Committing the perfect crime was just the beginning of their problems.
When Paula, Eleanor, Alice and Jean – ages 51 to 71 – plotted to steal the daily cash gate from the Brookfield Fair, they thought they’d split about $125,000. They pulled off the robbery without a hitch, without injuring anyone and without witnesses. But, when they counted the money, they found they had nearly half a million dollars. Worse, fair officials told police only the smaller amount had been stolen.
In a matter of hours, the Garden Club Gang, as they whimsically called themselves, would find themselves in a battle of wits with the local and state police, a determined insurance investigator and the criminals who were using the fair to launder money. Instead of a lark, the four women found themselves in danger, and dependent upon their own resources – and an unexpected ally - to outwit both the law and the crooks determined to find the money and silence those who stole it.
The Garden Club Gang offers four nuanced portraits of interesting women with all-too-credible motives for doing highly unladylike things. If you think it’s a ‘cozy’, then be prepared for a cozy with quite a kick. The characters are memorable, the action is non-stop and the plot twists until the final page.
The Garden Club Gang is Neal Sanders' second mystery. His first, Murder Imperfect, was published in 2010.
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