This is book 4 of the Flower Shop Mysteries. I liked this better than the Bakery Shop Mysteries. This was also the basis for the series on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries staring Brook Shields. In the book, Abby Knight is about 27 years old, short with red hair. In the movies, she is Brook Shields who left her job as an attorney to open a flower shop after her husband died. In the book, she flunked out of law school and has not been married.

I jammed both feet on the brake and brought my old yellow convertible to a screeching halt mere inches from the groin of a dragon. Okay, not a dragon in the fairy tale sense of the word. This dragon was the flesh and blood human variety - one Z. Archibald Puffer, a former JAG officer turned law professor who was often referred to as Puffer the Dragon. He was called that not because of his last name but also because of his ability to destroy even the bravest law student in one fiery blast of fury.

Another good whodunit! Onto the next one. ( )

Let me just get this out of the way; this book was a doozy to read. I could have underscored this book, but then I remember the impossible ones and I'm grateful for having discovered this series. Who cares if the culprit in the story wasn't a bolt out of the blue? I can only speak for myself but Kate Collins knows how to write a cozy murder. There's just enough of annoying characters to giggle at and if that's not your thing, then they're inconspicuous enough to avoid and focus on another, fuller, redder, bustier, shorter character. Herein ends this review. ( )

I like this series most of the time. Abby is bright and determined to defend herself at all costs. However, sometimes those costs get pretty high especially when she goes off and does things that more than one person (cops, lawyers, DA and Marco) have told her not to do -- like talking to reporters when she is a suspect in a murder.

I am also very tired of cousin Jill and her total abuse of Abby's hospitality and friendship. Probably one of the least sympathetic characters I've run across in a long time, especially when it seems we are supposed to be sympathetic.

Still, I will keep reading the series because the mysteries are good and most of the time I really like Abby and Marco, Libby and Grace and Abby's parents. I just hope she gets smarter about her own safety and spends less time with the nasty cousin. ( )

Flower Shop owner Abby Knight is asked to deliver a black rose to Professor Puffer, who terrorized her during her brief time as a law school student. Abby is hoping to drop off the rose and run, but much to her dismay she runs into not only Puffer but another law professor, Carson Reed, who not too long ago had Abby arrested at an animal rights protest. Both men bully Abby into fleeing the building, but she decides to stand up for herself and goes back inside only to find that Professor Reed has been murdered. Plenty of people heard Abby's fight with Reed and she is a chief suspect in his murder and there's a real chance she'll be arrested. While Abby fights to clear her name, she stumbles upon a series of pet nappings and is convinced the two are related. But can she and hunky ex-cop Marco find the real murderer and pet nappers before she is arrested for murder?

This was a nicely plotted cozy mystery. Although I've read many mysteries where the heroine is considered a suspect, this is the first one I've read where the situation wasn't contrived and there was a legitimate reason for the police to suspect Abby. Abby is an engaging heroine, although there were times in this book when her meddling was a bit too much and once or twice I rolled my eyes while reading the book. The book has lots of humor and Abby's various disguises as she hides from the Media and various townspeople who think she is the murderer are quite humorous. The mystery is well written and I didn't guess who the real murderer was until the very end.

Very enjoyable. ( )