Rebecca Rothenberg died in 1998, leaving 3 wonderful mysteries featuring plant pathologist Claire Sharples, and one unfinished manuscript. I read the three books many years ago and then learned there would be no more, so I'm very glad that her agent was able to bring together all the elements and have Taffy Cannon finish this book. It was published back in 2001 but I didn't learn about it until a couple years ago and it took me awhile to get around to getting a copy. Set in the decidedly unglamorous agricultural fields of California's San Joaquin Valley, Claire is a botanist working for an agricultural research center. She's looking at brown rot in a peach orchard when a farm dog digs up a skeleton. Claire has an uneasy feeling that a new acquaintance, an elderly woman who used to be a country-western singer, knows the identity of the skeleton. But the woman dies before Claire can talk to her again.
This book is just as good in sense of place, characterization, and pacing as the others and it stands alone just fine. The details of life in the Valley are seamlessly woven into the plot. Claire is a fully-realized character - you can see her life, she's not just there to solve the puzzle presented by the author. This is probably a minor spoiler but there isn't a lot of suspense as far as "who done it", it's more of a "how can they prove it" kind of mystery. I think the ending was a little over the top, but not outrageously so. The series wraps up at a nice spot while still giving the impression that life goes on for the characters.

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