Husbands and Wives and Lovers, Oh My!

The Diva Digs up the Dirt [by] Krista Davis

New York; Berkley Prime Crime [2012]

978-0-425-25134-8; $7.99

Sophie Winston and Natasha Smith have been rivals for years, especially in the Domestic Diva department.  Now they are writing feuding advice columns.  Natasha has always been a bit over the top, but, then she also took Mars, Sophie’s husband, although they haven’t gotten married yet.

This time, Natasha is angling for a big TV show by showing how well she can work with the cast of the makeover show “Dig It Up With Troy.”  The person who is having the makeover – of her backyard, with the introduction of a garage, is – Sophie!

But before this even gets underway, Sophie is set upon by an improbable lady in a festive, brightly-colored ensemble.  She says she knows who Sophie is, and she would like to hire her to find her daughter, getting out a wad of cash.  Sophie explained she was an event planner and didn’t know how to find people.  Soon she finds the woman sneaking around, talking to her neighbors and trying to get into her house. And Sophie’s best friend and neighbor is encouraging her!

But Sophie is busy – that afternoon Roscoe Greene, the wealthy owner of a catalog store catering to Southern gardeners and outdoorsmen, is having his big picnic-party, complete with famous ice cream bar.  Because just 10 days before, Roscoe had married one of his employees, Mindy, in a destination Ireland wedding (after having dumped his wife of 45 years, Olive), he had hired Sophie to plan the whole thing.  And, apparently, Olive had taken umbrage at not being invited, and had had a dumptruckload of steer manure delivered to their house in Mindy’s name! (Olive has heard that Mindy is threatening to concrete over the gardens she spent many loving years cultivating.) Sophie tries to deal with all of the mishaps and last-minute-issues, and then the guests are there and the party starts. 

Roscoe shows off his new – and costly – print of Four Mallards.  He also announces that he has bought a retirement place, about which he is really excited.  Mindy asks if it’s the Palm Beach place, and he says No –it’s a 500 acre bed-and-breakfast lodge in the mountains, where there’s the best hunting and fishing in the world!  Mindy can barely hide her disappointment.

Later, Sophie and her best friend Nina spot a trio of interlopers watching the party from the woods.  One looks to be Olive, Roscoe’s former wife, one is a sandy-haired man, and the third is the woman who’d accosted Sophie about her missing daughter – a woman they have since learned is named Mona – short for Desdemona. Later, Sophie gets an eyeful of Roscoe’s 40-something son Audie (who is engaged to another employee, Cricket) with his arms wrapped around his future stepmother.  Hmm – what’s that all about?

The next morning, Sophie gets to meet Troy and the show crew, who have come to dig up her backyard.  Included in the crew is a man that Sophie and Nina saw yesterday, prowling in the woods near Roscoe’s.  Sophie gets a visit from the man she has been dating for a while, a Homicide Detective named Wolf.  They start to make a date for dinner, but when Sophie mentions her meeting with Roscoe tomorrow, Wolf gets angry.  He tells her to cancel it.  She believes he wants to give her more work, and she can’t.  Wolf stalks off.  The last person Sophie wants to see while her backyard is being torn up is Mona, but she shows up next.  Sophie has to avoid her – she gets her dog Daisy and walks her around the side of her yard and gets away, making it to her car, parked four blocks away.  (She really does need a garage!)

Every time she and Wolf sit in her yard, he admires the climbing Blaze rose she has. He used to have one, but it died not long after his wife Anne went missing.  He mourns both of those losses.  Since Troy will most likely chop her rose into oblivion, Sophie decides to plant one in Wolf’s yard as a sort of truce.

The need for this seems to be underscored as, when she goes shopping, she meets Wolf coming out of a restaurant.  They apologize to each other, but then get into it again as Wolf says that Roscoe isn’t to be trusted.  Then, Cricket comes out of the same restaurant, and stops to greet Wolf – they haven’t seen each other in years. Sophie is amazed that they know each other.

She buys the rose and takes it over to Wolf’s yard and begins to dig a hole to plant it in.  Wolf’s neighbor wants to know what she’s doing.  His neighbor is Roscoe’s ex-wife Olive (Small world!)  Sophie explains, and Olive leaves her to continue her digging.  Deeper into the hole she finds a purse.  A very nice leather purse.  Inside it is a driver’s license for Anne Fleishman, Wolf’s missing wife!  Rumors had circulated all over the place that Wolf had killed his wife, and thoughts of that rush back into Sophie’s mind.  Nina comes over to console her and then Mona shows up.  The Mona who is looking for her daughter – her daughter Anne, who married Wolf!

Sophie calls Wolf, who comes home.  He looks at the hole and the handbag, and then calls the police.  He seems not to be surprised at Mona’s presence.  He looks very sad.  His partner, Det. Kenner, whom Sophie does not like, arrives with a uniform.  He asks questions and looks at the hole and the purse, and then gives it to the uniform to bag. Kenner gives Sophie his card and suggests that she be very careful.  She’s surprised – this is the nicest he’s ever been to her.  

Wolf then disappears, telling no one where he is going.  Roscoe's mallard print goes missing. Sophie goes to Roscoe's, against Wolf's admonishments, and talks to Cricket, who used to be his late wife's best friend.  Meanwhile, Roscoe's housekeeper, Violet, dubbed by Sophie and her friends as "Mrs. Danvers" for her behaviour towards them:  condescending, closemouthed, and unforthcoming, is practically crazy over a calico cat, which is bothering her birds. Nina promises Violet she will capture the cat, with Sophie's help.

Sophie also discovers Mona in her closet. A body is found under the mulch at Roscoe's.  Roscoe goes to the hospital, then comes home.  Audie and Cricket begin their wedding in Roscoe's backyard, and Audie keels over and has to go to the hospital, too.  Then Sophie has a flash of insight in a junk store, where she and Natasha have gone to repurpose items for her backyard.  She also finds Roscoe's missing mallard print.

The final upshot is that Sophie loves her backyard, as made over by Troy, and Natasha's little touches aren't too bad.  The perpetrators of Anne's disappearance, as well as attacks on Roscoe's family are unmasked and jailed, and Sophie's group of friends is brought back together.  Roscoe takes back his first wife, and Sophie gains a friend, but loses her boyfriend.  She's gotten very philosophical about it.  We'll see if it holds up in the next one, or if there are other prospects.  Now that Kenner has proven to be a real person, he may also have a bright future.  Lose ends get tied up -- not necessarily as you would expect them to, proving that Krista Davis still has the magic in one of the best constructed cozies in the business.  Excellent recipes and gardening tips, too.  Highly recommended. ~ lss-r
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My own book.