Pippa Durant has a strange ability. Known as a human lie detector, the police call on Pippa to help them solve a murder. There are a lot of suspects among a very dysfunctional family and why would someone be killed in a garden center that apparently no one knows? Just when you think you have everything figured out, the author offers another twist. This was the first book I’ve read by Miranda Rijks and I look forward to reading more by her. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book for my honest review.

This is my third book by Miranda Rijks this year and the second featuring Dr Pippa Durant, a psychologist with a criminal profiling background. The style is breezy, the crimes happen quickly, she’s always targeted and, as I assume, there will be several books in the future and she will always triumph. Good, I will read them and enjoy them.

Within a family setting of a popular garden center, we find greed, mistrust, adultery, and death.

Now that her husband, David, has passed, Annette has taken his place to run the garden center. She is 73, yet spry. For their own reasons, her son, Ollie, and her son-in-law, Gerry, have other plans for the center. Ollie spent away a million dollars and Gerry is in deep debt. Annette refuses any of their offers to buy her out. Then a man is found dead on the property.

In comes Detective Joe Swain and psychologist Dr. Pippa Durrant. The excitement begins!!!

A concise story with plenty of action - doesn't miss a beat! Can easily be read as a standalone but why not read the series? A great plotline with superior character development ! A book not to miss!!!

Many Thanks to Inkubator Books and NetGalley for a wonderful read !

I really enjoyed this new book in the Pippa Durrant series. It revolves around a family of plant aficionados, some of who work in a huge garden center where a man has just been found murdered. The matriarch of the family, Annette, runs the center while her youngest daughter, Lily, works there and Lily's husband Stijn, drives a truck that makes deliveries to the center. He works for Gerry, husband to Bella, another daughter of Annette's. Bella does not work and Gerry runs a horticultural importing business. Bella & Lily also have a brother, Ollie, who also does not work. They all have their own interests in the family business - some want to own, some want to sell, - and these interests affect their actions and behavior once the murdered body is found. Or should I say, FIRST murdered body...

One of the first interesting aspects of the book is that we are told Pippa's age, which I believe was only hinted at previously. She's slightly older than I pictured her based on her mannerisms but it makes sense. I also found the plant knowledge fascinating, especially the floriography that is introduced and plays a central part. It's a concept I've never seen incorporated into a murder mystery before and it makes it that much better.

The story flows along wonderfully and the relationship between Pippa and the detective, Joe Swain, follows suit. Readers waiting for more action on that front will not be disappointed! I'm so glad this is a series and I cannot wait for the next one to come out!

This is a good holiday read - undemanding and quite predictable. However, the book is entertaining, with good characters and an unusual, if improbable story.

Fatal Flowers is a good thriller that is well written and has great characters. It keeps your attention and it flows well.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It was a well written book. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.