Flowers for His Funeral

Kliatt, Jan, 2005 by Janet Julian

FLOWERS FOR HIS FUNERAL. Ann Granger. 1994/2000. Read by Judith Boyd. 7 tapes. 10 hrs. Clipper Audio, dist. by Recorded Books. 1-84197-975-9. $63.00. Vinyl; plot notes. A

Chief Inspector Alan Markby and his girlfriend Meredith Mitchell are all set to enjoy the quiet beauty of the Chelsea Flower Show when they meet one of Meredith's old school chums, who turns out to be Markby's ex-wife. Then someone shoves a poisoned syringe into the back of the ex-wife's new rich Lebanese husband, Alex Constantine, and Markby finds himself a suspect in a murder. There are lots of other good suspects, like Molly James, a man-hating kennel keeper with a 27-year-old son still living at home. The aforementioned son had the hots for the ex-wife. Someone tries to crush Meredith with a huge granite pineapple, and a mysterious woman attends Alex's funeral.

Granger's police procedural is reminiscent of a Christie novel, with dirty deeds done in a small English town. Boyd narrates, individualizing each character by dialect, timbre, and tone. Men and women are created with equal aplomb. Janet Julian, Grafton, MA

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.