THE PLOT THICKETS

An avid New England gardener digs up the dirt on a local funeral parlor.

Lilly Jayne is an exemplar of active senior living. Well into her 60s, she juggles a staggering number of projects, mostly centered on beautifying her hometown of Goosebush, Massachusetts. Helped by her handsome neighbor Roddy Lyden, she’s heavily invested in a major renovation of Alden Park, and she’s also helping establish a bird sanctuary along Shipyard Lane. When she turns her attention to the overgrown thickets at the Goosebush Town Cemetery, however, Lilly gets a jolt. Not only are the graves badly tended, but some of the plots don’t seem to be where she remembers them. Markers are missing, and newly placed headstones have appeared in what should have been old family plots. When Lilly comes to her own family mausoleum, her surprise turns to alarm. Not only is the garden a mess, but someone’s moved the bench from one side of the tomb to the back wall. Her concern deepens even further when Whitney Dunne-Bradford, the owner of Bradford Funeral Home, is murdered. But her author gives Lilly such a rich and varied social life that it’s hard to generate much forward thrust for her investigation. Like an underpowered rototiller, she plows the same ground over and over with minimal progress. At the end, it’s clear that some kind of scam probably occurred, but whether premeditated malfeasance or sloppy paperwork is to blame is pretty much anyone’s guess.

Mulch ado about nothing.