at Berkley in exchange for my honest review***