Today, it’s my stop on the Seeds of Murder by Rosie Sandler. Thanks to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers and Embla Books for the gifted ebook to take part.
Roses are red. Violets are blue. All the evidence is pointing to you…
Steph Williams has landed her dream gardening job working for the wealthy, gated community of Beaulieu Heights. With her beloved dog Mouse for company, she’s quite content to be left alone to tackle the weeds and tend the flowers.
There might be one resident who keeps a locked shed to which Steph is forbidden access, and secret feuds she happens to overhear, but it’s none of her business.
That is, until she’s called in front of the neighbourhood committee, accused of blackmailing the residents with notes disclosing their darkest secrets. Now, she’s swapping gardening gloves for a detective’s notebook, with just ten days to clear her name and save her job.
The seeds of suspicion have been planted. But when Steph’s investigation leads her to discover some freshly disturbed earth in the shape of a grave, it becomes a race against time to unearth the true culprit’s identity before it’s too late…
Seeds of Murder is the start of a brand-new gardening murder mystery filled with twists and turns that’ll keep you guessing right until the very end. Fans of S.J. Bennett, J.M. Hall and Richard Coles will be gripped by this new cosy crime series.
A new cosy mystery series and a new author for me. Seeds of Murder by Rosie Sandler just sounded right up my street. The blurb and cover both made me curious enough to want to read it as soon as it landed on my Kindle.
Stephanie has her dream job as a gardener for a gated community. It’s very exclusive and rich. There is a cottage on site that comes with the job, she couldnt ask for more, along with Mouse, her dog. She has 5 gardens to deal with throughout the week, and she is content. Then notes start being received by the residents that threaten to expose their secrets. Suspicion falls on Stephanie, and she is given 10 days to prove it’s not her and keep her job. She knows this is going to be hard as every single resident told her their secrets in confidence. Now she has to get her sleuthing hat on and start digging. Does she have enough time?
Seeds of Murder is a great introduction to the series. Stephanie and Mouse are fabulous characters. I found myself looking forward to picking my Kindle up to see what was in store for Stephanie as she started digging for clues. The pressure she was under was crystal clear. I was by her side all the way. As she begins to unravel the mystery, she has no clue how much danager she could be in
I enjoyed the gardening aspect of the book. Rosie Sandler is obviously a keen gardener and knows her stuff. I was almost fooled into relaxing way too much! The way she marries the gardening with the mystery is great. The twists and turns soon had me on high alert and expecting more, which I got. I couldn’t stop myself trying to work out who was at the root of the lies, blackmail and murder. A thoroughly enjoyable cosy mystery novel.
Author Bio
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. Also a poet and short story writer.
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