I have really enjoyed the books I have read in the Garden Squad series. The characters are well developed and I have fallen in love with Lilly, Delia, Bash, Ernie, and Roddy. The mystery is always intriguing and has you guessing until the end. The gardening tips sprinkled throughout the book is a plus. The setting of the book, Goosebush, Massachusetts, is a delightful town. There are the usual people you don’t care for, but I love how the majority of the citizens are so caring and supportive of each other. I would love to visit this friendly town.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

For more reviews, please visit my blog at: https://www.msladybugsbookreviews.com/. Over 1000 reviews posted!

The Plot Thickets is the 5th book in the Garden Squad Mystery series by Julia Henry.

Lilly is doing some research for the Beautification Committee at the cemetery where her family is interred in a mausoleum. She notices changes. Is her memory failing her or is something amiss?

I love spending time with Lilly and the Garden Squad. Lilly dealing with the aches and pains, the memory concerns, not bouncing back immediately are realistic. The mystery was complex but it was interesting how it wrapped up. I really liked the side stories and can’t wait to see what happens next!

Thank you to the author, Kensington, and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Ohhhh I love when a series that has had an off-book gets back on track and delivers and excellent story. This was like getting a warm hug from old friends and I was so happy to have that comfort back.

This was an interesting story that I have not really read in a mystery before [that I remember anyway LOL] that involved the typical tropes of a mystery; greed, deception, bitterness, and then add grave robbing, weird cemetery shenanigans and ultimately murder and you have a really excellent mystery and some serious food for thought [like making sure all your final plans and such are 100% in order]. Plus you get to hang out with some of the coolest people currently solving crime in the cozy world. Lily and Co. are loving, caring, generous people who love where they live and are willing to do what they can to ease the burdens of those around them that have less, are struggling or just need a good friend and some plants/flowers. I love how they work together to get stuff done and how they are so content to hang out at Lily's to eat and tear apart the cases they are involved in and just be with each other. It is so refreshing. I wish more people could learn from how this fictional group of friends treats each other.

I never saw the killer coming until almost the end, and only because of something someone said so it was mostly a surprise and the why just left me shaking my head. I also like that nothing is tidy in these books, just like real life and sometimes not everything is wrapped up; I have a feeling that should there be another book, these will be situations from this book that will carry over. And I will be the first one in line to read all about it.

Thank you to NetGalley, Julia Henry, and Kensington Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

EXCERPT: 'I haven't been here in years,' Lily said, getting out of the car with her new routine of gently unfolding herself, moving her hips and arching her back. She didn't mind getting older. Most of the time. But the slight aches and pains that came along with the extra years - those she could live without. 'I used to come here a lot when I was young.'

She was waiting for Delia to close her door before she hit the lock door button on her fob. Her final stretch done, she hit the button, but the door still wouldn't lock. She looked over at Delia, who was staring at her, her door ajar.

'What's the matter, Delia?'

'What do you mean, you used to love coming here when you were young?' Delia said. 'Sometimes you freak me out, you know that? This is a cemetery, Lily. Who hangs out at a cemetery?'

ABOUT 'THE PLOT THICKETS': Ever the quintessential New England town, Goosebush, Massachusetts, truly shines in springtime, but when an underhanded undertaker digs herself an early grave, only Lilly Jayne and her Garden Squad can unearth the cryptic killer . . .

With spring's arrival in Goosebush, Lilly and the Beautification Committee turn their eyes to new projects. A cleanup of the historic Goosebush Cemetery may be in order, after Lilly and Delia find the plots there sorely neglected and inexplicably rearranged. Lilly soon discovers that Whitney Dunne-Bradford snapped up custodianship of the graveyard once she inherited Bradford Funeral Homes. But before Lilly can get to the bottom of the tombstone tampering, she stumbles upon Whitney's body at the Jayne family mausoleum . . .

Though at first it appears Whitney died by suicide, Lilly has doubts, and apparently, so does Chief of Police Bash Haywood, who quickly opens a murder investigation. Plenty of folks in town had bones to pick with Whitney, including her stepdaughter, Sasha, and funeral home employee, Dewey Marsh--all three recently charged with illegal business practices. But when the homicide inquiry suddenly targets an old friend, Lilly and the Garden Squad must rally to exhume the truth before the real killer buries it forever . . .

MY THOUGHTS: I loved this story and it's characters despite not having read any of the previous books in this series.

Goosebush, New England - I love the name of the town. I love the description. I love the sense of friendship and companionship that Lilly and her friends have. I loved the way they all muck in and support one another, both emotionally and practically. I loved all the gardening talk and work. And I adored that they were trying to beautify the old cemetery - there's definitely food for thought there, as the old cemetery in our town definitely needs some TLC.

Much of the mystery centres around the Goosebush cemetery, and what better place for it? Lilly's family has a mausoleum, and a marble seat (the bastard seat - a story on its own) outside, positioned to take in the view. It's as she and Delia are planning what needs to be done that Lilly notices that somethings about the graves surrounding the mausoleum are not as she remembers them, and then that the bastard seat has been moved, which kicks her curiosity into gear. And then the deaths begin . . .

I do like Lilly. She's kind, generous and empathetic, BUT when she's nervous or ill at ease, she tends to become quite sarcastic. She does great sarcastic. She has opened her home to Delia, a student who came to help her husband Alan when he was dying and who has stayed on, and to Ernie, owner of the local hardware store whose husband has died and who is currently between houses. He bakes when he is stressed, and I swear I could smell his bread as I read. Roddy, Lilly's new neighbour, makes up the last member of the core group.

There are several romances developing in The Plot Thickets, but they are realistic and don't dominate the storyline.

I would have loved a plan of Lilly's house - it absolutely fascinated me.

I really enjoyed The Plot Thickets. I was entertained, bamboozled, and educated. I will be reading more of this series.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#ThePlotThickets #NetGalley

I: @jhauthors @kensingtonbooks

T: @JHauthors @KensingtonBooks

#contemporaryfiction #cosymystery #friendship
#murdermystery #romance #smalltownfiction

THE AUTHOR: Julia Henry lives in Massachusetts, where she sets her mystery series. As Julianne Holmes she writes the Clock Shop Mystery Series, and as J.A. Hennrikus she writes theatre.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Kensington Books, Kensington Cozies, via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Plot Thickets by Julia Henry for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

The Plot Thickets is the 5th book in the Garden Squad Mysteries written by Julia Henry.

I loved this fabulous cozy mystery! Set in springtime in picturesque Goosebush, Massachusetts, sixty-odd-year-old Lilly Jayne is the main character of the story and I adore the author's masterful writing. The Plot Thickets is a wonderful blend of mystery and friendships and many of the characters are great individuals. Lilly has been working on Helen Garrett's garden and she and her squad are checking out the requirements for the tidying up of the cemetery, a new project the beautification committee, a group set up by Lilly, is working on. Lilly had a fall back in January when she injured her back and wrist and has been taking things a bit easier but now she's almost back in form. Some of the hard work is undertaken by high school sports team volunteers and girl scout groups. The cemetery is run by Whitney Dunne-Bradford, the widow of Sam Bradford after she inherited his business - the Bradford Funeral Home. Lilly's father used to be involved with tours of the historic cemetery and her family has a mausoleum there. Lilly notices some irregularities such as a commemorative bench in the Jayne family name out of place. Then Whitney is found murdered...

In this scintillating instalment the author managed the pacing perfectly within the awesome and absorbing plot. With multiple suspects, there was a veritable gamut of clues and possibilities to satisfy even the most diligent of armchair detectives. A superb read, with a strong plot and characters and rich in drama, this novel is very highly recommended and well-worth five stars. I will be watching out for the next book as well as diving into this author's back catalogue.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Kensington via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

The Plot Thickets is the fifth book in the A GardenSquad Mystery series by Julia Henry.

It’s spring in Goosebush, Mass., and time for The Garden Squad to find their next beautification project. Lilly and Delia are heading for the cemetery where Lilly’s family has a burial plot to see if it might need some sprucing up. The cemetery certainly needs some weeding and flowers to improve its appearance. Lilly notices that there seem to be some differences from the last time she was here. Lilly used to go with her father when he would conduct tours of the cemetery, so she is very familiar with where families were buried. Also, a heavy stone bench from the side of the plot to behind the family’s mausoleum. On a later visit, Lilly finds the door to the mausoleum unlocked, and when she enters, she sees several urns on the floor and a body in one of the vaults, none of who are members of her family.

The police will begin an investigation of the Bradford Funeral Home, which manages the cemetery’s operation. Sam Bradford started the funeral home and, upon his passing, was left to his wife, Whitney-Dunne Bradford. Sam’s daughter, Sasha, also works for the funeral home. A couple of days later, Lilly visits the cemetery and finds the body of Whitney behind her family’s mausoleum with a gun in her hand. It would appear to be a suicide, but they decide to treat it as a suspicious death. Soon, Stan, The Star cafe/bookstore owner, will become the prime suspect. Stan had been seen recently in a heated argument with Whitney. The Garden Squad will need to organize and get busy to clear Stan’s name by finding the killer.

A subplot deals with Delia and Stan’s budding romance. Since Stan’s estranged father returned to Goosebush, Stan has been reserved and challenging to communicate with. The Garden Squad is eager to provide support for Delia. She doesn’t believe Stan is guilty of murder and hopes they can restore their romance to what it once was.

It was enjoyable to visit the engaging community of Goosebush once again. The story is well-written and plotted. Most of the regular characters are back again; they are well-developed and believable.

I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.

The Plot Thickets by Julia Henry is the 5th A Garden Squad Mystery. We return to Goosebush, Massachusetts where Lilly Jayne resides in her family home, Windward. I like Lilly Jayne who is a smart, kind woman in her 60s who loves to garden. There are beautiful gardens surrounding Windward. She has a great group of friends who comprise the Garden Squad. They secretly tackle gardening projects around town. The multidimensional cast of secondary characters includes Delia, Ernie, Roddy, Tamara, and Warwick. I love the descriptions of Windward. This is a home that I would love to reside in. Stan’s father, Buzz causes a scene at a local restaurant where Lilly and her friends are dining. Stan and Buzz soon depart. Stan rushes back inside a couple of minutes later calling for assistance. Buzz has collapsed and is soon pronounced dead. Lilly and Delia are checking out a project in the cemetery a few days later for the Beautification Committee. Lilly notices some oddities among the gravestones including the moving of the Jayne bench near the family mausoleum. Stan asks them to check out where his father is buried. Delia and Lilly are unable to find the grave. The ladies decide that some research is in order. It is a multifaceted mystery which I enjoyed. While I anticipated the resolution, I had a good time following Lilly Jayne and her friends as they dug into the case. I appreciated the good wrap up at the end. The ending of the book will leave fans of the series smiling. There is a lot going on in The Plot Thickets. This is a story that is engaging and interesting. The Plot Thickets can be read as a standalone for those new to the series or if you have missed a book or two (like me). The Plot Thickets is a good cozy to read in October with the cemetery theme. There are some gardening tips at the end which includes a list of plants that are good pollinators (which is just what I needed). The Plot Thickets is a graveyard smash with plant pruning, a displaced bench, a dead dad, a witchy Whitney, puzzling plots, a house hunt, and a bad back.

The Plot Thickets by Julia Henry is a Garden Squad mystery and opens with heroine, Lilly, a little under the weather. At 66 her adventures are catching up with her and her body is slowing down. Thankfully she has Delia, Ernie, and Roddy, plus her cats. This mystery starts off as fraud centering around grave plots in an older cemetery and quickly de-escalates to murder. It is a good story with everyone surprised, not only at who is murdered, but who has done the murdering. Lilly first notices that a bench in her family’s plot has been moved. Then when she sees the inside of the crypt, the first thing she sees is her husband’s urn on the floor, not where it belongs, surrounded by others. They certainly had no business being there. The person running the local mortuary was a woman no one liked, but it wasn’t really necessary to like one’s undertaker, was it?

The Garden Squad does community service around town, beautifying places that need it and help people who need it, primarily in their gardens. An area of the cemetery needs some care, which is what brought Lilly there in the first place. When she returns the overrun tombstones are gone. It gets worse from there. Delia’s boyfriend, Stan, has been going through a rough time, then his father dies, and their relationship tanks. She is have trouble reconciling herself to the breakup but has the Garden Squad to help. She is younger than they are so they have plenty of wisdom to share. Lilly is surprised by her reaction to her friendship with Roddy, who moved in next door a year or so earlier. This is a character-driven novel, as are most cozies, and so this book is as much about the lives of the characters as it is about the murder. It is a fun story.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Plot Thickets by Kensington, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #Netgalley #Kensington #JuliaHenry #ThePlotThickets

I’ve enjoyed this series for the previous 4 books and this one was no different. It’s the same entertaining characters with an interesting mystery. I love this author’s writing style and can’t wait to read more!

4.5* upped to 5
The Garden Squad Mysteries are a favorite of mine and always enjoyed each instalment. This one is not one of my favorite as I found it quite slow paced.
I was happy to catch up with the Garden Squad, I thoroughly enjoyed the gardening discussions and the place.
But I found it quite slow and it took me a lot of time to read it insted of the usual "read in one setting".
That said the mystery is solid and kept me guessing, I was surprised by the twists and the solution. There's a lot going on in the life of the characters and I can't wait to read th next story.
I recommend it if you already read other books in this series.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

This series is, for me, like a letter from friends, a feeling of belonging to a community. Lilly and her friends are the Garden Squad and work on beautifying their town of Goosebush, Massachusetts. Now that Spring has arrived there is much to do and Lilly starts with Helen, now at the century mark in her life. Planting and pruning in her front yard to give her something to enjoy from her front window. That is a feeling that runs through the whole series, people caring for their friends and neighbors any way they can. The slower pace fits and the crime isn't revealed until almost halfway.
There is some funny business going on with the town's funeral home. When Sam Bradford dies it was a shock to many that his second wife, Whitney, takes over the funeral home rather than his daughter, Sasha. She also gets control of the cemetery as caretaker. Lilly notices that there is something strange going on with burial plots and the grounds. Then Whitney is found dead behind Lilly's family mausoleum and a burial plots goes missing. Now Lilly and the Garden Squad have more to do in the cemetery than giving it a Spring sprucing up. One of their group, Stan, becomes the prime suspect and that means Lily has some investigating to do to clear him. Turns out things were shady at the funeral home and the list of suspects is long.
This series can be read in any order and each mystery is well developed with enough red herring and detours to keep the reader guessing to the last page. I'm already looking forward to the next mystery for Lilly and the Garden squad to solve.
My thanks to the publisher Kensington and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Beautification Committee of Goosebush, MA has chosen to spruce up the Goosebush Cemetery as the next project. The historic cemetery has some sorely neglected sections and the custodian does not seem to care. Lilly’s family mausoleum also seems to have been tampered with and it sends Lilly on a mission to discover what has been happening.

While visiting the cemetery Lilly discovers that Whitney Dunne-Bradford, the cemetery custodian, dead at the Jayne family mausoleum. This pushes Lilly’s investigation to a new level and all of her friends join her search.

This is the fifth book in the “A Garden Squad Mystery” series. I have enjoyed this series very much, but this book took me a long time to read. I found the unique plot to move slowly and it was difficult to become engaged in the story. I still like all of the characters. They are realistic and well-developed. The setting also remains one of my favorites. I will read the next book in the series because of this. I recommend the book if you have read the first four of the series. I would not recommend this as a stand alone.

Book five in this series and I have not read the earlier books. It was still easy to understand the relationships between the various characters and to enjoy the story.

The Plot Thickets is set in the small New England town of Goosebush. The story begins when Lilly Jayne and the Beautification Committee are looking to see what work will need to be done to restore the cemetery. Lilly's father used to do tours of the historical cemetery and her family has a mausoleum there, so she has always known it well. Now though she finds her memories of the graves and today's reality are different. Lilly and her friends in the Garden Squad start to investigate and when the Funeral Director is murdered the police are called in too.

I enjoyed the characters and the setting, and I learned a lot about burials! For keen gardeners there are plenty of tips about what to plant and where. The mystery is good and there are plenty of red herrings to keep the reader busy. There is even a comforting romance between two of the main characters which I assume has been building in the earlier books. Altogether, a well written and entertaining cosy mystery.

Another great addition to this series. The plot centers around the local cemetery and the Jayne family crypt. Although the story is set in spring, there's something about reading about graves close to Halloween that is fun. Lilly and her garden squad work to figure out what is happening in the graveyard and with the local mortuary. A good mystery and more fleshing out of characters in this book. I really enjoyed the read and time spent with these altruistic people.

Lilly Jayne and her Garden Squad return with a new mystery and plenty of gardening. Lilly visits her family’s mausoleum to find the bench outside has been moved. Not only that but the vault is filled with items and an extra body. Other stones in the cemetery don’t jive with Lilly’s recollection. As the squad investigates one of the cemetery owners is found dead. This is another excellent addition to this series. Great setting, wonderful characters, and a mystery to boot.

Neither Lilly or Chief of Police Bash Haywood think that Whitney committed suicide in the cemetary so Lilly, along with her friends. takes it on herself to find answers. Know that the best parts of this cozy are the relationships between Lilly and all the rest - and that while these may be complicated, they are also quite realistic. In this latest installment, the Garden Squad works through all the people Whitney offended, cheated, and otherwise both before and after she inherited the funeral home and took over the cemetery. And there were a lot of them, including (no spoiler) a few of Lilly's friends. The mystery is twisty enough to satisfy but it's the characters which shine. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

With springs arrival in Goosebush Lilly and the Beautification Committee turn their eyes to new projects. Cleaning up the historic Goosebush Cemetery is their new project after finding plots neglected and rearranged. Lilly learns Whitney Dunne-Bradford took custodianship of the graveyard once she inherited Bradford Funeral Homes. Lily soon stumbles upon Whitney’s body at the Jayne family mausoleum though it seems she died by suicide Lilly has doubts. The chief of police quickly opens a murder investigation plenty of people had bones to pick with Whitney including her step daughter Sasha, an employee Dewey Marsh all three recently charged with illegal business practices. But when Lilly’s friend becomes a suspect she wants to find the truth before the real killer can. This was an interesting story a would recommend to everyone.

Julia Henry brings back her Garden Squad Mysteries in its fifth installment, The Plot Thickets. This series has followed the journey of its protagonist Lilly Jayne as she gradually re-enters the social circles of her town after having lost her husband to cancer. In this installment, the reader is treated to the activities of the Garden Squad as they approach the first anniversary of its inception. At the core of this story is Lilly's concern that her memory may be starting to fail as she visits the local cemetery and discovers that there discrepancies between what is present and what she remembers from past visits. After a couple of deaths in town, it is discovered that unauthorized changes have in fact been made within the cemetery by the funeral home that is in charge of the management. As the bodies start to pile up, Lilly Jayne and the Garden Squad start digging to uncover the culprit(s).

Although there is a core group of characters who have populated the series from the beginning, the author has done an excellent job of developing supplemental characters to interact with the core group within each book. By creating multi-generational characters, the author gives her readers the opportunity to see beyond age, gender and racial differences to envision an interwoven fabric of a small town. As this story develops, the intricacies brought forward within the twists and turns of the plot give a variety of suspects and motives which lead to a complete and total surprise during the final revelation.

Although the author brings this book to a possible final conclusion, I truly hope that she continues to allow these characters to grow and flourish in future installments as I believe that they have many more stories to tell.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Kensington Books and am leaving this review voluntarily.

Lilly Jayne and the garden squad are look into beautifying the area of the older graves in the cemetery while Lilly’s family mausoleum is located. Lilly starts to notice that something seems off around her family’s area of the graveyard. As she tries to figure out what has changed she stumbles over a dead body in her father’s resting spot that is no one from her family.

This is a great cozy mystery and series. Lilly is an older protagonist, she is intelligent and has a lot of life experiences that helps her and her square solve mysteries. The mystery is entertaining and full of surprises that keeps you guessing who the murder is. I recommend this book to cozy mystery fans.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I have not been by anyone.

Julia Henry's Garden Squad Mystery series is, and has been from the very first book (Pruning the Dead), one of my favorite series, and I eagerly anticipate each new release. The Plot Thickets, the 5th in the series, does not disappoint! Lilly Jayne and her merry band of friends (Delia, Roddy, Ernie, Tamara, Warwick, Bash) are on the case when it's discovered that the Jayne family crypt is being used for nefarious purposes and that things aren't on the up and up and the local cemetery. A quick read, and a perfectly cozy mystery, I recommend this charming read to one and all. A+++