Retired florist Theo Bloomer would much rather stay at home than go on a disastrous Jamaican vacation in this charming cozy mystery.
Every time Dorrie Caldicott gets into trouble, it falls to Theo Bloomer to bail her out. So when Dorrie and her college buddies rent a villa in Jamaica, Uncle Theo is called on to chaperone. An unassuming retired florist, Theo prefers pottering around his greenhouse to traveling the world, but he has a soft spot for his niece—and it may get him killed.
At the resort, Theo struggles to make himself at home among Dorrie’s preppy gang. As the students whip themselves into a frenzy of debauchery, Theo just looks the other way. But when fun in the sun gives way to kidnapping, extortion, drug smuggling, and murder, Theo will do anything to get home to his flowers.
Fans of Kate Collins’s bestselling Flower Shop Mysteries will find a kindred spirit in Joan Hess’s Theo Bloomer. When this wilting violet is uprooted, the results are nothing short of hilarious.
The Deadly Ackee is the 2nd book in the Theo Bloomer Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
Joan Hess (1949–2017) was an award-winning author of several long-running mystery series. Born in Arkansas, she was teaching preschool when she began writing fiction. Known for her lighthearted, witty novels, she created the Claire Malloy Mysteries and the Arly Hanks Mysteries, both set in Arkansas.