Heather Webber – Trouble in Spades

The second book in the Nina Quinn series, published April 26, 2005.
Genre: cozy mystery
Cover: fun



Landscaping is Nina Quinn's business, but trouble seems to be her middle name. Saddled with a recently expelled, faithless local-cop husband, a teenaged terror of a stepson, and the yappiest, most unhousebreakable Chihuahua in captivity, Nina needs a respite -- and the backyard makeover she's undertaking for her sister Maria and Nate, Maria's fiancé, may do the trick.
But, of course, Nate vanishes mysteriously, and Nina's gardening magic inadvertently turns up a corpse. And with a thief on the prowl who's preying on the neighborhood elderly, a suspicious Pandora's Box of a package arriving on her doorstep, and yet another body inconveniently turning up, Nina's going to have to dig into her community's dirtiest little secrets to regain her peace and sanity -- if she can manage to stay alive long enough to enjoy it.


After starting to read some books that really did not appeal to me, I just had to pick up a book I knew I would enjoy. So, I decided it was cozy mystery time, and this time an author I already love to read.

Nina Quinn’s life is extremely busy at the moment, her landscaping business has a major undertaking with her sister’s garden, a present from her father-in-law-to-be, and Nina cannot possible get out from being the matron of honor. The dress her sister has picked for her is extremely horrible, and Nina refuses to wear it. Even her mother cannot guilt her into it this time. But then the groom goes missing, is he having an affair with his new female boss, or is something more sinister happening?
Nina has to console her sister, deal with a tiny leaking Chihuahua, her almost ex-husband who seems to be sorry and wants her back but is still living with the woman he cheated on Nina with, and doing her job. Doing her job means working for her sister Maria’s boss, as a special favor for her sister, while she really doesn’t have time for it. But if the wedding is off, will she get paid for the landscaping job? She has contracted a lot of the work out, and those people need to be paid too.

Before he went missing, Nate sent a package to Nina to keep safe for him, and she really should not open it. But after more than a day, she cannot control herself anymore. And the inside is really shocking, and she needs her almost ex-husband Kevin to deal with this. He is a homicide inspector after all.

Nina’s neighbourhood is plagued with break-inns, although nothing valuable goes missing. But when one old lady dies of a heart-attack from an encounter with the burglar, it has gone too far. The neighborhood will have to organize a watch system, and Nina’s stepson Riley loves to be a part of it. Or is that just an excuse to meet up with his secret girlfriend?


A very entertaining read, I like Nina more and more. I don’t know why she puts up with her sister Maria, as she is a gorgeous totally selfsentric egoist. Must be real sisterly love after all. I like the people Nina works with, and her cousin Ana. The rest of her family, not so sure about them yet, although they do make for a great story. Let’s say I am glad they are not my family.

There really are vibes that Kevin wants to come back home to Nina, but well, he really should stop living with his girlfriend first. And not go from her bed into Nina’s. So I am glad that Nina is choosing for Bobby/Robert, her stepson’s vice-principal, who is not married after all, just wearing a ring for different reasons.

The mystery was a really good one. I have to admit, I did figure out the why pretty soon, as to why Nate went missing because of what he discovered, but not the who did what. The ending did manage to surprise me.

I am glad I have the next three books on my shelves, and will buy the missing two soon, if they are out in paperback.

9 stars.





The book is sadly out of print, so I am happy that I do have this one, but you can buy the ebook at Amazon: here

© 2014 Reviews by Aurian