Something Lethal in the Garden

by Basil E Eleftheriou

Upon retirement, Professor Dean returned to his childhood roots at Salsbury Harbor, Maine on Mt. Desert Island, Maine. His three children appeared well settled although people wondered where they had found the money for such a good living since professors don't make good salaries when active or when retired.When he died suddenly, the coroner pronounced his death from natural causes. But a young ambitious detective thought otherwise and pursued his hunches in vain until he found a young coroner trainee who gave him ideas about death due to genetic linkages.Finding courage in such medical keys, the detective discovers Professor Dean's genetic traits which enabled the killer to dispense with the good old prof without suspicion. But with the help of the coroner trainee, the detective solves the death and its cause as well as solves a crime of robbery that involved a plane crash and lots of money laundered from drug running.

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Michele Barber · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the means of murder was ingenious and the identity of the murderer was kept a mystery until the very end, this book had so many inconsistencies that it was difficult to read.

Spoilers:
In chapter 4, it said that all of the children had the complete combination to the safe and even confirmed this by having one of them open it by themselves and then discuss their findings with another sibling. But in chapter 9, it says that none of the children had been given the complete combination by their father and all 3 confirmed this by being unable to open it without the others sharing their numbers.

There were also close to a dozen typos throughout the story and missing or incorrect punctuation.

The main discrepancy was that they kept calling the main character “the old man” as though he was in his 80’s and repeatedly implied he died of old age although he was in good health for someone “of his age”. But in using the given ages of his three children (eldest 28) and the number of years specifically mentioned throughout the story (found money 15 years ago, got divorced 3 years later, then retired at 55 and then built house that he shared with kids for 10 years), his age was roughly only mid 60’s. This was contradictory to statements made and implied by other characters.

Overall it was an intriguing storyline and original means of death, but poorly edited, long-winded, and full of confusing inconsistencies. The killer’s final outcome was anticlimactic and after committing so many hours to reading the book, I longed for the story to just be over. But for someone that was not a professional writer originally, the author did write a commendable storyline.