McQuaid, mostly recovered from the injuries he received in Love Lies Bleeding is now up and walking, albeit with canes, and working as the interim Chief of Police in Pecan Springs. In Lavender Lies, Ms. Albert has done a superb job of engaging her fans in their wedding celebrations.

Unfortunately for China, disaster looms when Pecan Springs’ local real estate shark, Edgar Coleman, is found shot to death in his garage days before the wedding. China knows McQuaid well and since he is in charge of solving the crime, she senses the investigation has all his attention. China, who was once a high powered and successful lawyer, is the owner of an herbal shop, Thyme and Seasons. She is rarely unnerved, but now she is stressed to the max with her many wedding arrangements and has a large dose of bridal jitters.

Worrying that McQuaid will want to postpone the wedding until the murderer is behind bars, China feels this is the last straw in a long list of calamities. She takes drastic and sometimes comic measures in order to resolve the investigation quickly and save their Hawaiian honeymoon, creating a feast of entertainment from the ensuing pandemonium.

China quickly discovers that many of the residents of Pecan Springs are heaving a sigh of relief over Edgar Coleman’s murder, including most of the members of the City Council. In addition to shady business dealings, Edgar’s been having a number of affairs with different women around town. In fact, everywhere they look McQuaid and China turn up another suspect and most of them have no alibi. The investigation’s progress is so stymied, and McQuaid is so consumed by the case that China threatens to play “All My Exes Live in Texas” for the recessional music.

Lavender Lies is a moving love story, an engrossing mystery, and light-hearted comedy all in one. The lavender lore, herbal trivia, and herbal wedding traditions interspersed throughout the book are an added bonus. Catching up with the lives of the secondary characters, who are a colorful and likable group, is welcome, too. Amazingly, China shows continuing personal development by growing more comfortable with her role as step-mother, building a solid relationship with her ex-alcoholic mother and working with her best friend Ruby.

The murder may sometimes take second place to China and McQuaid’s big event in this fast-paced, whirlwind book, but after all, a wedding should take precedence. And there are enough surprises to make the mystery well worth reading.

--Monica Pope