When Althea Grey, a young, pot-smoking freelance writer, comes to East Belchertown MA to write an article about the Ladies’ Garden Club Edible Flowers Luncheon, she doesn’t expect to find murder on the menu - until one of the guests turns up dead. Was it something she ate? When all signs point to her new-found friend, Althea sets out to uncover the truth of the Edible Flowers Luncheon and orders up a deadly dish.
“I apologize for coming without calling first,” Althea explained. “...But I would like to get Mrs. Aster’s impressions of the Garden Club luncheon before the event. Then we can talk again after and see how the reality met her expectations.”...
The door slid silently closed behind her as Novena Aster gestured forward with her upturned palm and followed Althea on her noiseless wheels down the large hall. As a shadowed figure silently passed them to open a double door into what appeared to be a library, Mrs. Aster snapped, “Lavinia, tell Henry to bring tea.”...
Althea took a small sip of her tea and tried another tack. “Some of the people I have spoken to have said a competition in cooking doesn’t seem relevant to a Garden Club, Mrs. Aster. What are your thoughts on that?”
“Relevance is not the issue. To participate in an organization like this, one must be a team player, Ms. Grey. One, especially one who is newly admitted to the august ways of the club, must be willing to assume one’s place. Denigrating the workings of the club before one attains membership seems foolish in the extreme.” “It is not the four contestants who have expressed some dismay over this luncheon, Mrs. Aster,” Althea added quickly. She certainly didn’t want to jeopardize anyone’s chances with this woman by indicting them. “You think I have stirred up the hornet’s nest, Ms. Grey? You think I am playing Chess Master with these pawns on the board? But why should I go meddling with the lives of little people. Little lives. Everyone scurrying around as if it matters. I suppose it matters to them. To each of them. But as far as I’m concerned not one of them deserves the positions.... These contenders,” Novena spat the word, so great was her contempt, “want the by-laws changed rather than put a little effort into earning – earning, Ms. Grey! – a coveted place in an elite society. No, Ms. Grey, I will shape the future of the East Belchertown Ladies’ Garden Club. If it is the last thing I do, I will do this.” Novena Aster banged the tip of her silver clad stick on the floor for emphasis and the door popped open. Lavinia must have been standing directly outside the heavy oak doors. “Not you.” Mrs. Aster said tersely, and Lavinia silently closed the doors again. Suddenly Althea completely understood why everyone was afraid of this woman, why no one – not even Minnie who wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything – would refuse to step aside to let her have her way.
About Rosa LaRosa
Rosa LaRosa lives and writes in Marshfield, Massachusetts. When she’s not writing, she travels. When she’s not traveling, she writes.
Sometimes she does both. She is currently at work on the next book in the Althea Grey series. The Garden Club is her first mystery.
When Althea Grey, a young, pot-smoking freelance writer, comes to East Belchertown MA to write an article about the Ladies’ Garden Club Edible Flowers Luncheon, she doesn’t expect to find murder on the menu - until one of the guests turns up dead. Was it something she ate? When all signs point to her new-found friend, Althea sets out to uncover the truth of the Edible Flowers Luncheon and orders up a deadly dish.
Rosa LaRosa lives and writes in Marshfield, Massachusetts. When she’s not writing, she travels. When she’s not traveling, she writes.