This is one of Michaels better books however I totally just disliked the main characters, Diana and Mary Jo. They were just rude and bi**chy all the time, especially to Andy. I thought the story would have been better without the attitudes- it wasnt necessary to the story as a whole i dont think. ( )

I enjoyed Vanish with the Rose. It had a gardening theme (roses were the focus, of course) and the main characters were quite likeable. I wanted the characters to solve the mystery and I am glad the romance went the way it did. It is a perfect book for vacation reading -- the right mix of mystery, romance, and paranormal. ( )

I enjoyed the book throughly even the rather silly fourteen page coda which ends in a desire to conserve water. Vanish with the Rose is vintage Barbara Michaels. I just wish she would save some of this writing style for her Elizabeth Peters non de plum as the Michaels book are always so much more deliciously dark, brooding and macabre. I do have to admit to figuring out who done it about seventy pages before the ending as it otherwise would have made no sense to introduce that character into the book. I also wish that more had been done with the hidden stairway but I guess it would have been too much of a distraction from the rose and gardening theme of the book. ( )

I have a favorite I reread every summer or so, a suspense by Barbara Michaels, that takes place during a Virginia spring. It's Vanish With the Rose.

The characters draw me back. This cast of four is outstanding.

It’s set in a rural, rundown mansion being renovated by a lively pair of elderly lottery winners who are offstage most of the book.

Andy, the hapless son of the endearing wife, is my favorite. Tall, gangly, talkative, he lives and bumbles on the page, with a history of saddling his mother and stepfather with “vintage” cars and animals that need a home. That includes Baby, a Saint Bernard trained to protect women. Her MO? Knock them down and recline on them until the danger passes.

Walt is a builder hired to do the work. Tall, muscled, prickly, he’s dragged into a dab of dishonesty by an attractive, cool Philly attorney, and it doesn't sit well.

Diana is searching for her younger brother. Brad worked for the former owner of the house, and disappeared from there. Diana has gained entry by posing as a landscape architect hired to recreate the gardens, especially the rose gardens--and it doesn't sit well. Plus, Diana is, for the first time, flying in the face of her powerful, domineering father to do this.

Fiercely independent Mary Jo has several jobs, including working for Andy’s parents, goes to school, and has an abusive ex-husband who turns up shooting.

Bring them all together in the old Musser mansion, season them with a little attraction, a dash of the paranormal, a spoonful of the history of roses, throw in a short, parallel historical story, and they start looking out for each other. Add a bevy of animals, and another keeper is born.

And every chapter begins with a lovely quote or verse about roses.

Like I said, a keeper.

Sharon K. Garner
Sanctuary, River of Dreams, Lokelani Nights, The Spaniard's Cross ( )