The Gardener's Plot was my first novel by Deborah J. Benoit. I enjoyed her writing style. I don't even know if she has other books, but I will go check to see. It's a cozy mystery about some friends who garden, and I enjoy gardening so I thought this would be right up my alley.

Maggie Walker (an expert gardener who writes a gardening column for the local newspaper) volunteers to help her friend Violet Bloom set up a community garden in the Berkshires where she inherited her grandmother's home and when opening day arrives, Violet doesn’t show up. Then one of the gardeners notices a boot in his plot. The boot ends up being attached to a body! The police question Maggie about Violet, who seems to now be missing and they think Violet might be the murderer. Maggie does not believe one bit that her friend is the murderer, so she decides to do an investigation of her own. The amount of detail that goes into all the scenarios was quite good and I enjoyed this novel. I did guess who the murderer was before the end, but that's ok! It was definitely entertaining and the characters are well formed with a good flow to the story. I liked that the author did not give Maggie a love interest as it would have been too much for the story, since the focus was on the murder investigation. I hope a second novel comes from these characters, I would definitely read more!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and Netgalley for this Arc. I really enjoyed this book and laughed several times. This was the first book I have read from this author and I will be looking for more. I would definitely recommend this book.

Maggie Walker is starting her life over. After the death of her husband, she moves back to her hometown in the Berkshires. She loves gardening and gets the perfect job of setting up a community garden. She will assist Violet Bloom in this project. Opening day arrives, but Violet doesn’t. Maggie has no choice but to step in and take charge until Violet gets there. The gardeners are restless. Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots… and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the truth. She is hoping nothing has happened to her and that she shows up soon.

The author has written a mystery with many suspects. The storyline kept me guessing who was the murderer. I didn’t guess right about. who the murderer was. Its a cozy mystery that I hope will be the first in a series as I enjoyed it.

After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she’s happy to be back in the small, Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it’s only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden. When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots… and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.

I was amazed that this was a the author's debut mystery as it was so well written and paced well. I really liked Maggie as she was determined to find out the killer and find her friend no matter the danger. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this debut novel. I certainly hope she writes more and will be on the lookout for more by this author.

Enjoyed this small(ish) town cozy mystery. This one also gave me Finlay Donavan vibes. And I was totally here for it.

I really liked the gardening vibes. All the suspense and mystery definitely kept you on the edge of your seat. Couldn’t put this one down.

I kinda was hoping for a romance to blossom between the detective and Maggie.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

There is nothing better than a cozy mystery and this one truly hit the spot. I absolutely loved it. It was fun and easy to read and I really enjoyed using this as a quick break from fantasy. Easy to follow and easy to get swept into, Benoit makes this a book you will want to enjoy with an afternoon cuppa and a blanket. Definitely check this out!

I love a cozy mystery and this one seemed to have a lot of promise! Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat for me and I really struggled to get into it.

The Gardener’s Plot takes readers to the heart of the Berkshires and introduces amateur sleuth Maggie Walker..Maggie is an older protagonist (yeah) and is settling into her new life in the Berkshires by volunteering and taking part in community activities. But she didn't expect murder to be in the plot (literally) and to have to charge when Violet disappears. As she tries to figure out where she could be and what happened to her, she soon realized there may be more than a simple argument gone wrong, and someone doesn't want the new community activity to succeed. A fun new start to a series, this cozy wraps up nicely and is a quick read!

The Gardener’s Plot
by Deborah J. Benoit
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 336
Imprint Publisher: Minotaur Books
Pub date: Nov 5, 2024

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for an e-copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

Opening day for Marlow’s community garden doesn’t go to plan when a body is found planted in the freshly tilled dirt. When Violet Bloom, the driving force behind the garden, is discovered missing, Maggie Walker has two mysteries on her hands.

Maggie Walker is still trying to adjust to her new life in her hometown of Marlow, Massachusetts, after inheriting her grandmother’s old Victorian home. One of the projects she’s undertaken is starting a community garden with Violet Bloom, one of the other townspeople. But when opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found. What is discovered though is a dead body buried in the freshly tilled garden soil. Maggie sets out to discover how the body ended up in the garden, as well as find Violet. All the while she’s dodging her high school nemesis Catharine Whitacker. Carl Henderson is a persistent real estate agent determined to buy Maggie’s home in spite of her insistence she isn’t going to sell. Her cousin, Simon Gleason, has re-appeared in Maggie’s life, insisting he is entitled to a bigger share of their late grandmother’s modest income.

The Gardener’s Plot started off slow, and didn’t grab my interest for a long time. I had the murderer’s identity figured out early, but not the motivation. For me, the irritating characters were a bit much at three. This is a debut novel, though, so I’d be willing to give another book by this author a try. Recommended.

3/5 stars.

After the death of her almost ex-husband, Maggie Walker decided to move back to her hometown and start fresh. Maggie had always loved gardening and was excited to work with Victoria Bloom on the new community garden. On opening day, Maggie stumbles upon a body in one of the garden plots and Victoria is nowhere to be found. The police seem to be more interested in naming Victoria as a suspect, than finding out why she is missing. Maggie is determined to find her friend and clear her name as a suspect.

There was a lot going on in this cozy mystery. Maggie is trying to find her best friend, while also trying to figure who is prank calling her in the middle of the night. Are the two occurrences connected? She is also trying to navigate the small-town gossip mill and avoid her nemesis, Katherine. I enjoyed the investigation and although some of the story seemed to drag on, there was enough twists throughout the story to keep me interested. The killer took me by surprise but was happy how the story ended. Although I believe this book is a stand-alone, the ending did leave it open to the possibility of another book. I would be happy to read more about Maggie and her friends.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to review The Gardner's Plot. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received a complimentary copy of this book; thank you to NetGalley, Minotaur Books, and Deborah Benoit. Opinions expressed in this review are my completely my own.

Not bad for a debut novel but not good either. The plot had lots of promise and some of it worked out. I'd have liked a bit more backstory if it could be done without irritating the reader. Sam & Maggie have a past relationship but how involved and is this why his wife is such a witch? It would have been nice to know that in the beginning chapters of the story when it mattered. Flesh the characters out a little more. I became annoyed with Maggie when she was worried about her friend, calling until the voicemail was full, but it took her 2 days to drive 10 minutes to her house to check on the family. Skipping pages was doable too. Maggie was still a mystery as a character by the end of the book, I only know for sure she's curious and stubborn.

#NetGalley #Gardener'sPlot #MinotaurBooks #DeborahBenoit #mystery #cozymystery #gardeningmystery

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery, and I hope it is the beginning of a new series. The main character, Maggie, has inherited her grandmother's house and has rekindled childhood friendships-and animosity-when she moves in. She helps her friend, Violet, start a community garden. On opening day, Violet doesn't show up, and one gardener finds an old boot in one of the plots - that happens to be connected to a foot. The appearance of this dead body makes Maggie very worried about Violet, and Maggie can't help but engage in some amateur sleuthing to try to find her. In the process, Maggie encounters danger of her own. The pacing of the book was excellent, and the characters were just what every cozy mystery needs - an obnoxious relative, a greedy no-good troublemaker, charming shop owners, a snobby queen bee, an old flame, and some great friends. I listened to the audio, which was well done. The cover art is very eye-catching! Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's press for an e-arc of this book. I'd definitely recommend it!

The Gardener’s Plot started a little slow for me but quickly picked up. This is another average person who refuses to let the police do their job and ends up getting herself in trouble.

Even with Maggie meddling where she shouldn’t the bulk of the story was interesting in the “I also want to know what happened” way. The ending ties everything up but I feel like the cause for everything was a little weak.

This cozy mystery features master gardener Maggie Walker who has moved back to her hometown. She volunteers to help set up a community garden with Violet Bloom, but on opening Violet is a no-show, and when a dead body is found buried in one of the plots and it's not Violet, but she has disappeared everyone wonders if Violet could be the murderer.

Maggie doesn't believe Violet is the killer and she decides to do some sleuthing to prove it.

This mystery is full of small-town atmosphere with a sense of community, but also gossip and power plays. The plot and writing flow very well and while I guessed the killer at the end, there were some twists and turns that kept me engaged. Overall, this is an entertaining and whodunit.

Not a bad start to a new cozy mystery series. The gardening theme drew me in. It had the usual elements of an amateur sleuth trying to solve a local murder with the police seeming to suspect her! The story dragged a bit in the middle and the whodunit was fairly easy to figure out but it was still a fun read.

I always enjoy a good cozy and I was drawn to this book because of the gardening theme. There were some of the usual cozy tropes: small town, an amateur sleuth and her friend, neighbor intrigue and a possible romantic interest. Maggie was a good protagonist but I still feel I don't know her well. The story had some tense page turning moments but did bog down in places. The ending came together well though. I'll give the next book in the series or read.

Thank you to the publisher for my ecopy of this book.

Maggie Walker just moved into her late Grandma's house and started a community garden with her friend Violet. On the opening day of the community garden plots, things take a weird twist when Violet doesn't show up and Maggie finds a body in one of the community plots.

Maggie sets off to figure out what happened to her friend and gets a lot more than she bargained for in this cute cozy mystery. I love gardening and mysteries so this book appealed to me. It was a very PG amateur mystery that had some depth and lots of fun characters.

I like Maggie as the main character. She was not a pushover and you could tell she cared about people and wanted to be helpful. She wanted to find her friend even though she was repeatedly told to stop poking her head in police business. I think she was careful enough that it didn't seem like she was blatantly ignoring the detective but I also could feel her frustrations when she wasn't getting any answers from the police. I liked how she used her curiosity to speed along the storyline.

Part of the charm of this book was the author setting the scene and introducing the characters for the continuation of this series. The police chief, who she has history with, and his wife Catherine who is not a fan of Maggie and is nasty to her every time they meet. We also meet her neighbor and mini sidekick Sally and other characters in this small and cute town.

The main plot was easy to follow, had no major twists and was very straightforward. This was akin to a plot of a weekly murder mystery show on TV from the 90s. I also enjoyed all the gardening talk and how it weaved into the story seamlessly.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for sharing this book’s digital advanced review copy with me in exchange for an honest review.

I read this book through a digital ARC from NetGalley
Author: Deborah J. Benoit
Genre: Mystery

There were great details about gardening, especially community gardening. I had no idea who did it. The investigation was good and focused on finding her friend, so the murderer was a surprise. I liked that it was structured that way and that it kept me guessing. There were a few parts that were sadder than I expected, but it was appropriate for story and made it more realistic.
Overall this was a great beginning to a new cozy series.

I just love a cozy mystery and The Gardener's Plot fits the bill. This is debut novel for Deborah J. Benoit and I hope it is the first of a long lasting series. She creates characters and the setting ideally. The main character, Maggie Walker, funnels her gardening expertise into a community garden as she settles into the house she bought from her aunt's estate. We meet her neighbor and many characters from the village. Benoit lays a trail of clues for the reader and features several red herrings. What a fun read!

A lovely whodunit with many twists and turns. In a small town where you think you know everyone, a killer exists as the plot thickens in the mystery of the noisy neighbor who wants Maggie's house, now dead and the missing friend and head gardener. In a community garden, in one of the plots, a shoe is found, attached to a foot. Who could it be and where is Violet who should have been opening this special event? Lots of suspicions, especially about Maggie Walker, the prodigal gardener who had volunteered to help Violet and had recently come back, inheriting her aunt's home. Maggie is bound and determined to dig up whatever evidence she can unearth to find her friend and prove that she is not guilty. Never would I have suspected the eventual killer, but that tells you how well the story is woven. Many thanks to #netgalley #stmartinspress #thegardenersplot for the opportunity to read and review this book.