Garden of Secrets Past: An English Garden Mystery

At the start of Eglin's engaging fifth English Garden mystery (after 2009's The Trial of the Wild Rose), retired botanist Lawrence Kingston receives an unsigned letter requesting a meeting at an address in London's ritzy Mayfair neighborhood. Intrigued, Kingston decides to meet the letter's anonymous author. The address proves to be an exclusive gentlemen's club, where Kingston is astounded to discover that the letter's author is Lord Frances Morley, with whom he had disastrous connections in the past and who owns Sturminster, a country estate with important and historic gardens. Lord Morley needs Kingston's discreet help in solving the murder of a man found three weeks earlier on his property. Unable to resist, Kingston plunges into an investigation that soon puts him and his patron in danger. An intricate plot, colorful characters, and vivid descriptions of locales from London to small villages add up to an entertaining read. (Aug.)