Vanish with the Rose - Hardcover

Michaels, Barbara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671689487 ISBN 13: 9780671689483

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1992

Synopsis

Posing as a landscape architect in order to find out what happened to her brother, Brad, Diana Reed arrives at the Nicholson's eighteenth-century mansion, where Brad was last seen, and enters a bizarre world of treachery. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

Reviews

The prolific Michaels ( Into the Darkness ) sets off her latest high-voltage mystery the instant Diana Reed, a shrewd and determined lawyer, appears at the Nicholson estate in Maryland as their new landscape architect. Diana is actually searching for her younger brother Brad, who disappeared eight months earlier while working as caretaker for the estate's previous owner, Miss Musser. With considerable guile and a superficial knowledge of roses, Diana charms the Nicholsons into leaving her in charge of their manor for several weeks. Flying into action and dropping her disguise, she enlists the aid of Mary Jo, the feisty cleaning woman/student who once had an affair with Brad. Other allies are found in Walt Slade, the industrious, provocative gardener, and Andy Davis, Mrs. Nicholson's inept yet endearing son. The four disparate friends pry discreetly and focus their suspicions on Miss Musser's smarmy lawyer and Mary Jo's violent ex-husband. Woven through events are disquieting elements: crystal-clear music, lingering perfume and ambiguous forms suggesting an unworldy figure; indeed, Diana is saved from serious harm by a hand (quite literally) from another world. Michaels once again offers a witty, intricate and ultimately surprising story, with strong characterizations that keep the sparks flying. Literary Guild alternate; Doubleday Book Club main selection.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Bestselling Michaels (Into the Darkness, 1990, etc., etc.) piles on the whipped cream but forgets the cake in this latest foray into romantic suspense--a contemporary cozy in which credibility is cheerfully sacrificed on the altar of whimsy and lace. There's something fishy about Diana Reed, the old-rose expert hired by a pair of former professors who've bought an 18th-century mansion in the Virginia countryside: Reed seems to know nothing about plants. Not that the trusting and house-obsessed Nicholsons notice; in fact, after a couple of days tramping the grounds with her newest employee, Emily Nicholson takes her husband off on a cross-country rose-hunting trip, conveniently freeing Reed from her watchful presence for the remainder of the book. For Diana, this situation is perfect: in real life a successful young attorney, she's come to the mansion to search for her missing brother (last seen working as a handyman for the estate's previous owner)- -prompted by strange psychic visions that feature danger, murder, and what seems to be a passionate Romeo-and-Juliet-style romance. Left alone in the house with Andy, Emily's dilettante son; Walt, a rugged-but-compassionate contractor; and Mary Jo, overworked housekeeper and ex-battered wife, Reed must sort out whether her increasingly frequent visions are a centuries-old psychic legacy or her brother's attempt to communicate from beyond the grave. Meanwhile, all present must weather such gothic conventions as a secret chamber behind the fireplace, a violent ex-husband lurking about the grounds, the psychological intrusions of Reed's neurasthenic mother and cold-as-nails lawyer father, and of course a heavy dose of ghostly whispers, nudges, and music-box-playing- -before the murderer of Diana's brother is found, the four young people can fall into one another's arms, and the elderly Nicholsons can return to gasp, amazed, at such astonishing goings-on. Silly dialogue and a sketchy plot make this a very undemanding treat--suited for summer-garden reading with a cup of tea at hand. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In a desperate attempt to locate her missing brother, Diana Reed goes to work as a landscape architect at the last place he was seen. Unqualified for the job, she lives with fear of discovery--which, of course, eventually transpires, prompting her boss and coworkers to try to assist her in her search. Sinister events make murder seem the most likely explanation for her brother's disappearance, and, in true Michaels fashion, things get quite spooky. There's a creaky old house, a ghost (or perhaps more than one), a 100-year-old murder, and a drunken would-be killer. Not quite as good as Ammie, Come Home (Berkley, 1989) or Be Buried in the Rain (Berkley, 1987), but close. Lots of gardening detail makes things even more interesting. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/92; for an interview with Elizabeth Peters, a.k.a. Barbara Michaels, see "The Three Faces of Mertz/Peters/Michaels," p. 128.--Ed.
- Bettie Spivey Cormier, Charlotte-Mecklenburg P.L., Charlotte, N.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671689487
• ISBN 13: 9780671689483
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 348