Murder in Negative Space — Neal Sanders

An internationally acclaimed Russian floral designer is found murdered in a Boston hotel ballroom. Who killed her? And why? Valentina Zhukova is a glamorous, globetrotting floral designer; the “Queen of Negative Space” and “Vladimir Putin's favorite flower arranger”. But in the hours before the opening of the prestigious International Floral Design Alliance conference in Boston, someone stabbed her and then hung her body from a massive floral design. Six weeks after solving the murder of the Executive Director of the New England Botanical Society, Lieutenant Victoria Lee and young, computer-savvy Detective Jason Alvarez are again plunged into a world where flowers and horticulture can be grounds for homicide. They quickly learn that Zhukova was both more and less than the woman she seemed. The proud granddaughter of a World War II hero, she was also an ardent nationalist who toed the Kremlin line, and someone who relished inflicting on those around her. Who killed Zhukova? With an international cast of suspects, Lee and Alvarez �" aided by suburban garden club president Liz Phillips �" find few who knew her will mourn her death. Murder in Negative Space takes you into a world where ‘amateur' designers are deadly serious about their work.