A cozy and lighthearted read that was maybe just a little too "twee." However, I loved all the food and the fairy garden scenes, and the descriptions of the fairies and everyone's pets! Thank you, Netgalley, for this arc.

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N on June 30, 2020

A Sprinkling of Murder is the first book in a new series by Daryl Wood Gerber's A Fairy Garden Mystery Series. I have read several of this authors books in other series, and really enjoyed her writing style. This is a cozy mystery with a touch of a paranormal twist, I enjoyed getting to know Courtney, and Fiona both. I believe after reading this book I would enjoy having a fairy garden. I would recommend this book to others that enjoy cozy mysteries.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Kensington Publishing and this is my fair and honest review.

This was absolutely adorable! Such a good opener to a series, and I absolutely can not wait until Daryl Gerber releases more of this series.

An intriguing new cozy mystery series delights with fairy gardens including real fairies, an interesting and intelligent main character and of course a murder with a side of mayhem! I love the main character! An intelligent woman who owns her own shop and uses excellent deductive reasoning sprinkled with a dose of fairy dust for luck! The author has woven an interesting town that would be on my vacation list in a heartbeat if it really existed and wrapped it into a plot that both entertains and intrigues! I am quite excited to see where the author takes the characters she has created in the next book!

A Sprinkling of Murder by Daryl Wood Gerber is the first book in the new cozy A Fairy Garden Mystery series. While this new series falls solidly into the cozy mystery genre it does have a bit of a paranormal twist with the main character interacting with faeries. Also, as with most cozies the book does have a fully solved mystery within so it can be read as a standalone without worry of a huge cliffhanger.

As a child Courtney Kelly loved faeries and could see and interact with them until the age of ten when Courtney lost her mother. Now as an adult though Courtney has rediscovered the ability when she took over her father’s landscaping business in the small town of Carmel, California.

Courtney has been making a success running the business as a fairy garden business and teashop. Courtney teaches garden design with all things faerie and has plans of a book club for the teashop. However, all the success is at risk when Courtney finds the body of a neighboring business owner right on her property.

Having the touch of paranormal involved in this new series I couldn’t help but be curious if it would be another of those overly quirky reads I would love. Unfortunately as much as this one had a solid mystery which I enjoyed I also didn’t find myself really connecting with these new characters just yet as it seemed there was quite a bit going on to get to know for a first book. For me this one ended at three stars but it does have potential to grow on me in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

A Fairy Garden Mystery is a great start to a new cozy series with an unique twist. This story follows Courtney Kelly, owner of Open Your Imagination. Her fairy garden and tea shop is truly an enchanted setting. Courtney teaches customers how to create their own miniature gardens to help attract fairies. Yes, those cute, tiny, slightly mischievous, winged mythical beings. One of the main characters just so happens to be such. Fiona, is Courtney’s fairy and side kick who helps her solve quite a mystery when a fellow business owner is found murdered in the shop.

I’m very familiar with the figurines, plants and containers needed to create a fairy garden because I’ve enjoyed helping my daughter make many throughout her childhood. She still believes she saw one once upon a time. I loved all the descriptions as Courtney taught classes or stocked her shop with useful items. The tea chatter was an added bonus too. It’s definitely a shop I would love to get lost in.

Fiona was a delightful surprise. I loved her storyline and look forward to seeing what she needs to do in order to earn her adult wings and the respect of the Queen fairy. She brought a lot of humor to the story. I especially loved when she would share her opinion while nonbelievers were around making it awkward for Courtney to react.

The mystery was fantastic and perfectly paced. There were so many believable suspects. It took me quite some time to narrow my list down and I was still a tad shocked by the outcome.

Brady makes an adorable love interest and I’m rather intrigued by this newspaper reporter who is hiding from her past. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the sequel, A Glimmer of a Clue.

The book included quite a few sweet and savory recipes too!!

I believe in Fairies. I believe in Magic. But I needed Fiona, the resident fairy in-training, to sprinkle fairy dust all over me to believe in this story. I stepped into “Open Your Imagination” fairy garden and tea shop with the belief of a child, with my eyes turned to the sky and my imagination wide open. It didn’t work.

Trying desperately to suspend all cynicism while the protagonist muddled through a murder investigation and watching her unbelievable novice sleuthing was nothing short of “are you kidding me?” I had difficulty finding anything resembling reality in the murder investigation by any of the players. The ever-present, unimportant and distracting descriptions of tea, cookies, cakes, sneakers, and coveralls was an eye roll and a half. Too many characters, too much description, too much supposing and too little believable. The recipes however were a big happy surprise.

I am obviously in the minority in my opinion and the fault probably lies with my expectations. I do want to thank NetGalley and Kensington for a copy.

Everything I’ve read by this author has been great. I’ve yet to read a series that i dont like. I really enjoyed this one as well. It was a quick light read and I will look for more in this series.

A Sprinkling of Murder is the first book in the new 'A Fairy Garden Mystery' series written by Daryl Wood Gerber. I liked the very original idea of a book with fairies.

The plot was well thought out and I enjoyed the characters except for one thing that I couldn’t get my head around. It had to with a character who did something when younger that had been kept secret from that point on. Two other people know about this and have agreed to never tell. But the person with the secret does something that makes one of the two people mad. Who in the world would be that stupid if they really didn’t want anything to come to light? Most people would not have continued to keep quiet, after what the person with the secret did to them. I phrased that in a way that hopefully won’t make this a spoiler.

Overall this was a good book, but while the ending wrapped up the mystery there were aspects of the book that didn’t work for me.

Cozy readers have met a lot of sidekicks but this is the first time there's been a fairy! Yes, a fairy! Don't worry- it's not woohoo and it really works. Courtney has a new teashop/fairy garden business in Carmel (love Carmel!). She also has a resident Fairy- Fiona. Fiona is trying to get her wings by helping and now, when Mick Watkins, who owns a dog grooming business next to Courtney's place, I murdered and she's a suspect, Fiona flies into action! These two (and Pixie the cat) are wonderful characters. You know there's more than one person who had problems with Mick; Gerber does a nice job with the twists. This is whimsical but never goes overboard. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I enjoyed this more than I expected and am now looking forward to the next one.

Courtney Kelly owns Open Your Imagination, a shop where she makes fairy gardens and teaches people how to build them. Meeting a fairy brings good fortune to those who do with the condition that only an individual who believes fairies are real sees fairies. In this new series from Daryl Wood Gerber, Courtney teams up with Fiona, a fairy-in-training, to solve the mystery of who murdered Mick Watkins.

Mick turns up dead in the middle of Courtney’s shop after leaving a note for his wife that he intends to find a fairy at Courtney’s place. Mick is not well-liked, and due to a few observed arguments, there are plenty of suspects. Ms. Gerber pens a charming mystery populated with engaging, sometimes whimsical characters along with red herrings, all delivered at a delightful pace.

A Sprinkling of Murder is the first book in Daryl Wood Gerber's A Fairy Garden Mystery series. The protagonist, Courtney Kelly, has opened a fairy garden business and tea shop called Open Your Imagination. When she finds a fellow business owner dead in her shop, she immediately becomes one of the main suspects. With the help of her fairy friend, Fiona, she is determined to clear her name and find the real culprit.

I thought this was an enchanting and well-written read. I enjoyed the rich descriptions of the charming small town of Carmel, California, and the fairy gardens. Fiona was my favorite character. I loved the friendship between her and Courtney and thought they made a great sleuthing team. Courtney was a likable main character. She was friendly, determined, and smart in her sleuthing. I look forward to seeing what's in store for her business and how the relationships in her life develop. I would also like to learn more about Fiona's world. The mystery has plenty of twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seats. I was unable to figure out the culprit's identity until the reveal.
Overall, I loved this book and thought it was a wonderful start to a new series. I look forward to the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As a young girl, Courtney loved, believed in, and saw fairies, thanks to her mother's creative influence. But when her mother died, she lost all that, until she open her fairy garden store, where she teaches garden design and sells everything necessary to build your own fairy garden. When the owner of a nearby shop is found dead in her patio garden, she becomes the primary suspect. To save her business and clear her name, she enlists the help of some unlikely sources, who turn up information that some of her neighbors would rather keep quiet about.

This is the first book in a new series by an author I've heard a lot of good things about from other readers. I've enjoyed the books in her French bistro series, and hope that hasn't ended. The setting of this book, Carmel, California, is ideal for the type of business featured, and I would love to visit some of the shops mentioned in this story, as well as spend time with most of the characters. Although I understand that fairies are an important part of the book, all of the talk about them was almost too over the top for me. The mystery itself was a good one, with my list of suspects changing as I read more of the book. I was surprised but not shocked when the killer's identity and motive were revealed. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I want to make a fairy garden. This is such a good start to this series and I can't wait to see where it goes. Courtney has left her father's business to open her own. there are those who think she is crazy for believing in fairies, but she doesn't care. When she finds a neighbor in her store, dead, she becomes one of the suspects. There are plenty of suspects and she is trying hard to clear her name. It is a good mystery and I had a hard time guessing the killer.

This author is new to me, and I am always excited to find a new author. I’ve been into paranormal cozy mysteries lately, and this one intrigued me. I dived in, and the first thing I saw was a big list of characters. Hmm, that didn’t excite me as I don’t like a lot of characters to keep track of like in high fantasy. However, I didn’t let that deter me. It didn’t take long for me to be engaged in the book, and I enjoyed the ride. The author does tend to go into great detail with some things which I don’t like, but that is a personal preference. The mystery was interesting, and I liked the way it ended. Oh, and it really wasn’t that hard to keep track of all the characters, so I didn’t need to be alarmed at the beginning. This was a well-written, if very detailed, cozy. I’ll definitely be reading more. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

A wonderful new series by Daryl. A fairy garden shop where if you believe you build a garden and you may see fairies. There's a murder to be solved and delicious food that will keep you reading. Lots of twists to unravel, but enjoyable.

Courtney owns a Fairy Garden business. She has a fairy, Fiona, that stays with her and a cat named Pixie. Mick, the owner of the business across the courtyard, is murdered on the patio of Courtney’s business. Detective Summers suspects Courtney and a number of others.
Courtney goes looking for answers to free herself and to do her civic duty as she calls it.
The answer to this mystery is more complicated than expected. I enjoyed reading this story which is set in Carmel, California.
The story is fun with a host of characters to get to know. This is the first book in a new series by Daryl Wood Gerber.

Truly a magical mystery! This book made me want to go out and create my own fairy garden! Courtney is a well rounded and lovable character. I cant wait to see what new mysteries she gets into!

This was a super fun, unique cozy mystery.

Courtney used to see fairies when she was little, but she lost the ability as she was growing up. When she finally decided to start her own business away from her father, she found the ability again. When another local business owner is found dead in her shop, Courtney and her fairy friend Fiona help the police to solve the mystery.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It felt super unique. I haven't come across a cozy with fairies yet. And I feel like a lot of the recent portrayals of fairies are more sinister. I liked that these fairies felt more like the Tinkerbell movies. Courtney and her friends are super engaging and were interesting to read about. I liked that Courtney wasn't completely taken over by her attraction to a guy. It was refreshing that she was able to still participate in life without that getting in the way. I did feel like it was odd that when the author was describing some people she used nationalities. She had "Danish," but with characters of color, it was a generic "Asian." That kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

Overall, it was an enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to the next in the series.

*eARC provided in exchange for an honest review*

Fairies. Magic. Mystery. As in so many cozies, everything runs swimmingly until a dead body turns up on the page. Fortunately, author Daryl Wood Gerber has found a winning detective in Courtney. Smart and determined, she’s the perfect sleuth to crack the case. She’s backed up by a quirky cast of secondary characters including a particularly rambunctious fairy, Fiona, and each of them add some spark to an already engaging world.

A fairy garden/tea shop makes for a unique backdrop, and Gerber grabs every bit of whimsy from it that she can. Cute garden scenes crash against a broader murder investigation, though, and the result is a heightened sense of tension. Adorable fairies might be frolicking in a garden, but that doesn’t mean danger isn’t lurking around every corner. Add in numerous suspects, a few red herrings, and some enchanted investigating, and the result is a well-rounded, fun mystery.

Ultimately, Gerber has conjured up an absolutely charming start to a new cozy series.