There's a serpent loose in Nina's garden ...

Nina Colette Ceceri Quinn's business, Taken by Surprise -- a landscaping firm specializing in surprise garden makeovers -- is the only thing in herlife that seems to be thriving. Her marriageto adulterous police detective Kevin Quinn has wilted. Her antisocial stepson Riley is spreading troublearound like pungentmanure. Even her gardening tools are disappearing, including a rather valuable set of hoes.

Worst of all, the delightful old man who firstintroduced her to the joys of horticulture is dead -- and not by natural causes. Something evil has taken root in Nina's Ohio small town, and the local police -- including dearly unbeloved Kev -- are baffled. But it's amazing what a resourceful gardener can dig up when she puts her mind to it -- though, by sticking her hands too deeply into this fetid, fertile soil, Nina might well end up planted beneath her own petunias.