11 Sep Seeds of Murder by Rosie Sandler
A blooming good cosy crime mystery!
****
#Blogtour
A new cosy crime detective series is always good news, and I’m delighted to be in on the very first book featuring gardener-cum-amateur sleuth Steph Williams, whose adventures promise to grow ever more wild and wonderful.
A professional gardener, newly divorced from husband Ben, Steph arrives at the privileged gated community of Beaulieu Heights to take over the gardens of the rich residents who live in the various mansions scattered around the estate.
With her lovable dog, Mouse, she settles in to her work, but finds the gardens easier to attend to than her employers and their staff (yes, these people have butlers) who are invariably either keeping secrets – or spilling them in Steph’s ears.
Ideas are planted in Steph’s head
There’s Mimi Purdue and her daughter Lucy at The Chimneys. What happened to Mimi’s young son Alfie? How did he die?
Mrs Patel at Villa Splendida warns Steph off trying to find out any more. But why is she so keen to set up CTV at her home? Young Apple Singer-Pryce at La Jolla is more forthcoming, spilling her woes to Steph, who really doesn’t want to hear them! But she can’t let Apple be bullied by Adam Querishi at The Towers – he seems like a wrong ‘un.
In fact, the only person Steph really warms to is Fiona Penwarren at The Mount, a friendly but also troubled soul.
Soon Steph’s head is spinning with all that is going on at Beaulieu Heights.
Then things take a sinister turn, with priceless garden ornaments going missing, threatening letters arriving and even Mouse in danger.
And if Steph doesn’t get to the bottom of what is going on, she could soon be out of a job!
Seeds are sown …
This is cosy crime at its best. Apart from the mystery of young Alfie’s sad demise, the case Steph has to solve don’t involve dead bodies. But in typical cosy crime style, there is a raft of eccentric characters to keep the intrigue going, and lots of humour in the narrative, along with an ever present scent of danger to keep you holding your breath.
The pace is slow in the first half, allowing the reader to get to know the characters, and to enjoy the humour, then picks up in the second half, to race almost too quickly towards the end.
The case is solved, but seeds are sown for the next mystery, as Steph prepares to move on – hopefully with a large jar of coffee as she can’t seem to live without it!
Meanwhile, she is still hunting down her own personal mystery. Will she ever track down her birth parents? Will Ben finally leave her alone?
It’s all set up nicely for the next book. Can’t wait for this one to take root and bloom in the bookshops!
But before I go, I must give Mouse a special mention – he’s just the best fictional dog ever and plays an integral part in the story. He needs a series of his own, too.
Seeds of Murder by Rosie Sandler is published by Embla in paperback and ebook
About the Author
Rosie Sandler is the author of The Gardener Mysteries “cosy” crime series for adults and co-author of the Agatha Oddly children’s crime series. She is also a poet and short story writer.
Follow her on X (Twitter) @RosieSandler
Thanks to Tracy of Compulsive Readers for inviting me along on this tour, and to publishers EmblaBooks for an advance copy of this book. Catch up with the rest of the blogtour through the links on the poster.
More Reviews of Intriguing Crime Books
Murder Most Royal by S.J. Bennett
No Comments