Autumn & Halloween have come to Goosebush, Mass. & the Garden Squad have their work cut out for them planning fall festivals, the towns 400th anniversary, a 10K run & a haunted house on Lilly’s front yard. Not to mention deal with Tyler Crane, a reporter who’s new to town & threatening to reveal town members secrets. When Tyler is found dead along the track minutes before the race is to begin, the Garden Squad will have to come together again to solve the mystery.


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I enjoyed the book very much. I’ve spent the last week reading the first two books in the series to get to this one & it’s been such a pleasure being caught up in such a charming world. I love all the Garden Squad members & the town of Goosebush. The author has created a wonderful world to read about & the mysteries are well thought out & never too easy to solve. This has quickly become a favourite series of mine to read. All of the characters that make up the Garden Squad are positive, funny, hardworking individuals & it makes for pleasant reading. One of the things the author really pulls off is being informative & well researched in all the topics she’s covering. I feel entertained & informed all at the same time! If you want to love characters & get lost in a world that feels so real, this is a great series to read. The mysteries are very well handled as well & it’s not too easy to guess the solution. I’m definitely going to continue reading the series in the future.


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A big thanks to Netgalley & Kensington Books for this ARC I’m exchange for a review.

"Digging Up the Remains" by Julia Henry is a very fitting title for a tale about digging deep into the mysteries of the people living in Goosebush and the lengths someone will go to keep their secrets. Set in a small, touristy town among a close-knit community, Lilly and Delia are busy preparing a haunted house on their lawn, and volunteering for the Fall Festival 10K fundraiser and murder was definitely not on the list.

When Tyler Crane is found dead, Lilly and Delia jump at the chance to help the police uncover who did it, despite the fact Tyler was a journalist who had a way of uncovering stories people didn't want to share through unjust methods. As these two women plan for events as a means of bringing the community close together in through celebration, they must also question who had the motive to kill Tyler Crane and which resident of Goosebush is capable of murder.

Henry delivers a fascinating novel about the various ways people tell stories and the lasting impact they have once they are out in the world. Every character in this novel has stories to share, some good and some bad, and many of which they'd like to keep private. Henry creates an incredibly interesting backstory for every person in this novel, which makes the suspect list high but the characters incredibly likable and the stories they have are a huge part of their charm. Henry emphasizes the importance of these stories by contrasting the ways in which Tyler forced people to give him the information he wanted and Lilly, a kind and gentle soul who never rushes to judge a person for their actions and always looks for understanding and love as a way of healing and forgiving.

Tyler, though despicable, was an intriguing character throughout the novel and someone I'd love to have learned about a little more. The fact he went from this great journalist who wrote and shared these amazing stories and gained a huge following, to someone who didn't care about hurting others to make headlines suggests there is so much more to his character. There is a gap between the person he was to the person he became in this story that would've been an interesting tale to read.

Nevertheless, I absolutely adored this story. A murder during Halloween season, events that must go on, and a passion to improve and spread the love for small-town Goosebush. A little murder is just another dose of chaos for the residents of Goosebush.

Highly recommended! Look for this novel, expected to be published on August 25th, 2020.

Thank you to Netgalley and Kensington Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review. I was incredibly delighted to dive into the beautiful and vivid story of Lilly, Delia, and their friends!

I found this book very hard to get in to and even more difficult to follow. An unexpected twist redeemed it for me!

Release Date: August 25th 2020
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Lily and Delia are helping the town plan a festive fall gathering but new comer in town Tyler seems he’ll bent on making everyone his enemy. He tries to manipulate Lily by threatening to post a harmless story but with a “Tyler spin”. When a body mysteriously shows up under a pile of leaves, Lily and Delia and the gang are set to investigate and see it through...no matter what.
The thing I really loved about this book is the @jhauthors created an older set of characters. Lily and her garden squad are all in their 60s but some of the characters are younger. I really love the mix. It also helps that I feel like the book was set in Cape Cod 😉. I highly recommend this book. I can’t wait for more to come out!!

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

#digginguptheremains #gardensquadmystery #bookstagram #bookrecommendations #cozymysteryseries #netgalleyreads

This is another great book in the series. I love the main female character, she is older (than many main characters in the cozy mystery series I read) and wise. I like reading about a character that doesn't make a lot of silly mistakes. The characters around her seem very real. That is the best part of this series, the characters are believable and interesting. This mystery is another good one. I enjoy following the day-to-day activities of the main character. I hope the series has many more books.

Goosebush is one of my favorite places to visit! I'm my opinion this is one of the best cozy series out there. The town and the characters are charming. The storyline is well written and the story just flows. As a bonus there's gardening tips. This can be read as a standalone but the series is so fun you'll want to read them all.

Strong characters and a top notch cozy whodunit make this latest offering in the series a winner!
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Julia Henry has written yet another great cozy mystery in the Garden Squad series! Digging Up the Remains (the third book) is set at Halloween, and when unscrupulous reporter Tyler Crane is found dead smack dab in the middle of the Fall Festival there are suspects aplenty. Did he provoke the wrong person? Uncover a secret he shouldn't have? Lilly and her fellow squad members are in a rush to discover whodunit before anyone else is harmed! A+++

Lilly is working on putting her garden to bed for the winter and Delia is as always researching and teaching. They're also taking part in the town's Fall festival. Lilly goes to clean leaves off a public path being used for a fall 10K race, she and her friends find that a local sleazy reporter has been murdered, then his stories keep posting even though he's gone. Though Lilly feels Bash the sheriff is fully capable of handling the case, she can't help but start to ask questions.
Though there are gardening tips, the books are not overwhelmed by plant and gardening lore, it's just part of the story. I like these books because I like the characters. I like the relationships between the characters and the fact they are growing and developing though out the series. I like small town cozies and though these aren't as humorous as some of the ones I enjoy, the mystery really draws me in.
#netgalley #digginguptheremains

DIGGING UP THE REMAINS is the third book in the Garden Squad Mystery. Julia Henry has created a modern type Jessica Fletcher with her character Lilly Jayne. What's wonderfully unique is that senior citizen Lilly is roommates with Delia, nearly forty years apart in age. It's a friendship that works well. The rest of the cast spans the ages. I can't say I found any ethnic diversity though and to be honest, that may very well reflect some posh suburbs accurately. Henry does include older gay characters which is something audiences are ready for.

In their odd couple relationship, Delia would be the Felix Unger; but Lilly isn't Oscar Madison. Neither of them would be considered messy or unkempt. Delia is a thorough researcher with a knack for organizing data. She's part of the historical society and like, Lilly, frequently ends up volunteering her time to help others. Lilly is the gardening expert. Every plant in her environment is planned carefully. Plus, she loves talking to them. She's busier during her retirement as a widow than she was married with a job.

The overall premise of Digging Up the Remains is about secrets. Family secrets. Personal secrets. Even gardening secrets. There's an excellent examination of how traditional journalism has died in favor of careless, soundbite-driven, high traffic live feeds of the "average" person looking for Likes and fame. Tyler is that kind of opportunist. The once well-respected journalist turned to raking up small town gossip.

Lilly's "secret" that Tyler digs up doesn't seem unusual or scandalous to me at all. It was that she took a few of her families' ashes and put them in a memorial garden in her yard. The rest were scattered. That seems rather normal to me, but the residents of Goosebush, Massachusetts seem to find it newsworthy enough to gawk at Lilly's gate. Being Halloween time, it probably bolstered people's macabre curiosities. There are other secrets that Tyler and others like Delia have discovered that are truly game-changers. Others are deeply personal like a domestic abuse situation, bigamy, and a fatal car wreck.

Though Lilly is the main character, it's Delia who begins and ends the thread about one of the family secrets that could change Goosebush's history. I even had to wonder if Delia's penchant for accuracy, thoroughness, and precision in research was an expression of autism. It's never stated, but would be interesting to add some extra depth to her tireless personality.

This whole premise of a guerilla gardening squad is charming. I have known a couple "yarn-bombers" in my day. This squad goes out in the middle of the night to beautify a place in need. In Digging Up the Remains, the chosen venue is a local business. That's another area that Henry covers exceptionally well. She makes a point of her characters appreciating local pride and having clean and attractive places of business and homes, while mocking the monstrosities of suburban McMansions that seem far too large for their lots. It's totally anti big business. Lilly makes a quip about one of her neighbor's houses being decorated like several historical eras vomited up their worst decor.

I found the dialog formal. It could be how the upper middle class actually speak. The pacing was perfect. About ten percent in, we have Lilly pulled into action when the victim threatens her. Besides the past cases of possible murders that Delia investigates, the murder front and center of this book is about quarter way through it. Things are close to climax when there's a huge reveal with ten percent to go; and the climax is halfway between that and the end. After the story, Henry includes a couple pages of gardening tips. I appreciate the love for composting and using coffee grounds though I have never tried it myself. It sounds like a great way to recycle and reuse what you have.

This is a fun cozy mystery that can be enjoyed as a stand-alone or part of the series. I missed the second book in the series; I had no issues picking up this one. I love Halloween themed cozies, so I was excited to read this one. Roommates, Lilly and Delia, are the perfect duo to host a Halloween event. The setting of the historical small town is charming; the author paints a beautiful picture with her description. The mystery is engaging with the twists and turns and well place misdirections. I look forward to more in this series.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way, I have been influenced by anyone.

The third book in the series is another winner! I really like Lily and the Garden Squad! Bonus points for being set during Halloween since I’ve always liked Halloween and I think it’s a good setting for a cozy.

The mystery in this is trying to figure out who killed Tyler, a reporter who came to the area who was trying to dig up some secrets along with a dose of blackmail. There were lots of red herrings and enough suspects to keep me guessing.

I really like these characters and I love the descriptions of Lilly’s garden, even though I definitely don’t have a green thumb! I hope the series continues!

This was my first book by Julia Henry and she didn’t disappoint. Lilly is a fun, kind and curious character. Helping her town of Goosebush put on a fall festival. A new reporter in town begins to dig up dirt on the families in town. He begins to blackmail residents including Lilly. When he turns up dead Lilly and her friends work to find the killer. I really enjoyed this book it had a great mystery. The characters are easy to fall in love with. I will be reading more!
#DiggingUptheRemains #NetGalley

I enjoyed this book. It's well paced without an slow spots. I liked the characters too although it is hard to keep track of all of them. I liked the character of the town, with how everyone pulled together. The reveal of who the murderer is is gentle and creates doubt that it was actually a murder. #DiggingUptheRemains #NetGalley

This is the 3rd installment in the Garden Squad mystery series. Lily Jayne is a fixture in Goosebush Massachusetts, and her family is one of the founding families. The town is getting ready for a 400th anniversary but right now they are getting ready for Fall Festival that kicks off with a 10k and ends with a haunted house on Lily’s lawn a week later. Delia who was her deceased husband’s grad assistant is living with Lily and is serving at the historical society as well as teaching at the local university. Lily is being pestered by Tyler Crane a new member to town and sensationalist journalist who tries to find everyone’s dark secrets. Lily ignores him and Tyler threatens to post a story about her garden and the “bodies” buried there. Tyler is also announcing he will be broadcasting live with 5 stories that will shock the town. As Lily, Delia, and Ernie are checking out the 10k path they come across Tyler’s dead body. Even after Tyler is dead his stories are still posting and it appears, he has made many enemies in town. Lily is planning to let the police handle it this town until Ray the former Sheriff is implicated. Lily is going to help Bash find the culprit. Lily and her garden squad are on the case. I love that Lily is also willing to open her home to Tamara and Warwick and Bernie as their houses sell quicker than expected. The next one should be interesting if everyone is living in the same house. Love this series and all of these friends and how well they get along and support each other. Another winner in this series.

Always fun to visit Goosebush and the Garden Squad to see what they get into next. Well written characters and a charming setting around Halloween and the town's 400 anniversary. A great addition to the series.

my thoughts

Would I recommend it? Yes

Would I read more of the series? Yes

Would I read more of this author? Yes

once again I was so glade to be back in the town of Goosebush, Massachusetts and find out what Lilly and her friends was up to and while this would be the perfect read for October , it was still the perfect read for me doing this time of craziness, because like all cozy mysterious I tend to just read and get lost in the story and not pay attention to what is going on around me .And with this one I did just that , the story its self made me smile , and I loved seen the old characters and meeting new ones and find out more about the history of the town and its people . And seen it come to live as they get ready for Halloween, and trying to solve a murder , with that said I want to thank Netgalley for letting me reading and review it and I can't wait to read the next book when it comes out.

I am a huge sucker for a cozy with a Halloween cover and this one drew me right in. I loved The Garden Squad and the Maine setting. Lilly and Delia kind of remind me of Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme from the British TV series that I adore. The mystery was a lot of fun and while I manged to figure out "whodunnit", there were plenty of clues and suspects to throw me off the trail. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys cozies, Halloween, and/or gardening. I look forward to reading more Garden Squad mysteries in the future.

Senior citizen Lilly and her roomie Delia continue to do good deeds along with their circle of friends aka the 'Midnight Gardeners'.
Two friends are remodeling houses, Delia is working hard on several projects and Lily got roped into the 400th Goosebush Anniversary Celebration.
A newcomer to town, reporter Tyler Crane, is harassing people ...until he's found dead on the path of the 10k race. He's uploaded videos about more than a few townspeople with nasty innuendos, and threatening them with blackmail, giving Bash Haywood, the police chief, a list of people who wouldn't be sad to see him dead. The trouble is, he knows them and can't believe they're capable, even with the things Tyler did.
Wanting to help. Lily and Delia investigated, looking for reasons strong enough for someone to want him dead.
Eventually coming up with a plan, to find Tyler's phone, it only was on short periods of time, so they needed to find a way to pinpoint it and managed to do so. They helped Bash handle the fallout in the end.
I requested and received a Net Galley ARC to peruse and offer my opinion freely.

I wish the Garden Squad would take pity on me and sneak into my garden at night and put things in order. Oh sigh. Lilly Jane and her friends are knee deep in gardening as well as the 400th Goosebush Anniversary Planning Committee. Social Media blogger Tyler Crane seems to make friends everywhere he goes, but not everyone is susceptible to his charm, especially when he implies he has plans to unveil the secrets of some local residents. In dribs and drabs his social media platform spews out innuendo and has many people worried about what he has unearthed. Unfortunately Tyler is found dead in the leaves along the 10K route, but his social media keeps publishing. Lilly uses the technical skills of her friend Delia to discover who the killer is and how to stop the spread of rumors. The latest in the Garden Squad Mystery series.