Scarlet Scandals — Carol Budd

She's fabulously rich. He's a high society gardener. They're about to discover passion--and danger--in their own backyard. Georgette Richards lived almost peacefully on Scarlet Street, San Francisco's exclusive enclave for the very rich and rather eccentric--until the murder of her neighbor Hangtown Harry. It didn't help that there was a favulously handsome new gardener living right next door--or that he chose the night of the murder to collapse on her priceless Oriental rug with a tranquilizer dart in his back. Of course she was more than happy to save the mysterious Adam Lawrence. Though it was a little disconcerting when he and his gorgeous body, expensive loafers and total ignorance about gardening were carted off by the police as a prime suspect.
Now Georgette's got no choice but to find the real murderer--preferable before her stuffy father finds out she's involved. But there's more to the colorful denizens of Scarlet Street than sjocks the eye, and she's heading stright for the center of a feud involving poisoned punch, foul foibles and lethal liaisons. Luckily, Adam has more on his mind than a murder he didn't commit...and more than a passing attraction for his vivacious rescuer...