The Gardener's Plot by Deborah J. Benoit (2024)
Overall, a pleasant soothing read. But fans of quirky cozies might find this one bland and a little too connect-the-dots generic. Very skimpy on character development, which I'm assuming the author will continue to flesh out if this is the start of a series.
Here's what I did like. Deborah J. Benoit's love of the art and craft of gardening comes through in almost every page. Her descriptions make the hard work and joy involved in developing a 'green thumb' accessible to readers like me - who think of gardening as unattainable to comprehend, as geometry, chemistry and quantum physics.
I also loved the darkly humorous discovery of the body buried in the community garden, with one foot sticking out.....like something you'd see in one of the more mischievous Alfred Hitchcock TV series episodes. That scene led me to believe that maybe I was in for some kind of oddball black comedy, but the book left me sadly disappointed in that area. There's not a shred of humor in sight anywhere.
The rest of "The Gardener's Plot" was simply okay at best, with amateur gardening sleuth Maggie and best friend Sally deciding to go about Miss Marple-ing the small down in search of the killer. Their constant detecting naturally doesn't sit well with police detective Quinn, leading to countless repetitious warnings for them to knock it off.
There is, however, a well done harrowing showdown with the murderer, but with characters this thinly drawn, it's hard to work up any genuine excitement about it.
I suspect cozy lovers won't want to miss this, but if Maggie and Sally's mystery-solving careers continue, there's some huge room for improvements here.
3 stars (***). Not the sharpest tool in the cozy shed......
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