Falling Backward    by Maryann Weber Order:  USA  Can CreateSpace, 2008 (2008) Softcover    Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth Val Wyckoff's is a garden planner who believes in doing the labor as well as employing the brain power required to create a lovely landscape. Val stars in Maryann Weber's Falling Backward, the second book in the series. Unfortunately Val keeps referring to events in the previous novel, Summerkill, but never once allows the reader to know what happened and what might be relevant to the new book. Action flows nicely, but – ah, the big but – the plot is not totally convincing. I do love the references to the plantings that were mentioned. Val is a take-charge kind of person with a history of being a hard-nose. She is good hearted and cares for those dear to her. A diamond is found in a jewelry box that is dug up on her property - an expensive one. Other people try to get is back, feeling it rightly belongs to them. Nastiness occurs as one would expect. Val handles it well – although the plot isn't quite as successful. A major problem for me was that this book would have fared a lot better had it had a final line edit. Missed words, additional words, and typos all broke the flow of the story. And some of the characters were mere names while others had more history attached to them than was necessary. However, Maryann Weber does have a good ear for dialog and pushes the plot along with it. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews