Shoots to Kill

By Kate Collins
First published by Obsidian, an imprint of New American Library,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
First printing, August 2008

Let me just say upfront that this is by far my favourite Flower Shop Mystery (#7 in the series).

Abby Knight, owner of Bloomers Flower Shop, has her identity stolen and is a suspect in a murder investigation. This was a brilliant plot by Collins and it had me intrigued from the first page because it was actually more than Abby's identity that was stolen, it was her life, her looks, and possibly her boyfriend, Marco Salvare.

Besides the regular cast of characters - Lottie, Grace, Marco, Nikki, and Abby's parents - this book has two of the most interesting characters Collins has ever written: siblings Elizabeth and Oliver Blume. These characters are so well written they bring out a parade of emotions in the reader; you enjoy them, are irritated by them, feel sorry for them, wish something more for them.

While I wanted the mystery solved, I was sorry to come to the end of this book. I was so caught up in the characters and what makes them tick that I could have read more. If you only read one book in this series, read this one. But, really, just read them all.