The Trouble with Tulip
a smart chick mystery

Mindy Starns Clark

9/30/2005

Jo Tulip is getting married tomorrow. Tonight she can't sleep, so she goes for a run. Her column is set for the week after the wedding, running classics that both she and her grandmother wrote. Her beloved grandmother wrote a helpful household hints column for decades, When she got sick and died, Jo took over. Jo was closer to her grandparents than her own traveling parents. She is a homebody, not the society type they had wanted. She was able to live with her Grandmother as she was a teen. Her best friend, Danny, lived on the other side of the small fence in the back yard. All these thoughts go through her head, along with thoughts of Danny warning her to delay the wedding. He feels she is rushing things. While running, she notices the lights on at the house of a widowed neighbor. She hears shouting inside but can't see anything. A few moments later, a car pulls up and stops, headlights blazing. It sits there for a while, then leaves again.

Danny is a professional photographer. The first thing the next morning he is called to a crime scene. The widow died the night before from a fall in her home. He notices that Edna Pratt had followed Trouble with Tulips techniques. He suggests the police call Jo over to see the murder scene in case she can help with some of the oddities of the scene. Once she is able to explain them, the police are able to shut the case as an accident.

But Jo isn't so certain. If Edna Pratt was that devoted to the housekeeping style Jo and her grandmother taught, there were indicators that didn't fit. Also, the did the body get twisted like that if the woman fell against the window sill?

The Trouble with Tulip is a cute cozy mystery. The antagonist comes from left field, although was introduced part way through the novel. The clues that Jo and Danny follow are intriguing and carefully laid. The twist of the crime is fun.

This is a Christian novel, and that message comes through. It sounds a bit flaky to someone who doesn't know the culture (you don't see people praying over their problems in mainstream mystery novels), yet is well done if you do understand the culture. The mystery is not dependent on Christianity. The protagonists live their beliefs without being obnoxious.

Yes, this is a woman's mystery. Mindy Starns Clark has included romance as well as murder. Also, this is the beginning of a series. There is more to Jo's story that I want to know. The Trouble with Tulips is a fun few hours worth of diversion.

You can find more about this book at .

The Series:

The Trouble With Tulip
Blind Dates Can Be Murder
Elementary, My Dear Watkins