Kate Collins’ fourth addition to her Goddess of Greene Street Mysteries is Gone but Not for Garden. Readers will find themselves drawn in by main character and detective Athena Spencer. She has only recently opened up her own detective agency with her boyfriend Case Donnelly, works for her family gardening store called Spencer’s, and also posts a blog as a way to vent about her family and personal life struggles and triumphs. However, she does remain anonymous in her blog, and it is amusing to see her family discuss it with such interest. Anyone who has a large family can appreciate and relate to how Athena has both love for her family as well as frustrations. While her family means well, they often push Athena’s boundaries and exasperate her. She does her best to be considerate and kind, while also remaining firm with her family. They mean well, and their pushing clearly comes from a place of love. Athena’s awareness of this makes her all the more relatable to those with more complicated families themselves. Athena also has a son and pet raccoon that add both a humorous element to the story, as well as interesting plot twists later on.
Athena and Case receive a client to her new detective agency by the name of Abby Knight Salvore, who just happens to be a private detective as well. Due to Abby’s own base of operations being in a different town, she reaches out to Athena and Case. Abby’s cousin Jillian has been arrested, and will most likely be charged with the murder of one of the models at her fashion show. As an amateur detective, Athena is self-conscious of being around an experienced detective such as Abby. She’s also eager to learn from her example while helping her to find who really did kill the victim. Local law enforcement isn’t of any assistance to the team and the lead detective, Detective Walters, seems to actively dislike Athena and Case and is not at all interested in helping them. It does not help that Detective Walters is retiring soon and does not seem interested at all in looking deeper into who could be the murderer – he’s just looking to quickly close the case and Jillian is too good a suspect to pass up.
Kate Collins does an excellent job of showing the step by step investigative process of an amateur private detective working on their own in Gone but Not for Garden. Readers get to see not only a weathered and wise detective who knows what steps could and should be taken, but an unsure yet determined one who wants to do right by her clients and reach the truth. As the story progresses, readers will see Athena navigate friendships, family, and political intrigue as she puts clues together to exonerate Jillian and catch the real killer. She is a very relatable and down to earth heroine for anyone, and readers will find themselves rooting for her and moving quickly through the chapters to reach the conclusion. Kate Collins gives plenty of background information on the family members, the political state of Sequoia, and any reoccurring characters from previous books as well. While there are three prior books, readers do not need to have read them to enjoy Gone but Not for Garden. – Carla Schantz
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Carla Schantz is a Courthouse Clerk Supervisor and has a bachelor’s degree in English as well as a master’s in legal studies. Books have been a passion of hers since she was young, and she is a firm believer in the purse book so that she is never without a book at any time.