Menacing Groves - Celia Grant, Bk 5 Author:John Sherwood Botanist Celia Grant, the petite, attractive widow from Sussex who often uses her encyclopedic knowledge of obscure flora to track down unlikely killers, returns for her fifth mystery adventure in Menacing Groves. — It all begins at an unfortunate production of Hamlet, in which bad actors do what harm they can to Shakespeare'... more »;s masterpiece. Celia, a long-suffering member of the audience, has no particular desite to mingle backstage with the untalented cast, but she's promised to drive Polonius and Queen Gertrude home. Polonius and the Queen turn out to be Jimmy and Paula Vincent, from South Africa, two over-the-hill thespians of modest means and nasty temperament.
Nothing could surprise Celia more than to encounter Jimmy and Paula one year later on a luxurious garden tour of Tuscany. Farthingale Tours, with its wealthy, mostly retired clientele, is hardly the place Celia would expect to find Jimmy and Paula.
Nor, apparently, do they wish to be found. They're using the names Edward and Ethel Hanson, and she's sporting a large diamond ring. Either they have come into money or something strange is going on. And even if they suddenly have money, why do they have new names? Expecting a quiet week of flowers and palazzi, Celia resigns herself to the fact that the mystery has followed her even to Italy. With the help of lively teenager Jane Armstrong, dragged on the tour by her parents, Celia studies her fellow travelers and waits for the unknown. Jimmy and Paula are up to something, but even Celia doesn't guess that it might lead to kidnap and murder.« less