An Alien in the Arboretum

An Alien in the Arboretum, a paranormal thriller by Bruce Allsman

For the sake of his wife and daughter, Tom Gardner, a phytologist, moves with his family from the countryside to the city. In the city, he works in a shop that sells bonsai trees, and he also maintains the rooftop garden of his apartment building. The shop's owner is Saito-san, an old Japanese man from Okinawa. A few weeks before Saito-san's death, Tom receives a special gift from his employer, a bonsai tree. Following Saito-san's demise, Tom visits Okinawa to deliver the old man's ashes to his ancestral shrine. While away, a bomb blast at the shop kills his wife and daughter. Unable to cope with his grief, Tom wallows in a state of depression until one day his bonsai tree begins to exhibit something strange. It reveals to him a clue to the bomber's identity. With the help of his neighbor, Diane Goldman, an investigative journalist for a local newspaper and a friend of his teenage daughter, Tom begins to unravel the identity of the bomber.