Gardening and murder, who needs more? Loved it!! Pru and her husband are such a lovely and real couple. Can hardly wait to read more by this author

Pru is asked to come to the Cotswalds to help restore a historic garden that has fallen into disrepair. She and Christopher look forward to the getaway – until Pru discovers a body in the garden. Because the local police force is seriously understaffed, Christopher is called on to lead the investigation, but this time, he welcomes Pru's assistance.

One of the things I like most about this series is that, despite their 'newlywed' status, Pru and Michael aren't 20-somethings just starting out in life. They're decades past that, and their life experience and maturity show in the way they go about their daily lives and their investigations. Despite all of the plant-specific gardening talk in the story, I enjoyed this book as much as the previous entries in the series. I liked the characters and the way they interacted with one another, although some of them were hard to figure out, as was the identity of the killer. I look forward to the next book in this series.

What better to read in October but a cozy mystery! This series, A Potting Shed Mystery, is one of my fav’s due to it takes place in the UK, the heroine is in her 50’s [like me], and the books are rich with places, facts and an actual storyline to wrap yourself up in.

For those of you who have not read this series, Pru Parke is a historical gardener from the states who now lives in England with her law enforcement husband, DCI Christopher Pearce. In this newest edition we start out in the same pub where in the first book, The Garden Plot, they didn’t quite hit it off, yet now reminisce on their happy marriage. This is something I enjoy about these cozy mysteries– getting wrapped up with the characters as if they are my friends and I get to hear all about the adventures they have. In this case, the reader gets to re-live some of this couples’ ‘firsts’ as if one is looking back on their own courting with their spouse. Wingate does a wonderful job hooking the readers in to Pru and Christopher’s relationship and the rich British history. If you’re a plant person, you’ll find yourself wishing you could visit some of the lush gardens in the series; and as I’m in Texas, some of the cooler weather!

This time around Best-Laid Plants revolves around a small village with a historical manse with an immense garden. While the owner and villagers are quirky, they’re likable and intricate to the story. Also, I’m happy to say that DCI Pearse is more like the self-confident police officer I like, as there were a few books I wondered what happened to his personality. Pru has grown in her sleuthing prowess; while she started out a bit over the top, she’s now grown to a proper copper’s wife who thinks things through vs rushing in without thought while still keeping with her original likable persona.

Overall, I recommend getting a pint, some crisps or chips, your favorite plush chair or recliner, and settle in for friendly evening with two of my favorite characters.

Best-Laid Plants is the sixth book in the Potting Shed Mystery series. This is a wonderfully written cozy mystery. Even though this is part of a series, this is a standalone with no cliffhanger. I really enjoyed this book and had a hard time putting it down. There is some violence, this is a cozy mystery after all.

The book blurb adequately describes the storyline so I'm not going to repeat all of that info here. The author did a great job of explaining about the Arts and Crafts garden as well as the plants in it. There is a lot of history between characters in the storyline that keep you guessing what twists and turns will be revealed next. It definitely kept me reading.

I look forward to reading more of Marty Wingate's books. I received copy of this book from NetGalley and chose to leave a review for other readers.

I got a free copy of this book through Net Galley in exchange for a free review.

I really enjoyed this one! Pru and Christopher are a lovely married couple. They love each other, but it doesn't have to be over emphasized. I love cozy mysteries, but don't really like too much romance. This book had the right mix.

There were several characters that I didn't like at first. I warmed up to them and found this to be a strength in the book. The town is full of quirky people that really made me fall in love with it. A pet fox, a life coach that makes weird jelly, a B&B with odd wiring and an owner that can't cook are just a few.

I am not a gardener at all, but the plants and garden discussions did not distract from the story as a whole. I got a good idea of what the gardens looked like and the particularly lovely spots. However for those who enjoy gardening, I'm sure you will get a more vivid picture.

I figured out who the murder was a little over halfway through. It was not obvious at first, but there were enough clues to figure it out before Pru. Again a good mix.

There is enough mystery and enough romance and enough quirks and enough clues to make for a really enjoyable book.

I read the uncorrected proof copy of Marty Wingate's Best Laid Plants, and didn't want it to end. This is another cozy mystery I couldn't put down. Not only did Best Laid Plants have a good mystery, it had provided a treasure trove of both common plant names and their botanical names. While I usually highlight grammatical and punctuation errors in books I review, I found myself highlighting plant names and interesting tidbits about the plants.
 
Set in England, Pru Parke, gardener extraordinaire, is hired to refurbish the famous gardens at Glebe House in the Cotswolds. The elderly magistrate, Batsford Bede, is murdered, and soon almost everyone around him is a suspect. Someone wants to buy a large wildflower meadow and develop it with estate-sized homes. What the culprit doesn't know is that there is a covenant on the land, and it can never be developed, no matter who owns it. Why would someone kill this old man who is near death already? It's a great mystery with a lot of people looking guilty. I do wish the police had informed the person arrested about the covenant -- the murder, the blackmail, the intrigue were all for nothing.
  
There were a lot of British English words used that this American English speaker did not understand. Some of them were self-explanatory in context, but some were not. Because Pru was a Texan living in England, she could have found a way to explain some the "English" words she used.
 
What Makes This Book Reviewer Grumpy?
 
For an uncorrected proof copy, this is not bad at all. I'm impressed! The only errors I found were:
using "spoonfuls" instead of "spoonful", when "Pru watched as Coral dumped heaping spoonfuls..." (Loc 622);
using of "that" instead of "who" , when the narrator said, "Of the other two people that had lined up at the police..." (Loc 1485);
and a split infinitive, when the narrator said, "...they would not be able to blithely leave behind a..." Look for me online as The Grumpy Book Reviewer.

Best-Laid Plants by Marty Wingate is a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable entry into her Potting Shed Mystery series, which features professional gardener Pru Parke. Marty Wingate calls on her own expertise in the gardening field to add depth and color to the book with each chapter prefaced by an excerpt from the journals of the fictional Batsford Bede, whose expansive gardens at Glebe House Pru has been hired to restore to their former glory. These excerpts not only foreshadow some part of the chapter but offer enlightenment to the art of building a garden or information about a particular plant. I enjoyed and appreciated these snippets very much. 

After a long absence, Coral Summersun has returned to Glebe House, located in the Cotswolds, to care for the aging and ailing Batsford Bede and it is she who hires Pru to restore the gardens. Bede is murdered before Pru is able to confer with him, but fortunately Pru has been given full access to his writings, including the three logs he kept during the garden’s creation. These journals feature insights not only into garden design and plant selection but into life at Glebe House during those years when he lived there with Constance Summersun (long deceased) and her daughter, Coral.

This book is a throwback to the classic cozy, filled with often eccentric or colorful characters, some of whom are clearly suspects, others filling different roles. Coral is both annoying (sometimes too much so) and sympathetic. . While I was greatly entertained by the book, I did feel that some of the “color” was a bit overdone. Mrs. Draycott and her unusual bed and breakfast being cases in point. I appreciate the warm relationship between Pru and her husband Christoper Pearse. 

There are plenty of red herrings to keep the reader guessing and to muddy the waters.  I strongly and accurately suspected who the murderer was, though couldn’t say why. That didn’t matter in the least when it came to my enjoyment of the book. 

I highly recommend this entertaining read, especially for those who enjoy cozy mysteries. Four stars for mystery lovers, four and a half stars for gardeners who love mysteries. 

I was given a free copy of this book by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I was not compensated nor was I required to write a positive review. The opinions stated are solely my own.

Garden expert Pru Parke, her husband D.I. Christopher Pearse as her guest, is invited to investigate restoring a historic garden and accept.
The body in the garden was unexpected, but Christopher was asked to investigate.
This tale takes you on a journey between past and present and presents the characters as real people with good and bad qualities and shows how easily things could be misunderstood or slanted to lead one to a wrong conclusion.
Fun and craftily woven.
I requested and received a NetGalley ARC.

Oh this is a wonderful series- but you don't need to have read the others to enjoy this one! Pru, a demon gardener, and Christopher, a retired DCI, are finally on vacation in the Cotswolds when Pru finds the body of another garden designer. Yes, there are secrets in this man's past and yes Pru and Christopher will ferret out the murderer but along the way, there's just wonderful details about gardens. I loved the Cotswolds setting too. The nice thing about this series is that while it's a cozy, it's never twee, it moves around so that all the murders aren't in the same small town, and I always learn something about plants. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For sure read this if you've read the series. If you haven't read the series, try this one for a great, funny, character in Pru who has a wonderful relationship with Christopher- and they're a terrific crime solving couple. Great fun.

This is a great series about an American landscaper who lives in England and restores historic gardens. Book 4 in the Potting Shed Mysteries Pru and her husband Christopher are invited to the Cotswolds to help restore a once thriving garden. She finds the owner dead in the garden and his heir the main suspect. Since Christopher is a Chief Inspector he is put in charge of the investigation. As always a great mystery and an abundance of botanical information.

Clever title. Well developed and diverse characters. The rural English countryside. The epitome of a successful cozy mystery.

Although it got off to a slow start, about halfway in, the action raced along. I could barely keep up or keep away from the sofa and my reading spot.

The one thing I really disliked about the book was that it ended. More, please!

Best-Laid Plants is the sixth book in The Potting Shed Mysteries series.

I really enjoy reading The Potting Shed series. They are always well-told stories with interesting and believable character. Most all the characters are middle-aged and not necessarily set in their ways, but are mature and more established and aware of life. I enjoy reading series where you can learn something new and with this series being on an e-reader it is an easy click on the name of a plant and the e-reader will give you a description and help understand how it is being used in the book.

Pru Parke receives a letter asking her to come to Glebe House to view the Arts and Crafts garden. The garden has been neglected for the past ten years or so and will require extensive work to bring it back to what it once was. The writer of the letter, Coral Summersun, whose mother helped Batsford Bede design and plant the garden.

A couple days after arriving Pru notices that the French doors to Bede’s room are open and decides to go in and introduce herself. But she finds the room empty and then hears noises in the garden and proceeds to find the lifeless body of Bede under a garden statue. When her husband, Christopher, arrives she points out that the statue is not touching Bede so evidently it was not an accident and somebody had killed him and made it appear as an accident.

Glebe House is located near a small the police department is understaffed and gladly accept Christopher’s, a former DCI, offer to head the investigation. Pru is somewhat surprised when Christopher to help him with the investigation. When strolling through the garden Pru finds a clue that it was a case of murder and they begin to look to those close to Bede to determine who would have the most to gain.

Once they, yes Christopher asks for Pru’s help, start to investigate they soon find that Coral may not be the one to inherit so it opens the field of possible suspects to some of the friends and neighbors.

Wingate always provides the reader with a well-plotted story with an interesting cast of characters and Best-Laid Plants is no exception. The secondary character that I really enjoyed was Mrs. Draycott who owns the B&B where Pru and Christopher. Getting on up in years she tries so hard to be accommodating but falls a little bit short. Her meals are barely edible but everyone endures through them. I’m no gardener, as Pru is, but I do enjoy reading about the various plants that Wingate always adds to the story.

I will definitely be watching for the book in this informative series.

I very much enjoyed this cosy mystery set in the English countryside. I have met Pru Parke and her husband chief detective inspector Christopher Pearse in previous books by Marty Wingate and feel like I met up with old friends.. The vivid descriptions of the overgrown craftsmen style garden the Pru has been asked to consult on painted such a clear picture in my head. Yes, there was a murder in the garden that Christopher, and by default Pru, have to solve for me the familiar characters and the gardens are the highlight.

This British cozy series features gardener Pru Parke and her husband Inspector Christopher Pearse, a former Scotland Yard detective. The series focuses on the various gardening projects on which Pru works, which have a way of leading Pru and Christopher into being involved in a murder investigation. In "Best-Laid Plants", Pru is consulting on a short-term project and she and Christopher take advantage of what should have been a relaxing break in the Cotswolds. However, the trip is nothing like what they expected. The bed and breakfast in which they're staying has seen better days and before Pru can meet the person who originally planted the garden she is to work on, he is killed. There is no shortage of suspects and the couple is determined to stick with this investigation to make sure justice is served.

This is a charming series and Pru and Christopher make a likeable couple, whether they're sharing a meal or investigating a crime. The author includes a wealth of gardening information that is obviously connected to Pru's career, but is also related to the mystery itself. The vivid descriptions really transport you to a beautiful English garden. The mystery surrounding the victim and his last will and testament is entertaining. There are quite a few people acting suspiciously who have a possible motive and unfortunately for the reader, the same traits that make them likely suspects, also make them unlikable suspects. Pru is as clever as always and I enjoyed her interactions with the victim's scattered daughter, Coral, and Pru's calming influence on her. Pru and Christopher are as likable as ever and I enjoy the book even though some of the irritating side-characters take away from the story. The book ends on a high note with some unexpected romance for two unexpected characters.

I received this book from NetGalley through the courtesy of Alibi. The book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.

Marty Wingate does it again with another great adventure with Pru and Christopher They can never say their live are boring or without adventure even when they are suppose to be on a holiday. Trust the plants and what they might be trying to tell you they never lie. In this adventure you will meet characters that you have meet before such as Jo, Lucy, and new characters, such as Coral, Dr Cherry, Cyn and Mrs Draycott. Sometimes things aren't what they seem and who we were in our past doesn't necessary mean that is who we are in the present If you are looking for adventure suspense and mystery and have a interest of plants this book is for you.

A very good mystery told in surprising ways. The plot twists keep the reader teased into keep reading! Loved the characters, the story, and the whole book! A great one!

Pru Parke is a new character for me and I was very entertained with the way the author comes across. I enjoyed the descriptions of the gardens, characters in the books and the great cooking scenes.

I look forward to books in this series and by the author. I love reading my cozies on a rainy day.

Pru Parke and her husband, former Detective Inspector Christopher Pearse, have returned to the Cotswolds after Pru is asked to help return a very well-known Arts & Crafts garden back to its former glory.. The garden's elderly owner and designer, Batsford Bede, is unwell and before Pru can even meet him he's found murdered in one of his gardens! Red herrings abound in this well-crafted cozy. Eccentric characters, suspects and motives are everywhere, and although I had an inkling who the murderer might be it wasn't confirmed until the end when Pru realized it herself. That's one of the things that Ms. Wingate does best - keeps the reader guessing right up until the end! I love the Potting Shed mysteries, and would recommend this book, and the previous 5 books in the series, to anyone looking for a pleasant mystery to enjoy. Best-Laid Plants by author Marty Wingate is a true cozy in every sense of the word! A+

I am always happy when a new Potting Shed Mystery comes out, and Best-Laid Plants didn't disappoint. It's not just that the books in this series are neatly plotted, with subtle clues planted (hehe) inconspicuously here and there. It's also that they are a total escape. Although I don't like to garden, there is something so inviting about the mysteries that Pru finds herself involved in. The atmosphere of grand old British estates combined with thoroughly modern crimes and a diverse group of interesting people pulls me in. Pru and her detective husband Christopher are so warm and real. Not perfect, but totally relatable. I have been reading (or starting) lots of books lately where I just want to slap the characters, they're so annoying. But here, in Best-Laid Plants, it's only the killer I want caught. This charming mystery was a bit melancholy, revealing missed chances and unnecessary heartbreaks. But it's also a celebration of life, love, beautiful plants, and justice. I love reading about a main character who's smart but not painfully witty, and I love books where the criminal is caught and wrongs of all kinds are righted in one way or another. Bring on Book #7!

I enjoy this series by Marty Wingate. Back with Pru & Christopher, who set off for Pru to look at a grand gardening job. Once there, mystery strikes, & unfortunately, the older gentleman who owned the property is murdered. I found that with this story, there seemed to be less gardening & more "socializing" & sleuthing. I did not know who the murderer was until it was almost revealed. An enjoyable, quick read. I do feel the story can hold it's own as a stand alone book, although the series is enjoyable too!