[audiobook] The Tumbleweed Murders: A Claire Sharples Botanical Mystery by Rebecca Rothenberg; Taffy Cannon in Arts-Photography

Review

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. A song ends. but the melody lingers onBy Pat BrowningTHE TUMBLEWEED MURDERS is set in the ugliest part of the San Joaquin Valley. and one of the best characters talks like Granny in "The Beverly Hillbillies." but I kept going back to it anyway. Something about it just wouldnt let go. Maybe its the music."And every night down in Aromas/ Sitting on the porch and talking low./ Trying to get the Bakersfield station/ on the radio."Lyrics by the late Rebecca Rothenberg are words on paper. but the melody is easy to imagine if you like California country music. Rothenbergs protagonist. Claire Sharples. is a transplanted Easterner who feels the pull of that music.Rothenberg writes: "Claire. who had learned this stuff entirely against her will. said. I thought it was a Merle Haggard song. A Merle Haggard song that had once stopped her dead in her tracks in Harvard Square and then sent her back across a continent. To stay." In this fourth and final series entry. Claire settles into a love/hate relationship with the Valley.Claire is a plant pathologist working in the field for the University of California. On her way to a peach orchard where the fruit is afflicted with brown rot. she meets Jewell. a reclusive. long-retired country singer once known as The Cherokee Rose. The chance meeting with Jewell is followed by discovery of a skull near the peach orchard.Claire already has a full plate. Shes getting over a failed love affair. Her mother has died. Her stuffy brother is coming to visit. Her romance with the married Ramon is heating up. But the skull. a faded photograph. and the fate of a country singer reel her in.Curiosity leads Claire into a labyrinth of lies and corruption. as an old murder brought to light leads to new murders. She narrowly escapes drowning. and almost meets her Waterloo at the hands of a runty tycoon named Tidwell. who disposes of enemies by tossing them into a hay baler.Taffy Cannon completed this novel after Rothenbergs death. and the result is smooth as silk. I hate to see Claire Sharples go. She was good company. Still. as one of Rothenbergs own songs says:"Now my life has led me on/ And left so many roads behind./ But I can still recall them all/ So clearly in my mind."The only thing missing here was a CD to go with the book. Love those songs!0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. A fitting finale to a great seriesBy CustomerThe last of the Claire Sharples series is the best. Interesting story line. Good setting in the San Joaquin Valley. Plenty of menacing and endearing supporting characters. I am unhappy that there will be nor more in the Botanical Mystery series. but Rebecca Rothenberg went out on a high note.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Another enjoyable book by this authorBy Andrea AufieriThe first of her books I ever read was Bulrush Murders. I thoroughly enjoyed it and had to get the rest of her works.